Fashion Revolution+3.3 Raw Materials Suppliers Disclosure

3.3 Raw Materials Suppliers Disclosure

What information does the company publish about its suppliers of raw materials? (e.g. raw material providers, farms, slaughter houses, sewing yarn suppliers, filament and staple, chemical suppliers, etc.)

Wikirate ID: 5821908

Designer: Fashion Revolution

Metric Type: Researched

About the data

Disclosing raw material suppliers shows that a brand is working to trace its whole supply chain and takes some responsibility for its direct and indirect sourcing relationships. It can help facilitate the identification and escalation of labour rights and environmental issues by trade unions, NGOs and other stakeholders directly to brands enabling them to take urgent actions to address and remediate issues raised. This is especially important beyond the first tier where brands may not be able to monitor their suppliers as easily.

Methodology

In this question you are being asked to identify what information the company publishes about its suppliers of raw materials. Start by looking for a list of raw material suppliers (e.g. raw material providers, farms, slaughter houses, sewing yarn suppliers, filament and staple, chemical suppliers, etc.)

Where to look for this information:
- Corporate Social Responsibility report
- Company documents
- Company policies
- Company websites
- Company code of conduct
- Parent company documents (only if the parent company is linked to from the brands website)
- Parent company policies (only if the parent company is linked to from the brands website)
- Parent company websites (only if the parent company is linked to from the brands website)
- Parent company code of conduct (only if the parent company is linked to from the brands website)

Good keywords for your searches include:
- Raw materials
- Supplier list
- Sourcing

Things to watch out for:
- May only be publishing for one type of raw material. e.g. cotton or wool.
- Where brands says their list includes "all" their suppliers, we assume this means 100% and we give them the point
- If brand says list updated every X months accepted
- We are looking for a map or list that represents a significant proportion of their suppliers. Disclosing one or two suppliers is not sufficient unless it specifies that these suppliers supply a significant chunk of the company's overall product volume. However, will accept if list covers only one or two types of fibre such as viscose, wool, cotton, etc.
- Online maps and PDF documents do not count as not machine readable. Looking specifically for Excel or csv documents.
- Efforts to trace raw materials might include taking part in Leather Working Group or using Responsible Down/Wool Standard, Global Recycling Standard, Content Claim Standard, Organic Cotton Standard, GOTS, FAIRTRADE Certified Cotton Mark and Cotton Programme, Cotton Made in Africa HIP, Oeko-Tex SteP/Made in Green or company/parent group's own initiatives such as using blockchain or transaction certifications or DNA schemes.

Topics

Value Type

Multi-Category

Options

Name of supplier (e.g. parent company) (2021 only)

Name of Supplier (e.g. facility or farm)

Address

Type of raw material products or services

Approximate number of workers

Sex-disaggregated breakdown of workers

% or number of migrant or contract workers

List is publicly available as a csv or Excel spreadsheet

Discloses what percentage of raw materials suppliers is published

Discloses supplier list that covers more than one raw material type (2021 only)

Discloses 95% or higher of raw materials suppliers are included in the list/map

Publishes that this list or map of raw materials suppliers has been updated within the past 12 months

Discloses whether the company is tracing the source/supplier of one or more specific raw materials

Race-disaggregated breakdown of workers at each site (FTI Brazil only)

Nothing

Research Policy

Designer Assessed