What is the goal of Higg Index?

The Higg Index is a sustainable tool designed to assess the environmental and social impact of apparel and footwear products. The Higg Index (version 1.0) was launched by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) in July 2012.

SAC is an industry group whose members cover more than one-third of the global apparel and footwear market. Its updated version (Higg Index 2.0) was released in December 2013, and a new feature was introduced in the new version - Network Tool, which allows suppliers to submit Higg Index online.

The goals of the Sustainable Apparel Alliance are:

1. Understand and quantify the sustainability impact of apparel and footwear products.

2. Greatly reduce the measurement of sustainability in the redundant apparel and footwear industry.

3. Drive business value by reducing risk and exposing efficiency.

4. Establish common communication pathways for sustainability with stakeholders.

This factory module section allows suppliers to regulate how they measure and evaluate the environmental performance of their facilities.

The factory module section can be considered as:

1. A facility-level self-assessment tool that allows users to quickly learn, identify environmental sustainability hotspots, current levels, and opportunities for improvement.

2. A starting point for mobilizing stakeholder engagement, education and collaboration before conducting more rigorous assessments.

The ultimate goal of the Higg Index is to let organizations know their strengths and weaknesses, drive business value across the value chain through cost savings and innovation opportunities, and promote sustainable education and collaboration.