34 brands and retailers have publicly stated their acceptance of Social & Labour Convergence Program (SLCP) verified assessments in place of their proprietary audit schemes, creating a reduction in unnecessary audits in their supply chains.
SLCP is a multi-stakeholder initiative made up of over 200 signatories. This includes some of the world’s leading manufacturers, brands, retailers, industry groups, international and governmental organisations, service providers and civil society groups. SLCP signatories collectively developed the Converged Assessment Framework (CAF) to replace the multitude of repetitive and duplicative social and labour audits with one single, high-quality tool.
SLCP officially launched the Converged Assessment Framework in June 2019 and has gradually expanded operations to include key production countries globally over the last year. SLCP is now active in over 30 countries and, so far, over 1000 facilities have completed an SLCP verified assessment.
A growing list of brands, retailers and organisations accepting SLCP verified assessments instead of conducting their own social audits on suppliers is demonstrating real progress towards SLCP’s goal of reducing the audit burden on manufacturers and freeing up resources to improve working conditions, the body said.
While 34 are now publicly stating that they will accept SLCP verified data instead of conducting their own proprietary audits, others are in the process of adapting their systems with a view to accepting SLCP verified data in the near future. In addition to 33 individual brands and retailers, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), which includes more than 250 members, is also included on the list of organizations that accept SLCP, having fully integrated the Converged Assessment Framework as the backbone of their Facility Social & Labor Tool (Higg FSLM).
“With the world still in the grips of a global pandemic which continues to disrupt supply chains and severely impact the lives of workers, never has the need for industry collaboration, efficiency, and reliable social and labor data been stronger. SLCP enables widespread sharing of one single verified assessment, eliminating the need for each buyer to conduct their own audit on a supplier. This decreases costs for brands and manufacturers alike and reduces the practical barriers of multiple auditors visiting a facility while access may be restricted due to Covid-19,” the body said.
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By GlobalDataMarissa Pagnani McGowan, SVP of corporate responsibility at PVH Corp, said the adoption of the tool has freed up valuable time and resources for the group’s suppliers, enabling it to work more productively together to scale positive impacts across the supply chain.
