Sustainable Apparel Coalition shares independent review of Higg Index Product Tools

First of three reports published as SAC sets out how the Higg Index suite of tools will continue to evolve

Through the continuous evolution of the Higg Index tools, the aim is to provide users with access to the most up-to-date, accurate data against relevant industry standards in order to drive sustainable decision-making across the industry. For this review, KPMG was commissioned to coordinate and recruit a panel of ten experts. The report focuses on the following tools: 

• The Higg Materials Sustainability Index (Higg MSI) is the apparel industry’s most used tool to measure the environmental impacts of materials. It is a cradle-to-gate material assessment tool used by designers to help them make more informed and responsible choices around materials.

• The Higg Product Module (PM) was launched in June 2021 to help organizations evaluate the full environmental impact of a product. It measures the cradle-to-grave environmental impacts of a product from the point of resource extraction to manufacturing impacts, all the way through product durability, care, and end of use. With a complete picture of a product’s footprint, designers and sustainability teams can find new opportunities to reduce impact – and accurately demonstrate improvement to stakeholders, and business partners.

“Science isn’t static — and neither are we,” said Jeremy Lardeau, VP of the SAC Higg Index. “The SAC is committed to the continued enhancement of the Higg Index tools, to better support the industry to achieve its sustainability goals. Through ongoing updates, our tools become more and more powerful to drive greater impact across the value chain.”

Reflecting the diverse and complicated nature of product sustainability assessments, the reviewers were not unanimous in their findings. While the report highlights that the Higg MSI and Higg PM tools demonstrate strengths, more important to the SAC is how this critical analysis reveals where additional improvements are necessary.

“The SAC Board of Directors thanks each expert involved in the review for providing their insights and direction to the SAC,” said the SAC’s Board of Directors in a collective statement. “This review highlights the complexity of product sustainability assessments, which cover collecting, measuring, and appropriately utilizing sustainability impact data originating at the early stages of global supply chains for business decisions. Moreover, the often diverging expert viewpoints shared in the report reinforce the need for robust collaboration toward delivering a harmonized approach to value chain sustainability data.  We commend the SAC for conducting this expert review and commit to empowering the SAC to integrate appropriate recommendations into the SAC’s strategic plan, while inviting interested stakeholders to join this effort.”

In some cases, the recommendations for action found in the report are already underway, including:

• expanding the Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) to add factory-specific data and improve geographical coverage in order to directly inform LCA data within the Product Tools; 

• actively working to improve data quality of the background datasets, specifically in cotton fiber  and textile wet processing;

• exploring the best way to fold the Higg MSI into the Higg PM, so that the material life cycle data is viewed as part of full product LCAs; and

• aligning with the EU Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) – an evolving LCA methodology, that aims to create a harmonized common framework for calculating and communicating impact — once it is finalized and, if applicable, with other common standardized methods in the future. 

In other cases, recommendations for improvement will be incorporated during the next phase of tool development by the SAC, including, for example, adding signals and warnings on front-end content within the platform, as well as offering more training sessions and educational opportunities to help users correctly and more effectively use the tools. 

Finally, taking action on some of the expert recommendations will require a deeper process of stakeholder engagement and research in order to confirm both applicability and feasibility. For example, the SAC is closely monitoring the progress made in ways to assess the full impacts of marine litter and microplastics in LCA data. 

Ultimately, the ongoing evolution of the tools means the SAC will continue to assess the experts’ recommendations over the coming months and how best to implement them in the tools’ development roadmap. 

“At Eastman Exports, we’ve seamlessly integrated the Higg Materials Sustainability Index (MSI) and the Higg Product Module (PM) into our core sustainability strategy,” said Alagesan Senniappan, Senior Vice President, Quality Assurance/ESG. “The Higg MSI has empowered us with a profound grasp of our materials’ environmental impact, facilitating data-driven decisions and the adoption of sustainable alternatives. The Higg PM has been transformative in evaluating our product life cycles, pinpointing critical areas for reducing our environmental footprint – from raw material sourcing to end-of-life considerations. Our unwavering commitment is to continue this sustainability journey with the invaluable support of these indispensable tools.”

The remaining Higg Index Review reports for the Higg Brand and Retail Module (BRM) and the Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) are expected in 2024. The Higg BRM was recently updated in March 2023, and the Higg FEM tool will be updated in November 2023. Based on the timing of these updates, the Higg Product Tools were reviewed first. The remaining Higg Index Review reports will be shared in full by the SAC once they have been finalized by the review panels.