Skip to main content
BoF Logo

Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

The Challenges of Labelling Sustainability

The launch of Higg’s consumer-facing product profiles is a step towards a more transparent, unified framework for talking about the impact of our clothes. But longstanding criticism of the initiative behind this programme points at wider tensions in the industry.
Cotton farm; Merino wool; spools of polyester thread.
Cotton farm; Merino wool; spools of polyester thread. Collage by BoF.

As of May 27, visitors to the websites of H&M and outdoors brand Norrona can check how much water, pollution, fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions went into making a cotton T-shirt or pair of shorts compared to the industry average. Both brands are able to disclose the information through the use of the first consumer-facing application of the Higg Index, a suite of tools developed by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) already used by numerous brands to calculate their environmental and social impact. While the programme currently focuses on materials used in a product, SAC said it will later expand to include data on manufacturing and corporate responsibility over the next 12 to 18 months.

Please sign in to ensure you can read our agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice. Or get in touch at support@businessoffashion.com if you experience difficulties.

In This Article

© 2026 The Business of Fashion. All rights reserved. For more information read our Terms & Conditions

More from Sustainability
How fashion can do better for people and the planet.

The Impact of War on Fashion’s Supply Chain

Textile hubs are already feeling the cascading risks of the conflict in Iran as Washington ramps up forced labour probes to revive tariffs, while decarbonisation in fashion’s factories might finally have a standard to go off of.


How Mexico’s Independent Women Fashion Designers Are Rethinking Growth

At Soho House Mexico City, Mexican fashion designers Carla Fernández, Bárbara Sánchez-Kane and Camila Banzo joined BoF’s Yasmine Dahlberg to speak candidly about identity, innovation and what it takes to build an independent fashion business in Mexico — as part of both Women’s History Month and the House’s ongoing Women Shaping the Future initiative.


view more
Latest News & Analysis
Unrivalled, world class journalism across fashion, luxury and beauty industries.

The Industry That Eats Its Young

Small fashion labels have always been shortchanged by their wholesale partners. A wave of high-profile bankruptcies has turned a structural injustice into an existential crisis. There is a better way to do business, writes Imran Amed.


VIEW MORE
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
CONNECT WITH US ON