// H&M Group tops the Fashion Revolution transparency index, scoring 73%
// Max Mara, Mexx, Pepe Jeans & Tom Ford reveal nothing about their practices – scoring 0%
H&M, Adidas and Marks & Spencer have been ranked among the world’s most transparent major fashion retailers, according to the 2020 fashion transparency index.
The index, which is compiled by the Fashion Revolution campaign group, scores the world’s largest fashion businesses according to how much information they disclose about their sustainability practices, social and environmental policies and supply chains.
H&M Group – which includes Cos, & Other Stories, Arket, Monki, H&M Home and Weekday – topped the index scoring 73 per cent.
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This year marks the first occasion that any brand has scored above 70 per cent for its transparency.
German fast-fashion chain C&A came in second scoring 70 per cent.
Sportswear giants Adidas and Reebok followed both with 69 per cent, then Esprit scored 64 per cent, and Marks & Spencer and Patagonia both scoring 60 per cent.
Puma, Asos, Nike and VF Corporation – the parent company of The North Face, Timberland, Vans and Wrangler also came in the top 10.
More brands than ever disclosed their suppliers, with 40 per cent disclosing their top-tier suppliers, up from 35 per cent last year.
The joint lowest-scoring retailers included Max Mara, Mexx, Pepe Jeans, Bally, Jessica Simpson and Tom Ford, which all scored zero per cent after revealing nothing at all about their practices for 2020.
The index also included an additional 50 brands including online retailer PrettyLittleThing, which scored only nine per cent.
“While we are seeing notable progress made on transparency, there is still much more fashion brands can do to provide credible and comprehensive data that enables consumers to make better decisions, unions and NGOs to help brands do better for workers and the living planet, and any other stakeholders to drive further progress,” policy director and report author Sarah Ditty said.
Gucci was the highest-performing luxury brand with a score of 48 per cent, up from 40 per cent last year.
The research was undertaken before the Covid-19 outbreak, and the pandemic has made the issues of transparency more pressing than ever, according to Fashion Revolution co-founder Carry Somers.
“This crisis has started to bring to light some of the systemic problems within the industry and revealed just how fragile the system is,” she said.
As we come out of the other side of this crisis, Somers said, transparency will be vital “to start to build a more responsible industry”.
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