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How to Apply Sustainable Principles to Your Business
Talks
Sustainability & Values

How to Apply Sustainable Principles to Your Business

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Sustainable principles go beyond working with organic cotton and shipping products in compostable packages. It’s about taking care of the whole supply chain. In other words, being aware and in control of every step of the production process. 

But, why is it important? Why do companies and brands have sustainable principles? How to control the supply chain and organize all data? 

In this article, you’ll learn everything about it. We also had the privilege of interviewing Gus Bartholomew, co-founder of SupplyCompass. Keep reading!

What is the Meaning of Sustainable Principles?

The Brundtland report from 1987 was one of the first to use the term “sustainable development”. At the time, they presented it as an alternative to the economic system that different countries utilized worldwide. And, unlike that system, it seeks to meet current needs without compromising the future of future generations.

Five years later, in Rio de Janeiro, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development detailed this idea and established an action plan for it. Project XXI, which set three areas in which global, national, and local authorities had to work in order to establish sustainable development.

The 3 Sustainable Principles

Today, a business – be it a company or brand – without values is anything. Hence, according to Rio’s summit, there are 3 main sustainable principles that you should have in mind when endeavoring.

1. Social equity

It covers important aspects such as education, health, personal safety, and leisure. With strong and true social equity, it’s possible to maintain social cohesion as well as respect the environment and economic resources of the place.

 2. Environmental Protection

Environmental protection means creating regulations and laws that prevent the exploitation of natural resources. With it, we make sure that recovery is guaranteed. Furthermore, that there won’t be an exhausting and uncontrolled use of these resources. It must also take into account the needs of the population and the economic resources of the society in which they are applied.

3. Economic feasibility

Economic feasibility obliges productive systems to meet the needs of that society without jeopardizing the natural resources and wellbeing of future generations. In other words, the system will only be implemented if it makes sense to the society that will be around it.

How to Achieve Them

Achieving sustainable principles it’s not easy and we, as a society, still have a lot to work on. However, individual attitudes make all the difference. And, therefore, each of us has an obligation to act in our personal life and work.

It is not easy to organize an entire supply chain of a business, much less manage it. Ergo, the key to mastering this is to use technologies that unify everything in one place. After all, it’s impossible to be transparent and have sustainable principles without data organization. And, that is everything SupplyCompass is about. 

 “Fashion is a creative industry, that’s why tech needs to be too”, those are Flora Davidson’s words. The Head of Product and co-founder at SupplyCompass explains that it’s essential that, in order to be really transparent, brands must organize and reunite all their data in one single place. With that, it’s possible to have your customers closer to your business, promote real transparency and, of course, make your life easier. 

“Now we live in the age of conscious and collaborative commerce” 

The words above are from Gus Bartholomew. He is the co-founder and CEO of SupplyCompass and talked with us a lot about how new technologies, such as their platform, are essential in the industry’s current reality. 

As the entrepreneur states, in the past years, brands have become closer to consumers. This happens in the sense that there is now standard practice to track and trace every brand-to-consumer interaction – whether that is the delivery schedule foresee delays, or how engaged and satisfied a customer is with your brand. Connected commerce has been transformational for both brands and consumers. 

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for brands and their manufacturers. Visibility and control over supply chain interactions are still very much stuck in the dark ages. Information remains siloed, leading to high levels of risk in terms of delivery and quality.

Gus Bartholomew said, “Brands need to be as close to their manufacturers as they are to their customers if they want to de-risk production, drive revenues and embed sustainable practices in their supply chain ”

The entrepreneur sees that the solution to this problem is SupplyCompass – Sustainable Product Development and Delivery Software for fashion that specifically focuses on better collaboration between brand and manufacturer, transforming how they work together. 

Embracing Brands & Manufacturers 

In the first two years of business, Gus and Flora Davidson visited over 300 different factories, farms, and everything that has to do with the supply chain. With that, “we really wanted to make sure that we understood the challenges that manufacturers were facing and built a solution which, by delivering value to both parties, was transformational to the whole supply chain operation”.

Gus proudly states they are “changing the way that the industry currently functions”. With SupplyCompass, production is streamlined by having a shared single source of truth workspace. That means, not only giving greater control and visibility, and speed to both parties. But also giving them away to accurately calculate their impact, foster better relationships and embed sustainable principles into their production process. 

At the end of the day, SupplyCompass “is all about bringing greater equity to the parties. With that, layering data on top of that to ensure that everything can be properly tracked and traced”. Therefore, helping brands and manufacturers to work closer together in an easy, unified and innovative way.

Everything You Should Know About SupplyCompass

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SupplyCompass is a Sustainable Product Development and Delivery Software that fashion teams use to collaborate with their manufacturers from design through to product delivery.

Their platform ensures that all communication with manufacturers and vice-versa is easily tracked, managed, and visualized on screen. Everything in one single place. Build tech packs, libraries, and fit logs, collaborate on sampling rounds, easily agree upon production milestones, and track every style up until delivery. SupplyCompass allows you to do it all in one single place and say goodbye to Asana, Excel, Email, and WeTransfer. 

Easy-to-use and designed for people working in fashion, SupplyCompass is empowering brands and manufacturers across the globe to produce and work better, together.

On their website, you can book a demo and learn more about how their technology works. 

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Credits:
Júlia Vilaça

Head of Content & Social Media

Author:
Júlia Vilaça

Head of Content & Social Media

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