The Sustainability Assessment Program was established in 2021 to elevate, celebrate, and standardize sustainable and socially conscious practices among exhibiting companies at MAGIC, PROJECT, COTERIE, and SOURCING fashion trade events. The program implements a robust evaluation system and is used as a benchmark for both exhibitors and buyers as to level of sustainable efforts companies are making in their sustainability journey.

Hey Social Good (HSG), an independent third-party social impact data company, conducts all ranking and evaluation research. HSG is led by Dr. Cindy J Lin, who previously worked at the US Environmental Protection Agency, and their team includes data scientists and research experts with over 50 years of combined scientific research experience across multiple sustainability disciplines.

The program uses the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) framework as its foundation. HSG cross-checks an exhibiting company's positive impacts against the 17 UNSDGs, which include social responsibility, responsible production, ethical practices, and environmental considerations, to reflect a shared commitment to sustainability.

For each company reviewed, over 300+ data points are analyzed to assess their sustainability efforts. The assessment examines 2000+ data sources, considers 850+ UN Sustainable Development Goals related metrics, examines 450+ certifications, evaluates 300+ social impact outcomes, and incorporates 100+ data models. The methodology is evidence-based and grounded in scientific methods, ensuring data integrity and consistency.

The program defines sustainability as organizations working on multiple practices including: sustainable product and packaging footprint (ie: compostability, recyclability, reusability); sourcing goods sustainably with fair labor practices; reducing energy use, carbon emissions and water impacts; minimizing transportation-related emissions; and sustainably managing waste from operations. Companies must transparently demonstrate these practices to meet minimum sustainability criteria.

HSG follows five key principles:

1. Data Integrity: assessments based on data and analytics, not presumption
2. Data Consistency: following the same process for every assessment to eliminate bias
3. Complete & Comprehensive Review: using all available data and resources
4. Credit for Positive Practices: recognizing all positive sustainable practices and commitments
5. Evidence-based Ranking Methodology grounded in scientific methods.

If a company is ranked for a LEVEL 1, 2, OR 3, for Sustainability work, this means we observed “promising” good sustainable, social and/or give back practices adopted by the company. Our review is of all publicly available information and other database information indicating the company is working on sustainable or ethical practices. These ranking are only applicable to MAGIC, PROJECT and COTERIE exhibitors, SOURCING exhibitors have a separate ranking system.

When a company receives an "Advanced" in addition to a level ranking, this means that additional research and verification took place with this company via additionally submitted documentation and evidence directly to HSG. Advanced status confirms the company’s claimed sustainability practices and stands by the efforts they are making to create a positive impact. Advanced ranking is only applicable to MAGIC, PROJECT and COTERIE exhibitors, SOURCING exhibitors have a separate ranking system.

Yes. When a company receives a LEVEL ranking without an advanced status, this indicates we have observed “promising” good sustainable, social and/or give back practices adopted by the company via review of publicly available information and other database information.

Similar to the advanced ranking status for MAGIC, PROJECT, and COTERIE brands, a SOURCING exhibitor with this ranking status indicates they have met the minimum criteria set by HSG to be recognized as a sustainable company AND have provided additional documentation which has been reviewed and verified by HSG.

Companies that do not yet have a level ranking simply means either they did not have a program in place at the time of assessment, were not eligible, or did not meet the minimum criteria standards of the Social Good Optimization Data Assessment review. Fashion by Informa is striving to expand reach of this program season-over-season as well as messaging to the wider community, with to date over a hundred companies review and over hundreds rankings awarded since the program’s inception in 2021.

Ranking is maintained for 12 months and is also valid across all Fashion by Informa event brands. Due to tremendous change and innovation within sustainability space taken by companies over time, we feel it’s critical to maintain the most up-to-date and relevant information to reflect a company’s current sustainability status in a consistent, clear, and reliable manner for the wider fashion community.

Our sustainability program and ranking system first started with the SOURCING show in 2021. With its noticeable success, we expanded our program to the apparel shows of MAGIC, PROJECT and COTERIE, where we also expanded our ranking system specifically for the apparel shows.

Realizing sustainability is not a “one and done” but rather a journey that companies undertake, our aim is to continually evolve this program to meet with the ongoing needs and innovations within sustainability. Therefore, in 2025 for the apparel shows we decided to update the existing ranking naming convention, while keeping the same parameters and methodology of ranking and assessment intact. SOURCING continues to showcase the status of “Verified” as its ranking system, as it has from seasons prior.

Looking forward to 2026, we hope to continually evolve our program, meeting the industry where innovation and sustainability intersect, while also continuing with the same level of integrity and rigor that this program was founded on.

For more background on why sustainability is making such a critical impact in many industries, and in particular, the fashion industry, a summary of the recent observations are provided below.

• According to the Coherent Market Insights, the global sustainable fashion market, valued at 7.8 billion dollars in 2023, is on a path to increase to 33.05 billion dollars by 2030.
• The clothing industry is a critical part of our economy, with a value of USD 1.3 trillion, in addition to employing over 300 million people along the value chain (Ellen MacArthur Foundation). In the last 20 years, global fiber production has almost doubled from 58 million tonnes in 2000 to 116 million tonnes in 2022, and is expected to continue to grow to 147 million tonnes in 2030 if business as usual continues (Textile Exchange 2023). While people bought 60% more garments in 2014 than in 2000, they only kept the clothes for half as long (McKinsey & Company, 2016).
• To date, fashion has become one of the most visible industries that’s responsible for polluting the planet and negatively harming human labor. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, greater than 17 million tons of US landfilled waste is of textile source. In 2015, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from textile production were responsible for 1.2 billion tons of CO2 equivalent of greenhouse gas (GHG). This amount of GHG exceeds the emissions estimated for all international flights and maritime shipping combined.