,I have been meaning to write this blog for some time now (frequently people ask me why did I call my consultancy 3shifts?) and so, as I sip coffee in a big chain coffee shop which sits on the site of the famous steel works (famous for making umbrellas), in my home town of Stocksbridge (near Sheffield, Yorkshire, UK), there never felt like a more apt time to enjoy my flat white coffee and put pen to paper. 

I truly believe that If you have not spoken to a worker who works 3 shifts (a 3-shift pattern – i.e. morning, afternoons and nights) I would go as far to say you are not qualified to do your job in Responsible Sourcing.

I was fortunate to have lived with Alan (my father) growing up. Alan worked his entire working life in a steel factory for 47 years. The same steel factory for 47 years! I was brought up a factory workers daughter in this community, sitting here in this new fancy coffee shop stirs all kinds of emotions for me.

I actually think that my relationship with my father should be on my CV. We are very close and through living with him, I experienced his working life with him. He experienced many violations against international labour standard conventions and it is truly thanks to him that I know how to do my job. He worked 3 shifts.

When he started work here in Stocksbridge Steel works, locally referred to as ‘down t’ yard’ (it wouldn’t feel right to write this blog without some Yorkshire dialect!), my father was only 15 years old. A child. Back in 1962 of course, 15 was a totally acceptable age here in the UK. He had very little training, no health and safety provisions and straight into a steel factory – he was in the wire mill. An unbelievable story really, especially as I look out of the window of the fancy coffee shop.

My father had pay cuts after pay cuts, and at times this led him to strike for many months. My parents struggled during strike time and relied on handouts from family. He absolutely maintains that the 47 years would not have been possible without trade union membership. They helped him fight for what was fair.

He frequently worked excessive hours per week (7 days of 12 hrs at some peaks). Whilst there were weeks and months that I hardy saw my father, these overtime hours were so valuable to enable him to help send me and my brother to further education, especially university. Of course, now on reflection, these hours are not right – but it helps me understand why workers are keen to work long hours when pay isn’t great. They want a better life for their family. 

The list of issues goes on and on, and so often I hear similar situations through my work of today. Not only has this life experience given me perspective it gives me passion to help support workers globally to get a fair deal and be treated with respect.  

The steelworks here in Stocksbridge were so important for the community and as the industry competed with global markets the pressure inevitably had a negative knock on effect to worker rights and conditions. Ethical behaviour is paramount of course, but we must not ever forget the bigger commercial forces and work with the commercial system to be as accommodating as possible to ensure that industry remains, especially in communities where it is so important. We have the fancy coffee shops now and luckily things have changed here, but the town has had 20 years of deprivation and impoverishment due to the loss of the steel works.
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I often wonder through my work as a recruitment consultant if I dare ask my candidates if they understand what working life is like for those in our supply chain. Do they understand what life is like with the challenges faced? We can imagine for sure, but actually hearing the trials and tribulations first-hand is so important to enable us as responsible sourcing professionals to do our job. 
 
So please get out of your office, get to know the workers you so often talk about. Listen and understand. See the big picture of the community and remember that sustainable futures rely on commercial activity. Fight with your passion for what is right and fair and then implement change. Also remember 15 is too young to work in a factory.
 
Lastly, the name 3shifts is inspired by something my father Alan used to say whenever he saw a white-collar worker -  ‘ a bet he dun’t werk three shifts’ (translated as ‘I don’t think they work three shifts’)
 
Alan Harvey, thankyou for everything. (Alan is now retired, age 72 and still lives in Stocksbridge)

This morning I attended the PwC annual ‘Retail Insights’ business briefing in London. Firstly, my thanks to PwC for the invite and the great summary of the events of 2018 and what we might expect in 2019. This annual event was led by Lisa Hooker, John Hawksworth and Kien Tan.PwC’s vast dataset was summarised eloquently and my commendations to the speakers for honing in on the key messages. The event left me applying the stats and findings to my field of responsible sourcing and sustainability in retail.

It is fundamentally important for all CSR professionals to take heed of these kind of insights to help formulate their own plans and deliverables over the coming year - so often we are led by the desire to make a difference by what ‘needs’ to be done, but without the ‘buy-in’ from the rest of the business it may be difficult to implement change. Without a credible business case our sustainability improvements won’t get traction. If we are smart, we can use such insights to flex and change our direction to achieve maximum output from our efforts (or impact).

Before the briefing, I can’t deny the news of declining growth and poor sales on top of the general misery that has been reported on the high street has impacted my own business as two of my clients have succumbed to market forces in the last 12 months. The good news is that overall the reality is not as cataclysmic as what is being reported in the media, and whilst sales figures are generally down, they are not quite as bad as we might think - here are some areas of optimism:  

• Less than a 1% fall in foot fall in 2018 when compared to 2017
• Black Friday sales are becoming stronger than Boxing Day sales
• Pubs and leisure saw a 4% growth
• Fast fashion for the younger market is still leading in terms of sales
• Personalised gifts and customisation did really well
• Some department stores were up - Selfridges top of the list

The PwC team went on to share ways in which the consumer is spending differently and gave predictions for consumer behavior change in 2019. Highly insightful surveys carried out by PwC show a real change in mindset, here a few that stood out to me:

• More cautious purchases
• Hunting for value for money
• Eat in more
• Overall looking to spend less

Perhaps consumer caution is partly from an unknown Brexit outcome which could have a negative economic impact greater than the financial crisis of 2007 - I don't think anyone in the room dared to think too much about what devastation a ‘hard-Brexit’ could do to the high street, which is already finding conditions difficult. In tandem with the unknowns of a disorderly Brexit scenario is the predicted global growth slowdown over 2019.

There was a discussion around trends and I was nicely surprised to see the word ‘sustainability’ was noted as a trend. This seemed to be primarily promoted by retailers (rather than the consumer) and it wasn't specific as to supply chain or else. There was little mention of consumers wanting to invest their money in sustainable products or brands - and it felt that the sustainability trend was driven by retailers.

Overall, with sustainability being ‘on-trend’ in these discussions (and note, as ‘trendy’ as Artificial Intelligence and Predictive Analytics) retailers will have to be more innovative and targeted to deliver more on their sustainability agendas with most retailers suffering from restricted budgets due to lower sales and profit margins.

I hope the investment is not just in PR and Marketing for the purpose of making a little effort seem impressive! Conversely, I do hope that PR and marketing continue to engage and inform consumers of relevant issues - even if it is to document a baseline of where they are or commitments they have made. The banned Iceland tv commercial on Palm Oil which had nearly 6 million views on Youtube over Christmas is a good example of retailers improving their abilty to communicate with the consumer. It seems like a great time to engage the consumer, I’m excited to see more like this in 2019.

In technology application trends - an example was given of how Walmart are now using Blockchain to provide traceability of a lettuce in a matter of seconds, great that the item can be so easily and quickly traced back to its source farm, but my thought is what is the consumer going to ask next ‘was this made ethically and sustainably’?

Reading between the lines, I noted that the majority of consumers are finally starting to move away from ‘fast and rash’ to ‘slow and considered’. Albeit, this is not always true for the young fashionistas - they can’t get enough fast fashion!
 
There is no doubt it is a challenging trading environment, but there will be some clear winners and areas of opportunity from a sales perspective, but also through sustainability achievements. Those that can adapt quickly and respond to new demands will clearly be the winners in 2019 and beyond.



My top 5 takeaways:

1. Think about retail and consumer changes, how will your own business respond and therefore how can you flex your sustainability activities in the coming year?
2. Tap into the fact cautious consumers might be more considered and potentially want more information on sustainability, but ensure it is balanced with credible commitments and achievements made - not just hot air and sugar-coated glossy reports!
3. Keep innovating on fast fashion - it's not going away and actually there is a potential for fast and slow to co-exist - just let’s make fast highly recyclable garments for fast fashion and well made reusable ones for slow fashion.
4. Harness the fact that buyers want customised or personalised - they may have a stronger relationship with it and keep it for longer.
5. Take traceability to another level – if we know where it comes from so what?….what does this mean to the consumer and also what are we doing to ensure that farm or factory is getting better (sustainability wise) because soon the consumer will want to know! 

There are number of companies that recurrently crop up when we need to name a corporate who is ‘leading’ in responsible sourcing. There are plenty who continually win awards for their work and are seen to be at the top end of responsible sourcing  performance. Credit where credit is due, they do put in effort and certainly allocate resources, but are they actually leading? What does this really mean?  Are they really being the best they could be? And not only that, do they deserve this prestigious title?

I’m starting to think that it is detrimental to hold these companies up in the way that we do. I can’t think of one of those ‘leaders’ who couldn't be doing more, especially at pace and scale. Sure, they will do more in the future as responsible sourcing is not dropping off their agenda any time soon, but by referring to them as ‘leaders’ is it slowing them down and then in turn slowing the responsible sourcing industry down as well?

The reality in supply chains - actual job quality for example - often seems very different to the glossy reports and magazines published on company performance (even if it is verified externally). It leads me to wonder have brands and retailers developed more of an interest in self-promotion and marketing (sophisticated 'greenwash')  than actually creating good jobs and stronger, more resilient supply chains? – or at least they are at risk of this.

As a passionate consultant who wants to drive change I am genuinely not saying that these companies are ‘bad’, but I would like to have a sense check on this ‘Journey’ we talk about so that we can highlight to leaders that there could be quite some way to go and not to ‘rest on their laurels’ just yet!

3shifts has recently done some thinking around the responsible sourcing journey for AIM Progress members and created a journey that is realistic and clear, and at the same time, stretching the boundaries, but not too progressive that it becomes scary.

The journey as we see it is split into two different ways of thinking:
Mind-set 1 - most beginners start here and it is all about Risk, Remediation and Assessment. As companies travel through 3 different phases of sophistication they start to see that there is another way of thinking….
Mind-set 2 which focuses on Opportunity, Prevention and Impact. We have currently laid out two Phases in mind-set 2 and as it stands to date there isn’t one company we believe that could show they have truly mastered this top level. The journey is left open (for future development) so that more levels and phases can be added

Why is this new journey important for you?
1.     Knowing where you are on this journey helps you to see the bigger picture, even if you are a beginner, could you skip through mind-set 1 and even possibly start mind-set 2 first?

2.     The Journey enables you to check in with your own strategy, and think about your next steps - helps you to see what your peers are doing. It is currently written in a ‘one size fits all’ way which enables you to see what corporates are doing in a general way.

3.     We set out to create this journey and map all the available learning materials against it, to make it easy for AIM Progress members (and their suppliers) to see what learning they need to progress, for example what paper they need to read, what training they need to go on etc, and this will become a key advantage of having the journey in place for them.

4.     One key aim of this journey is to foster collaboration. Knowing who is in your peer group (or in the one above) will enable much better peer to peer learning

5.     Communicating to your suppliers – you can benchmark where you are and where your suppliers are. This could help you to identify the difference in your journey to theirs and support them to see things the way you do.

How can 3shifts help?
3shifts is uniquely placed to help you adopt this journey, it is ‘one size fits all’ at the moment but potentially this could be adapted to your own personal journey. We can work with you to identify how this can be useful for your strategy and help you fill in any of the gaps that might be missing from your programme, you might need help to locate where you are on the journey and what you need to do to move forward? We can mentor your personnel/suppliers through the journey signposting them to other service providers for upskilling – we can also connect you and start collaborations with your industry peers or connect you to other industries. However you think the journey could be useful, please do get in touch….

Say hello at [email protected]

Written by Dr Anna Harvey

I did! I had the pleasure of meeting a group of very dynamic Guatemalans on their first study trip to London arranged by Clothing Connect a consulting firm for fashion trade and development' for the Dutch Government centre for the promotion of imports from developing countries (www.CBI.eu) as part of a 2 year programme. 

Full of curiosity, I went along to figure out an answer to the most natural question, Why Guatemala?

Though generally fascinated by emerging free trade agreements, I had to admit that I had completely overlooked the fact that Guatemala is already duty free into the EU. Similarly, I didn’t know till today, that Guatemala can claim to be the most competitive source in Central America, enjoying greater efficiencies and more competitive labour rates than its neighbours.

Ok, so that’s the first reason to be considering Guatemala as a source. But I discovered it is not the only one.
In the beautiful surroundings of RSA House, I learnt from how well established their clothing industry is. Guatemala has enjoyed a long history selling to the USA, including global names like Ralph Lauren and Under Armour.
It was interesting to see garment samples based on recycled denim worked up into a desirable range of clothing and homewares, and a collection featuring traditional Mayan vintage woven fabrics incorporated into contemporary designs. I was struck by the breadth of product.
 Amongst this small handful of producers, I saw:

• seamless shapewear, sportswear & support hosiery,
• swimwear and yogawear,
• socks,
• kidswear & babywear,
• casual knits/ polos & t-shirts
• football shirts
• dancewear

I heard about the flexibility which seems to be on offer from Guatemala, which is served by a port on the Atlantic and one on the Pacific.

A theme running through all the producers was an interest in their employees’ welfare. We heard about the various ways in which they are creating a positive impact on their communities.  You may wish to take a look at Garments Guatemala Export Coaching Programme on Facebook
 
So I admit I'm a woman who likes 'new'. I'm an ideas and change person so the thought of another source route instantly gets me interested. It's the same feeling I had when exploring Myanmar. However, that seems to be where the similarity ends. Guatemala seems to be a value added country where textiles are long established as the leading industry closely followed by coffee and natural produce. I heard about organisations who are vertical and those who provide in house design and development services to translate customer design concepts into styles manufacturable in bulk supported by full tech packs.

Even if you are my opposite and are perspiring at the very thought of a new source, it could be a real missed opportunity for you not to evaluate Guatemala. Of course it is not just appropriate, but essential to be cautious and to carry out a careful assessment informed by thorough due diligence to ensure that the rewards outweigh the risks. Surely, it’s right is for you to find out whether or not Guatemala suits your brand. 

by Mirvette Russo

Some of the real-life stories I heard over breakfast this morning chilled me to the core. I was at a Shiva Foundation breakfast focusing on Human Trafficking in the UK. Surrounded by amazingly talented and passionate women we chatted about rape, sex slavery, and the worst forms of human exploitation as we sipped tea in a sun-filled room in the Guildhall in the City of London.
Whilst I’m familiar with Human Trafficking and slavery in an international context from my work in supply chains, I was starkly reminded of the prevalence of this horrendous practice right under my nose, in my home town, in my own community, here in the UK.
 
In the UK we are behind the times and have only recently started to accept we have a problem. At present, it’s suspected that we only know the ‘tip of the iceberg’ when it comes to the gravity of the situation. It is probable that people are becoming the fasting selling ‘product’ on the planet and the ‘industry’ is worth an estimated £98 billion globally.
 
I naively thought slaves and trafficked people were deeply hidden and not potentially interacting with me on a daily basis. Have you ever wondered about the nail technician or the guy who washes your car? Awareness is pretty low in the UK and ignorance is bliss – we relish these cheap services and many of us don’t give a second thought to the story of the person working for us.
 
Depressingly, human trafficking is an issue that I fear is with us for a long while to come – not least because solutions aren’t easy or in abundance. One of many root causes of trafficking is lack of jobs – trafficking is more prevalent in places where poverty is rife and access to good jobs is low. As populations increase and the global economy can’t provide enough jobs, we are likely to continue to be challenged by this growing ‘industry’ which thrives on the deficit in the ratio of population to jobs.
 
Once we are all on board that this is actually happening and the issue is real on our home turf, it is clear that collaboration is key for creating much needed change.
 
The launch of the Anti-Slavery Act 2015 in the UK is certainly a triumph of collaboration and acts as a definite marker in the sand to a collective approach and provides us with a way forward. There is so much more to be done and the journey has really only just begun! Together all stakeholders including; NGO’s, Government and private companies need to continue to tackle not only the remediation plan (‘cure’) but the root causes (‘prevention’). Prevention is always better than cure. Essentially, we need to decipher the Act into actions that result in real impact and deliver change. The Stronger Together Campaign is a great example of collaboration in this space.
 
People are trafficked for a number of reasons and through my work within supply chains I feel I am most able to help with those trafficked for labour.  Victims who are trafficked for labour are most likely to be subjected to sexual abuses and harsh treatment. People are essentially suffering because of the everyday products and services we buy and the companies we work in.
 
So what can companies can do right away?
 
Greater Transparency –Your supply chain might be mapped (lucky you) but the tools available to identify such violations are almost inexistent which makes slave labour difficult to uncover.
1.We need to build trust to encourage victims to feel confident in coming forward.
2.We need to raise awareness amongst our teams of what trafficking is and how to spot it.
3.We need to invest in developing a methodology that works for our supply chains.
 
As with other well hidden, we just need to accept that slavery does exist and we shouldn’t delay in taking action to drive transparency. Assume it’s there and get going!
 
Where to start looking?
If we are honest with ourselves, we may in fact be able to highlight potential ‘hotspots’ ourselves. When the cost of the product is too cheap to be true, we can delve deeper.
 
Develop Remediation plans – What are we going to do when we find slavery in our supply chains? Panic will put the victim at even greater risk. So we need to have a remediation plan to make us less nervy about discovering the issue
1.Develop a cohesive and holistic plan that is verified by trusted stakeholders.
2.Ensure our internal stakeholders support the plan so that we can act fast when we need to.
3.Consider the commercial implications and prepare a plan to address these too. Eg what will the business impact be once trafficking is exposed and when we can no longer source a product or a service for say, £3. Rather the lawful cost stands at nearer £10.
 
So I realised how far reaching this problem is. It relies, not just on enlightened CSR managers but depends on equally on the expertise of the procurement and commercial teams to counteract fundamental breach of human rights and guard against reputational risk.
 
 What could your business do to help the charities and NGO’s like The Poppy Project, Unseen and HERA who are dealing with real people who have actually been trafficked?
Whether or not these people are linked to your supply chain or not, it is surely good Karma to provide support. Over breakfast I learnt that they are looking to us for help with

•          Funding front line identification
•          Primary care of victims
•          Ongoing support of victims to ensure they stay out of the trafficking cycle – a challenge in itself

 
I was left wondering how our businesses might provide victims with training and skills? Or perhaps opening up jobs for longer term support?
 
 
So, far from a box ticking exercise, we need to invest in credible solutions that have REAL impact on the unfortunate people who have been trafficked. Supply chains financially ‘propped up’ on trafficked and slave labour are not sustainable and surely don’t sit well our brand values - it’s in all of our commercial interests to realise this now.