Compliance is essential given the onslaught of environmental and social legislation on the horizon, but could upcoming regulations finally reduce the countless audits apparel manufacturers are expected to carry out?

The apparel sector is dealing with a raft of new regulation, explains the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA)’s senior vice president of policy, Nate Herman.

Social & Labor Convergence Program (SLCP) CEO Janet Mensink puts it more bluntly by calling it an “avalanche” of emerging legislative frameworks.

Irrespective of how you word it, the ultimate goal of all this legislation and regulation is to achieve transparency and visibility as well as ensure compliance goes all the way back to the raw material.

Herman admits to attendees of a live discussion with Mensink on audit fatigue at the recent IAF and ITMF joint conference that audits continue to play a “critical role” in due diligence and compliance.

Sustainability has become a growing priority, but he argues, “we can’t do all the audits in the new sustainability space.”

Of course, fashion buyers depend on suppliers to meet regulations as well as their own rules, but he continues: “The relationship can’t be a one-way street – it must be a partnership”.

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Director of operations and supply chain at global full-service apparel and accessory design and manufacturing company Décor Apparel, Michael Cai, agrees and shares: “As a manufacturer we want to provide a safe environment for all workers in our global supply chain.”

But, he adds the money spent on audits can be counter-productive. He gives the example of workers being on a factory line in the middle of their task and getting pulled from their work to conduct an audit-style interview.

Cai is keen to collaborate with all stakeholders in the industry to find a solution and he reveals that for his company SLCP has provided that middle-ground for his team and workers. He explains that SLCP is a single verified assessment that eliminates the need for each fashion buyer he works with, which includes the likes of Target and Inditex to NIKE and Converse, to conduct their own audits.

How should audits be approached moving forward?

For Herman, its crucial for all audits moving forward to be both “independent and credible”.

The benefit he says is that if a manufacturer “has one audit being done that can be shared with all buyers” it “can ensure due diligence all the way through the supply chain”.

He recommends suppliers use independent audit organisations like SLCP, Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP), Business Social Compliance Initiatives (BSCI) and Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (Sedex) to reduce audit fatigue.

Herman acknowledges there are a few to choose from and many are similar, which is why the AAFA encourages its members to work with a couple to get “some standardisation and reduce the expense and resources required to fix any problems that might arise”.

Herman also explains independent audit associations “make sure their audits and certifications match the laws and regulations that are coming out,” which will be key over the next few years.

But, he is also keen to remind the sector that some regulations are already here. He uses the example of the Uighur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) in the US, which was signed by President Biden in December 2021.

The ULFPA means his US-based fashion brand and retailer members have to prove forced labour hasn’t been used anywhere in their supply chain otherwise their goods will be stopped at the US border and they will lose sales.

“It’s a big deal” and a “huge focus of our members right now along with the due diligence and compliance that comes with it,” he explains.

SLCP’s Mensink shares her organisation is seeing expansion not just from Tier 1 but also from Tier 2 and 3, which she regards as “promising” given all of the upcoming regulation coming out of the EU.

“Brands and companies are driving it and we’re diversifying to adjacent sectors,” she continues.

Mensink also highlights SLCP wants to ensure that there is a proper single measurement that other stakeholders can use to mediate and improve working conditions as well as support upcoming legislative frameworks.

She clarifies that SLCP is not a standard: ” We provide the data and we would like stakeholders to translate it and use it for improving programmes.”

Is collaboration between independent audits the answer?

At the end of the discussion the CEO and president of fellow audit organisation WRAP, Avedis Seferian tells Mensink from the audience that he’d like to work more closely with organisations such as hers.

Sensink agrees, stating: “We all want to create collaboration between our different schemes. We started some conversations a few years ago and now is the time to pick those conversations up again.”

As a manufacturer, Cai says audit fatigue is just one of a number of daily challenges. Manufacturers are expected to navigate all of the complexities of legislation, regulation, auditing, consumer behaviour changes to industry trends, new fabrics and raw materials as well as the usual complexities of the supply chain – ranging from tier 1 to tier 4. If that wasn’t enough, manufacturers have to ensure they stick to their own sustainability goals.

For us, he says, the best solution to all of these challenges, including audit fatigue, is also that buzzword – collaboration: “We build a partnership on both sides – we’re a buyer to our supplier partners and a supplier to our brands”.

Cai adds that since working with SLCP he has seen one of his factories reduce its audits from 34 to 14 and on average he used to see between eight to ten audits across his supply chain, which has also reduced.

Herman is thrilled to hear Cai’s positive real-world experience and concludes that if we “can agree on three, four or five instead of the 100s of approaches that currently stands,” it’s got to be beneficial for the entire apparel sector.

Earlier this year (July) the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Cascale (formerly the Sustainable Apparel Coalition) pushed for unified audits to boost sustainability.

By Just Style