Venu Nair, Managing Director, Marks & Spencer Reliance India
Marks and Spencer is a leading retailer based in Westminster, London. It joined hands with the Indian textile and apparel giant, Reliance to commence operations in the country. Its entry into the country has attracted immense media attention from the very beginning.
The company has taken all the precautions to ensure sustainability from the start to end. It has advocated sustainability throughout its operations.
Many people still think of eco or sustainable fashion as baggy clothes made of hemp - what are you doing to change that perception?
It’s important to us that ‘green’ is not a small range in the corner. It should be part and parcel of everything we do and therefore how we do business. That’s why we’ve made a commitment to build an eco or ethical attribute (e.g. Fairtrade, Organic or coming from an eco factory) into every single product Marks and Spencer (M&S) sells by 2020. The last time we reported against this target we’d hit around a third of products and will update again in June.
Ethical fashion covers a range of issues such as working conditions, child labor, fair trade and sustainable production. Do you address all these issues?
Yes, Plan A is a 180 commitment programme (with targets to 2015 and 2020) that is designed to tackle all the major sustainability challenges faced by a large retailer like M&S. Being a fair partner wherever we trade is a key pillar of Plan A, and we have commitments such as training over one and half million workers in our supply chain on topics such as financial literacy, health education and leadership, and sourcing 25 per cent of our cotton from sustainable sources such as Fairtrade, Organic and BCI. These are over and above our minimum requirements which are amongst the strictest eco and ethical standards in the industry.
Do you think that ethics and sustainability are just a trend for the fashion industry?
No, far from it; we launched Plan A in 2007 and while we are proud of our achievements, we recognize that we have a long journey ahead to ensure Marks & Spencer becomes a more sustainable business. We have commitments that run to 2020 and are passionate that Plan A is about our long-term future.
When companies try to become sustainable, what is the hardest part of the process for them?
The key piece of advice we would offer to any company looking to set out on a sustainability programme would be to prioritise your project management requirements. Detailed management and measurement of your sustainability data (e.g. energy, raw materials, wage rates, etc.) enables you to set strategy and targets and measures progress accurately. Done successfully it can bring credibility to your programme, motivate your people and push you to achieve goals and exceed expectations. It’s a tough challenge but a key component of success.
