We met Michael Lavergne on Twitter and from the beginning, we knew we had found someone special. Michael has over two decade of experience and has traveled the world in a search for more sustainable manufacturing for several corporations and has top-edge knowledge on supply chain management and labor standards.
He has spent the past twenty years in Asia, Latin America, Africa, the EU and North American markets for global apparel brands, retailers, audit firms and labor standards organizations managing global sourcing, supply chain and ethical trade teams.
Working with and for the likes of Wal-Mart, Joe Fresh, Hanesbrands, WRAP, Bureau Veritas and Kellwood Brands he now lives between Canada and Mexico where he first entered the apparel trade and met his wife Angelica.
Since 1995 with my family in tow, I lived and worked on the ground in Mexico, Central America and Asia before returning home to Canada in late 2010. I have collaborated to spearheaded new industry development in East Africa and The Middle East and have struggled first-hand with labor, human rights and environmental issues on behalf of these organizations worldwide.
Michael is also a writer, his first novel, The Brevity of Life, narrates some of his experiences while living in Asia and has a new book in the works, this time tackling one of the most important issues in today’s fashion industry: “Fixing Fashion; changing the way we make, market and buy our clothes”.
We wanted to ask Michael about his views on the ethical fashion movement and about his new book, here is what he had to say:
What do you consider the biggest challenge for the ethical fashion movement?
The industry’s relentless drive for profits above all else is still prevalent at the majority of retail and branded apparel companies so I’d say the biggest challenge is the mindset of industry leadership
Why do you think supply chains started getting so complex? Was lowering costs the driving factor, or was there also a lack of infrastructure and labor in developed countries?
I don’t actually believe that supply chains, even global ones, are all that complex. They have certainly gotten longer and larger but manufacturing of most apparel isn’t rocket science. What it does involve are a very many people which have now been spread across the globe so perhaps cumbersome is a better term.
Having spent the first dozen years or so of my career in the apparel and retail industries almost wholly focused on the commercial aspects of sourcing and supply chain management, I can say without a doubt the driving factor of going offshore was cost management. Rather than invest in modern machinery, automation and employee development it was easier and less costly for the large organizations with a history of manufacturing in places like the US, to push offshore thanks to coordinated trade policies which allowed them to do so at great economic advantage. Most brands and certainly retailers, however, don’t have a history of manufacturing knowledge and are purely design and marketing driven. So as new brands have come online they have had to compete with established manufacturing giants who led the way offshore, and have followed suit.
As much as apparel companies might cry about the cost of being competitive it’s a self-induced trap; Bangladesh is a casebook study of this wherein manufacturing volumes moved wholesale into the country from china and elsewhere in Asia, without any significant thought or planning for the scale of infrastructure needed to support the industry’s growth there.
Of the countries you have visited, where have you seen the biggest need for a reform?
I’d say in the major importing countries because they drive the cost, margin, manufacturing and ethical practices strategies. They are also the ones with the power to enact legislation and industry practices which can lead to real change. For example, in most importing countries there are few if any legal recourse against brands and retailers which knowingly use offshore suppliers which break local health, safety, environmental or labor laws. The industry likes to call this ‘non-compliance’ but what it really means is factories which break the law, something these same brands and retailers could never get away with in their home countries.
These ‘non-compliances’ are also directly related to costs of production so when a brand sources and audits its factories thus becoming aware of illegalities, even when requiring a corrective action plan, which may take up to 6-10 months to complete, the brand continues to recognize a financial benefit due to the execution of a crime in a foreign country. Yet few people have picked up on this due to the nature of offshore manufacturing and the way which brands and retailers manage and structure their audit processes and relationships.
What are some of your go-to sources for fashion industry data and research?
After almost twenty years I’ve worked hard to build a solid network of companies and individuals to tap into. There is also a great wealth of information online but one needs to be careful in establishing the source of data and motives of those providing it. There are thankfully a great many people working to help support the “sea change” that is underway in the industry and talking to them personally or attending sustainable fashion events helps greatly.
In your experience, at what pace has the fashion industry adapted to rising corporate environmental and humanitarian concerns? Why?
This depends to a great degree what company and country you’re talking about. Both the us and UK have a long history of vocal, active organized labor from the textile and apparel trades and an inquisitive media, both of which have pushed industry along; most companies are doing the bare minimum though it’s important to note and encourage those outliers who are taking the lead.
I believe we will see less resistance and more significant moves once the current most senior levels of brand/retail management move on, retire and so forth…we’ve got to have hope in the up and comers though huge gaps continue in fashion/apparel education as well.
The true market leaders when it comes to sustainable, ethical practices tend to gain their position due to key leaders, individuals with strong commitments, who have made responsible supply chain actions part and parcel of their business mantra…then there are the new wave of social enterprises! Lots of great things happening at SMES and micro brands which have the potential to become new standards in the near future; I’m hopeful but pragmatic.
Tell us about your project: what big questions do you want to find answers to and how do you hope to contribute with the movement?
It’s been a busy past twelve months between wrapping up a consulting role with Canada’s Joe’s Fresh brand post Rana Plaza, starting up grad studies and my latest project looking at child labor supply chain issues for World Vision. I’ve just signed a book deal for Canada and the US with New Society Publishers who have a long and well-earned reputation for their focus on social, economic and environmental justice issues. That is my main priority at the moment as I have a good six months of heavy writing yet in front of me. Interestingly, publishing calendars are reflective of standard retail apparel cycles; it takes near a good year of work by a rather large team to get a well-publicized book into the market.
There have been some outstanding books over the past few years on one or another of the subjects I am tackling. Most recently I’ve really enjoyed Tansy Hoskins’ work “Stitched Up; the anti-capitalist book of fashion”. My take on things comes more from the inside out of the mass fashion industry, having been a part of key decision making teams at some of the largest global brands and retailer and more recently from within the auditing and labor standards industry.
“Fixing Fashion; changing the way we make, market and buy our clothes” is much more than simply a critique of what’s been done for the past 200 years or so, it’s an industry reference of the history which led us to where we are, how and why irresponsible decisions have been made. More importantly it focuses on the outlier trends and those people involved in shifting the industry into a much better place while providing a deeper understanding of those internal industry practices still underway which neither governments nor consumers have been made aware of; I argue strongly for robust legal and regulatory action to keep industry and markets in check while calling on organized labor to do a better job of leveraging their own significant financial resources (pension fund investments mostly) and of educating the public.
We have a long ways to go but again, I am very hopeful. What’s needed however are not simply actions to do “less bad”, but to re-think business models and the product life cycle to achieve a truly sustainable, responsible industry.
We thank Michael for his time and invite you to follow him on Twitter and support his Kickstarter project.
Michael Lavergne, the Ethical Guru