Sustainable Apparel Coalition Rebrands as Cascale

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition is rebranding as Cascale, distancing the organisation from a greenwashing scandal focused on its Higg sustainability tools and indicating ambitions to expand beyond fashion.

The organisation, which counts as one of the industry’s most powerful and influential sustainability focused trade groups, has been working to move beyond criticism that its data on the environmental impact of materials is not robust enough to back up consumer-facing marketing claims. Its rebrand comes a little under a year after Higg Inc., a for-profit sustainability analytics platform originally spun out of the SAC, changed its name to Worldly.

But the SAC said the move is really designed to reflect the fact that it no longer only serves the apparel sector. Some 10 percent of its members operate in adjacent sectors, including home furnishings, sporting and outdoor goods and bags and luggage.

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What’s Next for Fashion’s Most Controversial Sustainability Tool?

After the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s Higg Index became a central focus for greenwashing allegations, the trade group commissioned an independent review. Its recommendations include scrapping a stand-alone materials assessment and more work to improve the data.