Responsible purchasing practices

Purchasing practices are one of the most powerful tools a brand has in their toolkit for being able to actively redress the power imbalances that are inherent to garment supply chains. It is well known across the industry that when brands adopt responsible purchasing practices, suppliers are better able to plan production effectively; manage working hours; pay workers fairly; and invest in improving labour conditions. Indeed, only when brands adopt responsible purchasing practices can human rights due diligence (HRDD) implementation be impactful.

Brands often fail to properly address the negative social impacts of their operations while suppliers are made responsible for improving working conditions without being given the tools and means to do so. However, though brands rarely have direct control over their production sites, they still bear the responsibility to facilitate good working conditions. This is becoming even more necessary as legislative developments, such as the European Union Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (EU CSDDD), are making HRDD mandatory. As said, HRDD and responsible purchasing practices go hand in hand.

Fair Wear’s approach

In our work with frontrunner member brands, we showcase what responsible business conduct looks like.  We empower them to take proactive ownership and accountability for human rights risks in their supply chains in a number of ways. Knowing that true industry transformation necessitates aligned approaches, we also work on several initiatives and projects to showcase on what responsible purchasing practices look like and how they can be adopted.

Fair Wear membership

Responsible purchasing practices is an independent indicator in our brand performance methodology. This means that we not only reward brands for responsible business conduct, such as committing to consistent orders and fair payment terms through binding agreements with their suppliers, but we also support them in doing so.

We also create impact on a larger scale than just through our member brands’ individual supply chains. Generally speaking, brands with a larger share of production at one specific location will have greater leverage with factory managers to influence working conditions. Leverage – or the ability to affect change – can also be achieved through collaboration with other brands, or working with a main supplier to increase leverage over several production locations. Our multistakeholder networks play a critical role in facilitating these .

The CFRPP

The CFRPP is a reference point for companies working to improve their purchasing practices. It is based on a benchmarking of existing standards developed by the MSI Working Group on Responsible Purchasing Practices, composed by a number of leading MSIs working in the sector, including Fair Wear. It consists of 5 principles:

1. Integration and Reporting
2. Equal Partnership
3. Collaborative Production Planning
4. Fair Payment Terms
5. Sustainable Costing

The Learning and Implementation Community (LIC)

Facilitated by the MSI Working Group on Responsible Purchasing Practices, the Learning and Implementation Community (LIC) is a group of garment brands and retailers committed to improving purchasing practices, through peer learning and determined efforts to implement the CFRPP. A key priority of the LIC is that manufacturers are part of the discussions too, so that solutions are workable and mutually beneficial for the whole supply chain. The Sustainable Terms of Trade Initiative (STTI) is playing a leading role in ensuring this is the case.

The Industry We Want (TIWW)

TIWW, of which Fair Wear is one of the lead MSIs, has developed a set of industry-wide metrics to measure industry progress on an annual basis. Through TIWW’s purchasing practices metric, TIWW leverages manufacturers’ feedback on their brand partners to drive positive developments in commercial relationships and hold brands to account.