Made-By’s 2010 Annual Report

93 % of CEOs believe that sustainability issues will be critical to the future success of their business’, according to the 2010 UN Global Compact-Accenture CEO Study. Despite the recession and recent financial crises, sustainability is set to play a hugely important role in the future of business, so feels Nico Roozen, Solidaridad CEO, quoting the above in the foreword of the Made-By 2010 Annual Report, which has recently been released.
 

Showing the progress already being made by brands, year on year, in the field of sustainable fashion the report includes interviews with key stakeholders alongside twenty four partner brand Scorecards, communicating their transparency and progress made in both social and environmental standards. The Annual Report 2010 will be available in an interactive online version via the Made-By website and includes enhanced Scorecard features, giving further contextual brand information. 
 
The report’s findings of improvements in factory social conditions across the partner brands are very encouraging. In 2010 over 2,750,000 garments were manufactured in Class A, B or C certified factories; those in low risk countries or meeting respected standards such as SA8000, BSCI or WRAP certification. This is a marked increase of 39 % on the 2009 report, Made-By reports. The effects of increased cotton prices throughout 2010 are still being widely felt and we have seen a 26 % decrease in organic cotton usage amongst our partner brands compared with 2009. Made-By are actively working with brands in the long term on a dedicated 3 to 5 year cotton strategy to address this reduction.
 
Made-By has been very excited to welcome Ted Baker as the first UK based international brand to become a partner as of May 2010. Included in the report is an interview with two of the brand’s sustainability key players, Donald Browne and Holly Sherwood, discussing the process and benefits of what has become a highly successful relationship: “We want to continue making lots of small steps on our journey towards sustainability by working with our factories and suppliers to help us to achieve our goals and for us to keep developing our collections in order to make them as sustainable as they can be,” Donald Browne, Production Director, Ted Baker, states.
 
This partnership is an example of the trend which has seen Made-By moving to collaborate with larger and more international brands, in 2010 working on such projects as sustainable fibre workshops with G-Star, Tommy Hillfiger and WE Fashion. “We are really happy to see the increased appetite for sustainability amongst well respected mainstream fashion brands. They understand that in order to future proof their business they need to get greater control over their supply chain and this can be done using sustainability measure,” UK General Manager Allanna McAspurn (picture) says.

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