Sustainable Terms of Purchasing Practices (STTI)

Commercial Compliance is defined as a common understanding of purchasing practices that do not cause obvious and avoidable harm to manufacturers, which do not block the manufacturers’ ability to meet objectives for sustainable business.

Deliver a major contribution towards purchasing practices that allow textile and garment manufacturers to run a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable operation, taking strongly into account the concept of commercial compliance.

The initiative now is in implementation phase (phase II). Through several workstreams STTI is working, often with partners, on implementing the messages from the white paper, improving commercial compliance.

Current workphase II workstreams:

• Outreach and dialogue: Coming to agreements on the improvement of commercial compliance with (groups of) buyers.

• Transparency: Developing a robust survey instrument to collect independent supplier data on commercial compliance, so as to track, verify, and communicate the impacts and effectiveness of the changes being made by brands and retailers on a continuing basis.

• Supplier contract: Devising model contract (clauses) for garment and textile suppliers along with training and support.

• Research agenda: This workstream promotes and coordinates research on potential, sometimes innovative solutions.