IMPACT+ environmental Index Measures Promoting Assessment and Circular Transparency in fashion

Significant challenges lie in the collation, analysis and assessment of data generated to determine the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of products, processes and behaviours throughout the fashion and textiles value chain. The root cause of these problems lies in the absence of standardised test methods when quantifying impact and has led to a lack of industry trust, with many brands developing their own ways of measuring impact. Adding further, is the development of The Green Claims Code in 2021 by the UK government which implements governance to avoid companies making unsubstantiated or inaccurate environmental claims, often leading to accusations of greenwashing. Kering for example, have developed their own Environmental Profit and Loss tool that relies on self-reporting methods of primary data from brands and suppliers to relate impact to financial progress. In comparison, Pangaia in collaboration with Green Story (project partner) adopt a lifecycle analysis (LCA) approach using 13 impact metrics. These diverse measurement methods further add to the blurred boundaries of EIA and prohibits comparability across the industry. Furthermore, data generated is being utilised to inform policy development, industry action and consumer behaviour, meaning reliable, authentic, and useable EIA data is paramount.

Critical issues encountered with current EIA methods include:
- Collation: data generated being siloed by stages within the value chain resulting in fragmented measures and preventing comparability; methods of data collection relying on self-reporting from brands/suppliers with a lack of verification; accessibility to EIA tools requiring financial buy-in, limiting transparency and data accessibility
- Analysis: a lack of standardised test methods to determine and categorise environmental impact; small or limited data sets being scaled up and applied in unsubstantiated contexts; vested interest from funding sources or board members creating biases with the generation and interpretation of data
- Assessment: no consideration of the collinearity between measured factors, failing to acknowledge primary, secondary, and tertiary impacts; disparate efforts from stakeholders and disciplines resulting in the lack of collective action; an absence of accepted baselines and thresholds for environmental impact; the invalid use of sustainability scales impeding understanding and comparability

In response, the IMPACT+ Network aims to: 1) assemble critical knowledge from the scientific (environmental, forensic and data) and fashion design communities to examine the reliability, authenticity and usability of current EIA methods (e.g., The Higg Index, EU Ecolabel, Good on You); 2) build a world-leading, multi-stakeholder network (brands, manufacturers, retailers, textile recyclers, consumers) to build a greater level of transparency and accuracy in the EIA of products, processes and behaviours.

This will be achieved through the delivery of a collaborative programme of activities, across the 24-month project duration and structured across 4 methodological phases (P): P1 - IMPACT+ Symposium; P2 - Impact Analysis; P3 - Discipline Hopping; P4 - Beyond IMPACT+. Central to this will be NetworkPlus funded projects that will explore environmental impact through discipline hopping activities in 4 different areas: materials; manufacturing; consumer use; end-of-life. Critical dialogue between projects and disciplines will develop circular knowledge systems to generate innovative insights and new knowledge.

Impact will be generated across 4 critical areas (scholarship, industry, consumers, policy), each contributing to the advancement of knowledge to improve the collation, analysis, and assessment of EIA metrics. This will be reflected in key project outputs including: cross-disciplinary hybrid methodologies; a stakeholder co-created framework; new knowledge demonstrated through publication; the legacy of the IMPACT+ Network.