Dive Brief:

• The Sustainable Apparel Coalition has rebranded as Cascale, according to a Feb. 26 release from the nonprofit organization.
• In 2022, SAC paused the consumer-facing element of the Higg Materials Sustainability Index, which it designed to measure social and environmental sustainability impacts, following the Norwegian Consumer Authority’s allegations of greenwashing. “I want to reassure people very strongly that we are not rebranding to [hide] there was a bit of controversy about SAC and the Higg Index,” Andrew Martin, executive vice president at Cascale, told WWD.
• The news follows the December 2023 departure of CEO Amina Razvi. She had been with SAC since 2015, and became CEO in 2022.

Dive Insight:

SAC, now Cascale, is a global collective of more than 300 organizations in the apparel, footwear and textile industries, per the release. The group, founded in 2009 by Walmart and Patagonia, was designed to “develop a common approach to measuring sustainability,” and the release said it plans to retain that mission and expand its reach following the rebrand.

“Cascale’s vision reflects my mission to inspire responsible businesses that commit to transparency and benefit people and the planet,” Rick Ridgeway, former vice president of sustainability and public engagement at Patagonia, and Cascale’s co-founder, said in the release. 

While the organization “has delivered tremendous impact,” Ridgeway said, there’s still “work to do, together. As Cascale evolves to address the needs of a broader scope of consumer goods beyond apparel and footwear, I’m proud to celebrate this new vision of an organization that is close to my heart.”

The new name is a combination of “Cas,” which is “SAC” reversed; “CA,” which refers to “collective action;” and “scale” which references “scaled ambitions,” per the release. The organization also introduced a new logo with visual elements meant to evoke a new phase “similar to lunar cycles in nature, as well as moonlight or a mirrored reflection.”

“Now is the time to expand our reach and engage a wider membership base to drive collective action at scale,” Martin said in the release. “Together, we are seeking to shape a consumer goods industry that gives back more than it takes to the planet and its people.”

In May 2023, Higg Co., the platform that hosted the Higg Index, rebranded as Wordly and said it would become a software platform for the Higg Index. That platform, which spun off from SAC in 2019, was the exclusive host for the Higg Index suite of tools, but stepped back from the name as part of a larger company refresh.

At the time, a Worldly spokesperson said via email that it had rebranded because it was expanding beyond its original offerings and that its former brand name, Higg, “was shared with SAC’s proprietary methodology, the Higg Index, which we license.” The spokesperson said that the name Worldly “should also help clarify confusion” between both the platform and the SAC and between Worldly and the Higg Index tools “which are part of our platform offering.”

SAC launched the Higg Index suite of tools in 2010. Scrutiny over Higg Index methodology came in 2022 after the NCA said fast fashion retailer H&M and outdoor brand Norrona were greenwashing environmental credentials on their clothing using Higg data, which only measured a small portion of garment’s lifecycle. Both companies stopped using the program after the NCA threatened sanctions, and the consumer-facing product is currently undergoing an independent review.