Strengthening Supply Chain Sustainability Performance in China for a European Fashion Brand

The Opportunity

Improving Supplier Sustainability Visibility in China

Our client, a European fashion brand, was working with several manufacturers in China for their core product lines and wanted to strengthen sustainability oversight across its supplier network.

As the business continued expanding, the client needed better visibility into supplier performance, operational risks, and ESG-related issues that could affect sourcing decisions and long-term supplier relationships.

Our team was engaged to conduct sustainability audits across key suppliers in China and support follow-up actions to improve transparency and supplier performance.

OUR SOLUTION

The client had limited visibility into how suppliers were performing across areas such as labor practices, EHS standards, business ethics, and governance processes.

At the same time, the business needed a more structured way to identify supplier risks, verify improvement actions, and support sourcing decisions based on actual supplier performance rather than limited reporting.

Some of the main challenges included:

• Inconsistent sustainability standards across suppliers
• Limited transparency into operational and compliance risks
• Need for locally aligned audit processes and follow-up
• Lack of structured visibility into supplier improvement progress
• Pressure to make sourcing decisions within a relatively short timeline

The client needed practical support on the ground in China to assess suppliers directly and create a clearer sustainability overview across the supply base.

We conducted on-site sustainability audits covering labor conditions, EHS practices, governance processes, and business ethics across the client’s supplier network in China.The audits included factory walkthroughs, document reviews, and interviews with both management teams and workers to better understand operational practices and potential risk areas.

Following the audits, our team prepared structured findings reports highlighting key observations, risk areas, and improvement priorities for each supplier. We also supported follow-up activities by reviewing corrective action plans, verifying implementation progress, and monitoring supplier improvements over time

The RESULTS

Through the project, the client had a clearer visibility into supplier sustainability performance and was able to make more informed sourcing decisions based on verified operational conditions and improvement progress.