The global garment and footwear industry relies on complex, multi-tiered supply chains spanning dozens of countries and millions of workers. Strengthening garment supply chain due diligence is critical to addressing human rights and environmental risks—particularly in upstream tiers where visibility is lowest and impacts are highest. While international frameworks such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises set clear expectations, fragmented sustainability initiatives have limited collective impact and created confusion for companies.
Context: GARMENT SUPPLY CHAIN DUE DILIGENCE CHALLENGES
The garment sector is characterized by fragmented, multi-tiered supply chains involving raw material producers, processors, manufacturers, and subcontractors. Implementing effective garment supply chain due diligence across these tiers remains a major challenge, despite clear international expectations under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
At the same time, numerous sustainability initiatives—often focused on specific materials, issues, or geographies—operate independently. While well-intentioned, this fragmentation has reduced clarity for companies and limited the sector’s ability to collectively address systemic upstream risks.
CLIent challenges: Aligning Garment Supply Chain Due Diligence Efforts
Our client, a leading international organization promoting responsible business conduct, sought to address initiative fragmentation while respecting the diversity of existing approaches.
The objective was to:
- Align sustainability initiatives around core principles of credible supply chain due diligence
- Identify practical opportunities for collaboration, particularly in upstream tiers
- Build a shared understanding of what effective due diligence looks like in practice
—without creating a new meta-initiative or imposing rigid standardization.
Our APPROACH
Based on a voluntary list of sustainability initiatives selected by our client—representing a range of materials, priorities, and governance models—Ksapa designed and facilitated a structured engagement process.
This included a series of confidential, trust-based discussions to:
- Map upstream supply chain due diligence challenges
- Identify areas of alignment and divergence
- Pinpoint concrete opportunities for collective action within specific value-chain segments
Ksapa acted as both facilitator and technical advisor, grounding discussions in evidence and real-world examples. The approach emphasized inclusive participation, transparency, and action-oriented outcomes, while leveraging Ksapa’s expertise in supply chain due diligence and multi-stakeholder collaboration.
RESULTS & IMPACT
The engagement brought together diverse garment-sector sustainability initiatives in an unprecedented dialogue, shifting mindsets from competition to collaboration. This reduced confusion for companies seeking to implement supply chain due diligence and opened pathways for sustained cooperation beyond the formal engagement.
Participants identified concrete collective action opportunities, including:
- Shared upstream risk mapping
- Coordinated supplier engagement to reduce audit duplication
- Joint capacity-building programs
- Collaborative grievance and remedy mechanisms
- Information-sharing protocols across initiatives
Several initiatives have since begun piloting collaborative projects, while others integrated the insights into standard updates and ongoing multi-stakeholder discussions. The client also gained strategic insights that directly informed subsequent policy work on responsible business conduct and supply chain due diligence.
TAKE action: ready to STRENGTHEN YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN DUE DILIGENCE?
Whether you’re navigating complex sustainability initiatives, seeking to align stakeholder expectations, or developing robust approaches to supply chain due diligence, Ksapa brings the expertise and facilitation capabilities to advance your objectives.
Contact Ksapa today to explore how we can support your responsible business conduct journe: contact@ksapa.org
