Mckinsey Report: Large-Scale Sustainable Procurement Is The Key To Achieving Sustainable Reform In The Fashion Industry.

Fashion s new must-have: sustainable sourcing at scale (the new element of fashion industry: large-scale sustainable procurement), released by Mckinsey& Companys, is the most important issue in the development strategy of garment enterprises.

In order to gain a deeper understanding of the supply chain and purchasing concept of garment enterprises, McKinsey interviewed chief purchasing officers of 64 world-renowned clothing enterprises, and these chief procurement officers purchased more than $100 billion each year. In addition, McKinsey has conducted surveys of industry experts and consumers in the US and Europe.

Although the overwhelming majority of respondents believe that fashion companies will use more sustainable materials, reduce their carbon footprint and improve supply chain transparency, and believe that the whole industry will successfully complete the sustainable reform in 2025. But McKinsey said that although the output of sustainable clothing is growing at a rate of 5 times a year, the market share is still low. In the first half of 2019, less than 1% of all fashion items were sustainable goods. In order to successfully accomplish the sustainable reform, the vast majority of garment enterprises need to make drastically different changes.

　　 The report points out that in the next 5 years, large-scale sustainable procurement will greatly promote the sustainable development of garment enterprises. In communicating with the Chief Procurement Officer interviewed, they summed up 4 key points of sustainable procurement:

Embrace sustainable materials: Although the proportion of commodities that use sustainable ingredients is still small, chief procurement officers will be buying large scale sustainable materials in the next few years. The vast majority of respondents said that in 2025, more than half of the clothing materials would be made up of sustainable materials.

Improving the transparency and traceability of the supply chain: about 80% of the chief procurement officers hope to achieve transparency in the supply chain in 2025; 60% of the respondents indicated that they would further enhance the transparency of the supply chain and provide supplier information when consumers buy goods.

To become a strategic partner with suppliers: to attach importance to social responsibility and sustainable development, so that enterprises need to pay more attention when choosing suppliers. 2/3 of respondents said that the importance of sustainable development has become a major factor in their choice of suppliers.

Better planning procurement process: 2/3 of respondents believe that the implementation of sustainable ideas in the procurement process will increase the cost by 1% to 5%, but it is very worthwhile.

　　 For enterprises, "material shortage", "cost growth" and "material quality" are the biggest problems they face in the process of sustainable procurement transformation.

95% of respondents believe that the supply of sustainable materials is most worrying.

89% of respondents believe that choosing sustainable materials may lead to cost growth.

47% of respondents questioned the quality of sustainable materials.

Although enterprises will inevitably lead to cost growth at the beginning of sustainable reform, they will not be paid by consumers. Data show that the price of organic cotton t-shirts in the United Kingdom is 10% less than that of traditional cotton replacement products, and the price of jeans made of recycled materials is only 1% higher than that of ordinary jeans.