Amina Razvi, Executive Director, Sustainable Apparel Coalition

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is a global multistakeholder nonprofit organization working to advance social and environmental sustainability within the apparel industry.  The SAC accomplishes this by creating a pre-competitive space in which members can collaborate to align on and standardize metrics that matter so that companies can better understand their individual risks and opportunities and can work together collectively to drive impactful change across the industry.    

The SAC has over 250 members including leading brands such as Walmart, Zappos, and REI, prominent manufacturers such as TAL Group, Li & Fung, and Arvind, and NGOs such as the World Resources Institute (WRI), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and Business for Social Responsibility (BSR).

The SAC’s signature piece of work is the Higg Index which is a suite of five tools designed to enable brands, retailers, and facilities of all sizes and at every stage in their sustainability journey to accurately measure and score a company, facility, or product’s sustainability performance and to make meaningful improvements that protect the well-being of factory workers, local communities, and the environment.

Overview of the Higg Index

The Higg Index is the most comprehensive and holistic framework in the world for measuring sustainability performance in the apparel industry.  It includes two product-focused tools, two facilities-based tools, and one global tool for brands and retailers. 

The tools provide a standard process for assessment that can then be used for benchmarking and apples-to-apples comparisons.  They also offer those just beginning their efforts a structured place to start which can make the process of data collection and strategy development much less overwhelming.    

Higg Product Tools

The Higg Product tools use life cycle assessment data to inform the decision-making process at every stage of product development.  

The Higg Materials Sustainability Index (Higg MSI) enables designers and product developers to assess and compare the cradle-to-gate impacts of millions of possible manufacturing variations, which in turn allows them to make better materials and production choices.  Decisions at this stage of product development can significantly impact an apparel company’s Scope 3 emissions and the Higg MSI tool can play a key role in the achievement of Science Based Targets.   

The Higg Product Module (Higg PM) assesses the performance of a whole garment or shoe against five environmental impacts including water pollution and scarcity, chemistry, and fossil fuel depletion. 

Higg Facility Tools 

The Higg Facility tools allow manufacturing facilities around the world to measure and improve their sustainability performance.  

The Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) assesses a facility across several dimensions such as energy & GHG emissions, water use & effluent, waste management, and chemicals.  The Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (Higg FSLM) focuses on topics including working hours, wages & benefits, health & safety, and empowering communities.  

Beyond the clear environmental and social benefits provided, the Higg Facility tools add an exceptional amount of value to manufacturing facilities in particular because the facilities are able to report their performance to multiple customers via the digital Higg Index platform.  This greatly reduces the reporting burden placed on manufacturing facilities and moves the focus of conversations between buyers and suppliers away from auditing and reporting and towards engagement and improvement.  

Higg Brand and Retail Tool

The Higg Brand and Retail Tool is used to evaluate and improve an entire company’s management systems, products, supply chains, packaging, retail stores, offices, transportation, and distribution centers.  Each of these business areas are assessed across eleven environmental dimensions and sixteen social dimensions including GHG emissions, deforestation, water scarcity, forced labor, decent work, and sexual harassment.  

The Brand and Retail module identifies a company’s most material risks and opportunities and provides guidance for developing improvement strategies that are directly aligned with core business strategy. It adds additional value in that it facilitates data collection and reporting of progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Science Based Targets, and the G7 Fashion Pact.

How has Covid-19 impacted the SAC?

The SAC was formed in 2010 in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.  Organizations across the industry began coming together and being open about the fact that while many of us had individual programs and proprietary tools, we weren’t making the progress we needed to as a whole.  That’s what started us on the path to developing scalable solutions that could enable us to address the systemic issues we were facing together.   

Ten years later, another crisis, this time the Covid-19 pandemic, has shined an even brighter light on the impact that systemic issues such as social unrest and the urgency of climate change can have on people and the planet.  It really highlighted the importance of having a strategy for identifying and managing these risks and the business value of taking collective action.  As a result, we’ve seen rapid growth in both our membership and our team over the last year. 

The tools are ready for widespread adoption and we’re in a great position to support true industry transformation. Now, all businesses need to step up and accelerate action using existing, proven solutions towards shared industry goals. The world is watching how our industry addresses climate change and human rights issues, presenting a unique opportunity to rebuild better than before and potentially becoming a model for how other industries can collaborate. 

What updates to the Higg Index can we look forward to?

The tools are continuously evolving to align with the latest science and best practices and ensure we are addressing the most prevalent issues.  We’re also constantly making improvements to better integrate the tools across the index and to align with other leading standards such as CDP so that we can reduce duplication of effort and make it easier for members to focus less on data and reporting and more on driving performance improvement and accelerating collective action.  

In partnership with our technology partner Higg, the SAC launched the first phase of our transparency program this year. The Higg Index transparency program provides a unified way for brands, retailers, and manufacturers to share sustainability performance information on apparel and footwear across four impact categories such as water use, water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and use of fossil fuels.

After ten years of developing the methodology for the most robust end-to-end sustainability measurement framework in the industry, the Higg Index, we are ready to scale these tools towards transforming the industry. While measuring and reporting is important to understand your baseline and show achievements, transparency is critical for holding the fashion industry accountable to actual progress on reducing our impact and increasing social justice. 

This first phase of the program will disclose data on a product’s environmental impact based on its materials, but in the future, it will expand to include data on manufacturing and corporate responsibility. This is extremely complex work and will take time to build, but we’re committed to doing it right and partnering with others — in a way that best serves consumers and allows them to make more informed decisions about the products they buy and the companies they buy from.  Amazon, H&M, and Norrona were among the first brands to participate. We recently welcomed Tommy Hilfiger into the program and are getting ready to announce more partners soon. Transparency is a journey and I’m sure we’ll all learn a lot along the way, but having an industry-wide standard is a critical first step.

What do you actually do all day?

My daughter would say I spend a lot of time in meetings talking to my friends, which is true.  Every day is entirely different, but the bulk of my time is spent supporting our members and my team, building relationships with members and partners, and actively driving positive collaboration to move our work and the industry forward.  

What are some of the key skills for success in this role?

It is absolutely critical to have a collaborative mindset, collaboration is the only way this work gets done.  I’m always balancing the needs and agendas of many different stakeholders which requires a lot of give and take and relies on the strength of the relationships I’ve built throughout my career.   

Systems thinking is also very important. This is an incredibly complex industry that is constantly evolving and changing.  There are a lot of moving pieces and you have to be able to keep the bigger picture in mind even during times when you’re diving into the details.   

Industry knowledge is certainly a requirement, but no one person can know it all.  You have to be willing to constantly learn and be open to relying on others to support you. I rely on my team because they are all such subject matter experts with incredible experience.   You can’t get bogged down with trying to know everything, it’s not possible, it’s more important to have a good sense of what you do know and who to reach out to for guidance on other areas. I’ve been really fortunate to work with and partner with colleagues who know so much and are willing to share their knowledge with me. I learn something new every day. 

Prioritization and reprioritization are constant.  Keeping our strategy and key priorities in mind and ensuring that that’s where I’m spending the bulk of my time is something I try to do on a daily basis.

What is your favorite part of your job?

I get to wake up every morning knowing that the work I’m doing makes a difference in the world for people, the planet, and my kids.  That’s a huge motivator for me and it’s what drives me to work as hard as I do.  It’s not easy but it is very rewarding. 

I also get to work with really amazing, smart, passionate, dedicated people that I learn from every day.  My staff, the board, and our members are all really inspiring people to work with and I love being a part of this community that’s so committed to driving positive change. When things get tough, I know that my team has my back and that I’m not alone. It’s part of what makes this job worthwhile.

What is the hardest part of your job?

I also have to be very comfortable with uncertainty.  This is an incredibly complex industry and every day we’re learning about new issues and challenges that we need to address.  The rate of change that we are all going through, both personally and professionally, is immense and some days it’s hard to keep up. You have to try to make the best decisions based on what you know at the time – and that isn’t always easy. But, as with any challenge, you go through it, you learn, you evolve and ultimately you are better for it.

We’re also a global company with members all over the world, which means that we all work long hours across different time zones.  On some days I’m on calls at both 6am and 9pm, which can make it challenging to juggle my personal and professional life. The pandemic really disrupted the boundary between work and home life and so it’s been a challenge to find that balance, but it’s also been a learning experience about what is important to focus my time and attention on.

What is your proudest professional achievement?

Being appointed to this role as Executive Director.  I’m extremely humbled and grateful for the faith and trust that our members and the board have placed in me to lead this work and organization forward.  I’m very excited now that the tools are complete and we can start to drive the adoption of these tools and really start to see the impact of our work.  We have so much work to do and no time to waste.

What are the game changers in your world?

I firmly believe that scaling standardized measurement tools like the Higg Index and proven solutions will drive the collaborative action that is needed to address the urgency of this moment. Partnership is the new leadership, no one company can go it alone anymore. That was really brought to light last year when things broke down across the industry; we have to work collectively to drive change that addresses systemic issues that affect us all.

What was your path to this role?

I grew up as a child of immigrants outside of Chicago where I saw homeless people in the city; I just couldn’t understand how we could have homeless people in this great country.  So, I decided at a young age that I wanted to be an architect and build houses for those that didn’t have one. It was a simplistic idea, but one rooted in social justice. 

My undergraduate degree was in architecture, sustainable design, and international development.  As an architect in Chicago, I worked on everything from low-income housing to skyscrapers, but I always tried to incorporate green building practices into my work.  

Later I moved to San Francisco and began a role at GAP, Inc. working on store design as an in-house architect.  I designed the first LEED certified store for Old Navy and then rolled out green building and design principles to the rest of the portfolio.  That led me to a role on the Corporate Social Responsibility team where I was able to take the work I did at Old Navy and expand it to the broader corporate portfolio such as office buildings, distribution centers and across the supply chain.  GAP was a founding member of the SAC and I was involved with the SAC from the beginning, rolling out the Higg Facility Module and piloting all other Higg Index tools within the business.  

About five years ago I joined SAC as Vice President of Membership, which was a perfect fit since I knew firsthand how companies could effectively adopt the use of our tools and leverage the insights to inform more strategic decisions within their business.  That role eventually led to my appointment as Executive Director.  

What’s your advice to someone interested in a role like this?

I generally encourage people to start out by working in the business in a non-CSR focused role.  It’s important to really understand the drivers, challenges, and opportunities that come from within the business itself.  That’s how we’re going to integrate sustainability so that it’s fundamentally woven into how the business operates.  Whether it’s a product or sourcing role, it’s important to have that grounding and insight. It really makes it easier when you’re having those conversations internally to understand the drivers for those different departments and how to align and support their efforts.   

Also, right now, we need all employees, regardless of their job function, to view their roles as climate change leaders, and pioneers for social justice. Everyone needs to take action within their sphere of influence and accountability to drive new ways of thinking and operating that allow us to create opportunity and value for everyone. 

When we’re hiring for the SAC, it’s important that any applicant knows the industry well, but we also look for team players with a collaborative mindset.  Our work moves fast and you have to be a naturally curious self-starter that can adapt and change to our rapidly evolving industry.  

What are your favorite resources?

To keep up with what’s going on in the industry I follow several trade and blog sites such as  Ecotextile News, Business of Fashion, Sourcing Journal, EcoCult, Fibre2Fashion, Just Style, American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA), GreenBiz, Vogue Sustainability and updates from the EU Policy Hub. 

For general global and business trends, I get digests from many different outlets and read a lot from Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Forbes, Guardian,  Wired, and listen to Ted Talk podcasts regularly. I also really like both Brene Brown’s and Simon Sinek’s podcasts on leadership. 

I really enjoyed the book All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katherine Wilkinson I often attend or speak at the CFS+Textile Exchange, GreenBiz, Retail Industry Leaders Association, Sustainable Brands, Business for Social Responsibility, and AAFA conferences.

Who is your sustainability hero?

I’m hugely impressed by Greta Thunberg. The poise that she has at such a young age and the grit and conviction that she’s shown is incredibly inspiring.  She’s ignited the cause for a generation, and she speaks for a lot of people who believe that this is an emergency and should be treated as such.  She doesn’t mince words, isn’t afraid to call leaders to task and has galvanized a movement to advocate for urgent action. We saw this at COP this week.

And right now, that’s what we need. We need everyone, regardless of their job or role, to view their roles as climate change leaders and pioneers for social justice. To take action within their sphere of influence and accountability and drive new ways of thinking and operating that allow us to create opportunity and value for everyone. Systemic change requires systemic action,  so it will take all of us – at every level, of every organization –  to advocate and act on behalf of all, for a more sustainable future.