Calzedonia Group, which includes lingerie, swimwear and hosiery brands Calzedonia, Intimissimi and Tezenis, was found to be the “biggest mover" in this year's Fashion Transparency Index.

The annual index ranks 250 of the world’s largest fashion brands and retailers based on their public disclosure of human rights and environmental policies, practices and impacts across their operations and supply chains.

Italian fashion retailer OVS was ranked the most transparent fashion brand in the annual Fashion Transparency Index for the second year in a row. It scored 78% of a possible 250 points - the same score as last year.

It tied with clothing, entertainment and homeware retailers Kmart Australia and Target Australia, which both increased their scores by 22 percentage points since the publication of the previous edition of the index in 2021.

H&M Group dropped from 68% to 66%, while The North Face and Timberland dropped from 69 to 66% in this year’s edition.

Italian fashion group Calzedonia, which includes lingerie, swimwear and hosiery brands Calzedonia, Intimissimi and Tezenis, was found to be the “biggest mover”, increasing their score by 43 percentage points to 54% in one year, after scoring 11% in 2021.

Published today (13 July), the index found that almost a third of the world’s largest brands and retailers remained in the lowest 0-10% range, showcasing the lack of transparency in the global fashion industry. Among the brands which scored 0% rating were Jil Sander, Fashion Nova, New Yorker, Max Mara, Semir, Tom Ford, Helian Home, Belle, Big Bazaar, Elie Tahari, Justfab, K-Way, KOOVs, Metersbonwe, Mexx, Splash and Youngor.

Fashion Revolution’s policy and research manager, Liv Simpliciano, said: “It is frustrating to see brands’ continued lack of transparency on critical issues like their waste volumes, carbon and water footprints and workers being paid a living wage.”

She added: “When there is a lack of transparency on the issue itself, we cannot reasonably understand if what is being done is robust enough to drive the impact we so urgently need. Transparency empowers civil society and workers’ representatives and until brands publicly disclose all the information necessary to hold them accountable for their impacts, being un-transparent feels like a deliberate strategy to reinforce the status quo.”

Meanwhile, less than a quarter (24%) of major fashion brands surveyed by Fashion Revolution disclosed how they minimise the impacts of microfibres, including microplastics, on the environment. This is despite polyester and acrylic textiles being the largest source of microplastics in the ocean, accounting for over a third (34.8%) of the global total, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The index also found that the majority (85%) of clothing and accessories brands don not disclose their annual production volumes, despite mounting evidence of clothing waste around the world, estimated in the “thousands of tonnes”.

What is more, despite more brands than ever before in the index’s history disclosing their first-tier suppliers (48%), only 4% of major fashion brands agreed to publish the number of workers in their supply chain paid a living wage.

Fashion Revolution policy and research coordinator Ciara Barry told Drapers that the two most pressing issues that need to be addressed by UK fashion industry are living wages and overproduction.

“They're the two [issues] that I would like to see the UK focus on,” she said.

The publication of the Index comes one month after research by the Garment & Textile Workers Trust body found that more than half (56%) of Leicester’s garment factories workers are being paid below minimum wage.

Tags Fashion Revolution Fashion Transparency Index Transparency

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