From USA-ITA OFF THE CUFF for March 29, 2013
It’s time for spring cleaning—and while you’re dusting the cobwebs out of your house, it’s time to dust the cobwebs off your company’s social compliance and sustainability programs, too. If you need to give your programs a refresh, USA-ITA Associate Members Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) and ICG have some helpful tips—and if you need a new program altogether, we’ve got an upcoming workshop with SGS that you won’t want to miss, either.
Avedis Seferian, President & CEO of Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP), discussed emerging trends in social compliance in a blog post. As you know, WRAP is the world’s largest labor and environmental certification program for labor-intensive consumer products and manufacturing, with a particular focus on fire safety training and certification. (You may recall our June 2012 webinar with WRAP on sourcing and compliance in Bangladesh.) With representatives on the ground in Hong Kong, Bangladesh, and India, WRAP has its finger on the pulse of trends in social compliance, so if you’re looking to revamp your social compliance programs, you’ll want to pay attention to Seferian’s ideas. In particular, he looks at five trends:
- Increased focus on training,
- Harmonization attempts,
- Moving up the supply chain,
- More emphasis on environment, and,
- A movement toward social compliance becoming more mainstream.
His full post is available on the WRAP website.
Steve Jesseph of ICG, published an article in a recent issue of “Apparel” titled “How to Define Sustainability.” Jesseph, who previously served as CEO of WRAP and Vice President of Compliance & Risk Management for Sara Lee Branded Apparel, now serves as COO for ICG, a consultancy group based in Cornelius, North Carolina, the parent company of Integrated Consulting Group and International Compliance Group. The Consulting Group provides supply chain solutions for operations, distribution, and human resources across the textile, apparel, and leather sectors, while the Compliance Group offers supply chain inspections and audits for labor and environmental compliance. In his article, Jesseph notes that “sustainability…seems to have overtaken CSR as the Madison Avenue buzzword du jour as company after company seeks to market how sustainable it is”—and asks, what does it really mean? He explains the history of “sustainability” and what it takes for a company to be truly “sustainable,” and provides tips on how you can get started on your sustainability plan, starting with engaging every employee.
His full article is available on the Apparel website.
If you are looking to get started with your social compliance and sustainability plan, or if you want to learn from pros about how you can revamp your existing program, we encourage you to attend our upcoming workshop with another Associate Member, SGS. On April 16th, Brian Whitters, Deputy Vice President of Sustainability at SGS, will help you develop the framework for a custom strategy that focuses on your company’s unique needs. This program is geared toward small- to medium-sized companies, but we welcome all participants who want to learn more. For information and registration, visit our website.