Responsible Supply Chains By: Somara Son


The entire supply chain of the fashion industry consumes materials and resources everyday, which heavily impacts the environment. Stella McCartney’s commitment to building sustainable supply chains is a vow to assess every aspect of the way that the company’s manufacturing, transportation, and selling activities use resources and impact the planet. This is one of the most important focuses to building a less harmful business because the impacts of carrying out supply chain activities are often overlooked. As businesses have access to become more scalable (through the advancement of communications and technology) this has meant for exponentially growing consumption of non-renewable and non-biodegradable materials. From the time someone starts sketching a design to the second it reaches the landfill, one garment can promote excessive use of fuel, plastic, paper, water, and also jeopardize the health of a company's stakeholders.
Ensuring that companies are building sustainable supply chains, sets up a business to carry out a low impact on the environment from the start. The fashion industry is the second largest polluter, behind the oil industry, therefore the long processes of fueling supply chains is highly influential on emitting pollutants and consuming non-renewables. Controlling what kinds of materials are used in supply chains from sourcing to selling will allow the fashion industry to reduce a large part of the negative impact that it has on the planet. It will more instantly ensure that less plastic is being put into landfills, while in the long term, it can help local producers of materials care for the health of their communities.

One step that a fashion company can take to implementing the use of sustainable raw materials is to replace the packaging that garments are transported in to more sustainable options. A practical partnership in this endeavor can be made through the company EarthPack , which already partners with some retailers like Zumiez, to implement recycled e-commerce packaging and shopping bags. Eagle Fabrics also offers a great partnership opportunity for fashion businesses that rely heavily upon the usage of cotton and polyester in their garments. Eagle fabrics offers recycled polyester and other sustainable fabrics for garment production. When it comes to running a business, the facilities in which everyday activities are put into action, also have a great impact on the environment. The Mohawk Group presents great innovations for commercial businesses in terms of sustainable flooring options. While this may appear to be a minute detail of the supply chain, the production and discarding of traditional flooring is greatly harmful to communities and life below sea. When assessing how sustainable a business is, we must look at every effort to implement sustainable raw materials into their entire supply chain.



References
Eagle Fabrics. (2018). Retrieved March 21, 2018, from http://eaglefabrics.com
Eagle Fabrics. (2018). Retrieved March 21, 2018, from http://eaglefabrics.com
EARTHPACK. (2018). Retrieved March 21, 2018, from http://www.earthpack.com
Mohawk Group. (2018). Retrieved March 21, 2018, from https://www.mohawkgroup.com
Eagle Fabrics. (2018). Retrieved March 21, 2018, from http://eaglefabrics.com
EARTHPACK. (2018). Retrieved March 21, 2018, from http://www.earthpack.com
Mohawk Group. (2018). Retrieved March 21, 2018, from https://www.mohawkgroup.com
Eagle Fabrics. (2018). Retrieved March 21, 2018, from http://eaglefabrics.com
EARTHPACK. (2018). Retrieved March 21, 2018, from http://www.earthpack.com

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