PVH Corp. added a new supply chain finance partner last week.
Standard Chartered Bank announced that it will sign on as the Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein parent company’s newest collaborator on the supplier finance program. The program helps the firm’s suppliers benchmark their day-to-day operations against PVH social and environmental performance metrics, and qualify for discounted financing if they meet standards. In addition to accelerating the achievement of sustainable commitments, the program will promote healthy and safe working environments and tackle employment issues including harassment, abuse, forced labor and child labor.
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“We are extremely proud of the opportunity to expand upon our global supplier finance partnership with this initiative and support PVH’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) commitments,” Standard Chartered Bank’s head of Americas trade sales Joao Galvao said.
“Trade finance has the unique ability to engage and incentivize companies across supply chains and improve working and environmental standards,” he added. The bank helps companies implement programs that support sustainable production practices and create more resilient supply chains, and has launched similar finance solutions across Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
“Through improved access to financing, our suppliers are empowered to invest in their businesses and people and contribute to our goals of advancing human rights in our supply chain,” said Rick Relinger, chief sustainability officer at PVH, describing the program as “core to our Forward Fashion strategy.”
The development builds on the supplier finance program PVH launched in June last year with HSBC Bank USA, saying the initiative nurtures progress across the value chain. The company claimed its program was the first of its kind tied to both social and environmental objectives, and based on supplier sustainability ratings.
Suppliers will be measured against both PVH sustainability standards as well as the Social Labor Convergence Program (SLCP), the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s (SAC) Higg Facility Environmental Module and similar industry programs.
