The manifesto, published by IAF and ITMF, is a step closer towards responsible purchasing practices and calls on the apparel and industry stakeholders to:

• Put audit fatigue back on the agenda. The increasing call for good purchasing practices in the era of mandatory human rights due diligence ensures now more than ever is the time to address this issue decisively.
• Acknowledge that working with third party standard holders rather than using proprietary standards should, in the vast majority of cases, be the preferred option for brands and retailers.
• Acknowledge that, based on clear evidence, the Social & Labor Convergence Program’s Converged Assessment Framework (CAF) is the most promising road to successfully reducing duplicative social auditing: supply chain actors (brands and manufacturers) should accept and adopt the CAF; standard holders should converge and integrate or accept SLCP data in their systems.
• Put much more effort into the reduction of standard fatigue, calling specifically on standard holders to reduce unnecessary, small and non-contentious differences in standards.

According to IAF and ITMF, reducing the audit burden on suppliers is increasingly recognised as an important step towards responsible purchasing practices.

It adds that publications like the 2022 Better Buying Purchasing Practices Index (BBPPI) showed that more than 60% of suppliers say their buyers now accept standardised audits or assessments instead of implementing their own proprietary tool.

The two organisations believe this is evident that more progressive brands and retailers are driving an industry-wide shift to reduce repetitive and wasteful auditing.

IAF and ITMF said this manifesto is a part of their collaborative effort, the Standard Convergence Initiative (SCI).

Launched in 2021, the SCI aims to encourage alignment between industry and multi-stakeholder initiatives as well as brand or retailer proprietary tools to help combat audit and standard fatigue in the textile and footwear sector.

Recently, global non-profit Sustainable Apparel Coalition and multi-stakeholder initiative Social & Labor Convergence Program officially parted ways to become two separate entities but reaffirmed their commitment to continue to streamline assessments, reduce duplication, and foster harmonisation in social and labour tools across sectors.