Higg Index and data collection with GABBA

Fashion brands are meeting demands from retailers to up their sustainability game. Retailers want to provide their customers with more responsible brands, and the option of shopping with sustainability in mind. One of such requirements, set by one of Europe’s biggest online retailers Zalando, is to have a Higg score. To GABBA, this demand started their CSR journey.

The overwhelming elephant of sustainability

GABBA had tried to get started with sustainability more than once. But every time they were discouraged and overwhelmed by the subject. It seemed like there were a million places to start, but no way to ensure you got around everything. Once again, the imagery of sustainability as a big elephant weren’t far off.

When GABBA, like many other fashion companies, faced the demands from online retailers to get a Higg score, they knew that there was no way around it. Now was the time – but they needed assistance.

In the last months of winter, a recommendation sent them in the direction of Sustainawear, who had just launched their Higg Assistance packages. The timing was just right! A close partnership started, and the outcome was far more than a Higg score.

Collecting data for Higg

In terms of Higg, GABBA was getting an early start. Afterall, the Higg deadline was not until June. This made time for a lot of important work, and the foundation for GABBA’s future CSR actions was laid out.

It was agreed that when time came, Sustainawear would help answer the questionnaire. But to be able to do that, we needed the facts. The data collection began, and so did the actions.

In the months prior to the deadline, a lot of work was conducted. In close coorperation with Sustainawear, GABBA got the right policies and a code of conduct, mapped their materials use and suppliers, they got a strategic audit program and a material strategy. All while collecting the data on transportation and packaging needed for filling out the questionnaire in June.

Getting everyone involved

But GABBA was not about to lean back, and just let Sustainawear do all the work. They wanted to get their hands “dirty” too.

So, they signed up for Sustainawear Community’s online bootcamp “Getting started with sustainability” and involved their employees in the work. Over the course of 8 weeks, a trusted employee watched videos and completed tasks, while meeting with founder Anne Katrine Blirup and other members of the community online every second week.

An appetite for more

After the bootcamp was over and the Higg questionnaire filled out, it would have been a natural time to say our goodbyes. But luckily our cooperation continues, and GABBA remains a member of the Sustainawear Community and a customer of our CSR consultancy services.

To make matters even better, GABBA and Sustainawear has joined forces on Fremtidens Tekstilkrav, where Sustainawear will help them making even more progress.