A free, open source, global map of garment factories worldwide has officially launched in a move to help brands and retailers better understand their supply chains and collaborate on in-factory improvements.
Funded by the C&A Foundation, the Open Apparel Registry (OAR) aims to become the go-to source for identifying all global apparel facilities and their affiliations by collating disparate supplier lists from sources including apparel brands and retailers into one central, open source map and database.
The launch follows a beta release in 2018 and a series of improvements based on user feedback.
The OAR compiles data from multiple sources including large datasets from multistakeholder initiatives (MSIs), brand and retailer supplier lists, facilities and factory groups, service providers and government databases. It maps these garment facilities worldwide and assigns a unique ID number to each.
Until now, most apparel factories are logged across multiple, inconsistent databases with many more facilities completely unaccounted for. Even the most conscientious brands have struggled to maintain visibility over the manufacturers beyond the first tier of their supply chains, with the lack of accountability contributing to the apparel industry’s failed attempts to rid supply chains of forced labour, child labour, poor working conditions, and environmentally harmful practices.
“As we launch the Open Apparel Registry, we look forward to seeing all the ways the industry will use the tool for its work,” says project director Natalie Grillon. “As part of its development, we’ve conducted an extensive stakeholder consultation exercise, gathering input and feedback from across the industry – from non-profits working on the ground in major sourcing countries and the factories themselves, to major global brands and the industry MSIs.
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By GlobalData“Based on this input, we’re confident that we’ve built a tool that will be of practical use throughout the industry, enabling organisations to better understand their supply chains, collaborate on in-factory improvements and act as a source of truth on name and address information for global apparel facilities.”
The collated database of facility names, addresses and affiliated parties is powered by an advanced name and address-matching algorithm and will be available for use by any organisation, for free, to:
- Update and standardise facility names and addresses against the database;
- Understand affiliations of current and prospect facilities to identify opportunities for collaboration;
- Find potential new suppliers listed with their affiliations;
- Leverage the OAR ID as a unique and shared ID across software systems and databases.
The OAR is a non-profit organisation, with a multistakeholder board of directors and a working group that includes Amfori, Fair Factories Clearinghouse, SAC, SEDEX and ZDHC. Technical provider Azavea has led software development activities leading up to the launch, and has a two-year grant from C&A Foundation to continue development and maintenance of the OAR.
“This groundbreaking initiative is the first to share, free of charge, important industry data across brands, retailers, manufacturers, multi-stakeholder initiatives, and civil society,” says Leslie Johnston, executive director at C&A Foundation. “By doing so, the OAR accelerates collaboration within the apparel industry and contributes to a new paradigm of open data, which we believe is critical to making fashion a force for good.”
Andreas Streubig, director of global sustainability at German fashion house Hugo Boss concurs. “The OAR will offer a unique platform that helps to increase transparency in highly complex textile supply chains. By consolidating and mapping information from multiple sources, a high level of quality and comparability is achieved. Hugo Boss attaches great importance to such an approach. Only by joining forces from all industry players, we can achieve systematic sustainability improvements in the textile and fashion industry.”
