Why helping your competitors is a good idea… 

As you are probably aware by now, the fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world after the oil industry. The fashion world has severe problems that we need to fix. But we can’t fix them alone. We need to help each other! 

Sharing makes us all richer 

Maybe not richer in the traditional sense, but richer in knowledge and good karma. Small or big issues, a piece of good advice or a question about best practises. No matter how far we have come in our work with sustainability, we all need help from time to time. 

When I worked for at large fashion company, I used to visit factories and do audits. And after each audit, I always sent an email to the other companies I knew used the same supplier. My competitors if you will. Just a small summary to let them know what I had learned by visiting the factory. My email was always met with gratitude as not everyone has the same opportunity to conduct audits as the company, I worked for. This small gesture from me didn’t make my company poorer or make them lose customers, it just provided others with some valuable knowledge. 

Much like trade unions, one person hasn’t got the power to change things, but a large group of people, who unite, do. The same is true for us. One single brand may be too small to make a difference but when we share our knowledge, we can put pressure on our suppliers and change things for the better. 

Let your buddy help you out 

After the tragic collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2013, which killed more than 1,100 people and injured many more, it became very obvious that we needed to take action and not least take responsibility as an industry. This resulted in the Bangladesh Accord that works to make all Bangladeshi garment factories safe working places. 

The accord was signed by many brands that produce garments in Bangladesh. A small brand in the accord didn’t have an office in Bangladesh and therefore was assigned a ‘buddy’. This meant that a brand large enough to have an office in Bangladesh could help this smaller brand to organize and structure the work with their suppliers to make sure that everyone was able to live up to the demands in the accord. 

This, in my opinion, is the right way to approach this complex subject and something that I’m very much inspired by. We need to be helping each other out. Because when it comes to CSR and sustainability, no man (or woman) is an island. For the sake of our planet and the people on it, we need to unite and share our knowledge. It’s the only way. 

Join our community and get help 

When you sign up for the Sustainawear Community (DKK 750/month), you get lots of courses on how to implement sustainability. There is also an online forum filled with likeminded people from the fashion industry. This is a community where we share our knowledge of what’s happening with CSR in the fashion industry. 

By joining the Sustainawear Community you also get free access to my help. This means that you always have a sustainability expert on hand. One with extensive knowledge from the fashion- and lifestyle industry, and one who loves to help other people. 

We don’t have to reinvent the wheel each time we come across a problem. Someone else has experienced the exact same issue before. I guarantee it.