Mapping Sustainability Trends for Apparel, Mills & Sundries | BSR Insights+ | Sustainable Business Network and Advisory Services

At the recent Apparel, Mills and Sundries Working Group meeting in Shenzhen, China, the 65 attendees from global brands and their strategic suppliers took turns mapping labor, environmental, and economic trends that are impacting their ability to achieve socially responsible, environmentally sustainable, and profitable textile and sundries production.

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These trends—which included labor and energy shortages in China, rising raw material costs, climate change impacts, and increasing government regulation without adequate support—set the context for the rest of the day’s discussions on how to establish common goals between brands and suppliers to tackle some of these challenges.

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Authors

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Julia Nelson

Former Manager, BSR

San Francisco

Manager, BSR

San Francisco

A seasoned manager in BSR's Energy & Extractives practice, Julia works closely with BSR's mining and utility companies to integrate sustainability within business strategies. She has specific experience with human rights, indigenous peoples, water issues, and CSR management systems. Her work with clients such as AREVA, Barrick Gold, Goldcorp, IAMGOLD, Kinross, Newmont, Northern Orion, Teck, Tiffany, and the Nevada Mining Association includes the creation of community relations strategies and management of public consultation processes; community development strategy, program design, implementation and measurement; staff capability building; and sustainability reporting. Julia has also managed significant projects with multilateral institutions, producing a community development primer for the International Finance Corporation's Community Development Fund, and leading a comprehensive review of experience with foundations, trusts, and funds in the mining sector for the World Bank's Oil, Mining, and Chemical Policy Division.

Prior to joining BSR in 2006, Julia served as a Nonprofit Management Fellow with the Faculty Director of the Haas Center for Public Service, where she managed the center's three advisory boards, co-taught the Public Service Scholars Program, and researched student development through public service.

Julia holds a B.A with Honors and Distinction in Anthropological Sciences from Stanford University, where she studied the relationship between culture, economic development, and the environment. Her thesis work addresses the social impacts of responsible commercial forestry on indigenous peoples. She has extensive fieldwork experience in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the United States, and speaks Spanish and French.

Expertise

Community engagement strategy and practice; community development; social risk assessment; CSR strategy and reporting; social investment measurement and evaluation; carbon footprinting; responsible supply chain management

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Joyce Wong

Former Associate, BSR

San Francisco

Associate, BSR

San Francisco

With a passion for building sustainable practices and relationships throughout global supply chains, Joyce works primarily in the agriculture, food, and beverage and consumer products sectors. Joyce co-leads the Apparel, Mills, and Sundries Working Group and advises companies on how to improve their sourcing impacts and stakeholder relations.

Joyce also leads five demonstration projects for the DR-CAFTA Responsible Competitiveness project, where she focuses on child labor, CSR strategy and culture, and responsible pesticide container management.

Prior to BSR, Joyce was a certification specialist for TransFair USA, where she worked with companies and commodity crop producers to develop systems and practices that promoted transparency and sustainable production standards.

Joyce holds a B.A. in Rhetoric, with a minor in Anthropology, from the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated with Honors. Joyce is fluent in Spanish.

Expertise

Sustainable supply chain management, CSR strategy and materiality, stakeholder engagement strategy

Recent Insights From Joyce Wong

Resilient business strategies for a complex world.

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Authors

Julia Nelson

Former Manager, BSR

Joyce Wong

Former Associate, BSR

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