Keeping Workers in the Loop

Authors

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  Margot Brent

  Associate Director, Transformation, BSR

  

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  Margot Brent

  Associate Director, Transformation, BSR

  

  London

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  Margot supports companies in sustainability management and the use of strategic foresight as part of BSR’s Sustainable Futures Lab. She also works with BSR members within the consumer sectors practice.

  Margot also advises companies on climate change and women’s empowerment. Her experience spans sustainability management, climate risk and resilience, gender equality, communications, employee engagement, innovation management, and learning and development.  

  Prior to joining BSR, she was an innovation manager within the fashion and retail sourcing industry, enabling supply chain innovation and sustainability through design thinking and rapid prototyping approaches. Margot previously worked on climate change adaptation projects using nature-based solutions to enhance the resilience of vulnerable communities. She has worked on women’s empowerment programs both professionally and as a volunteer strategic advisor for The Women’s Foundation. 

  She holds a B.A. in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics and a B.Phil in Sustainable Development, both from the University of Stellenbosch. 

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  Recent Insights From Margot Brent

  • Sustainability Strategy in the Age of Regulation: Don’t Lose the Plot / October 3, 2024 / Blog
  • Between Two Worlds: Sustainable Business in the Turbulent Transition / September 19, 2024 / Reports
  • Measuring Biodiversity: Is e-DNA Part of Your Data Collection Kit? / August 1, 2024 / Blog
  • Beyond 2025: Setting Credible Sustainability Goals for Long-Term Impact / April 16, 2024 / Blog
  • How Will Chinese Companies Shape the Global EV Market? / November 2, 2023 / Blog

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• Kate Coles

  Former Director, Governments and Foundations, BSR

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  Cliodhnagh Conlon

  Director, Consumer Sectors, BSR

  

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  Cliodhnagh Conlon

  Director, Consumer Sectors, BSR

  

  Paris

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  Cliodhnagh focuses on supply chain sustainability under BSR’s consumer sectors practice. She has more than 10 years of international business experience, spanning business development, sustainability, technology, and design.

  Previously, Cliodhnagh worked as a Sustainable Agribusiness Consultant with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In 2017, she completed the Origin Green Ambassador Programme, a two-year executive education master’s program developed to support the promotion and implementation of Ireland’s Origin Green, the world’s first national sustainability plan for the food and drink sector. As part of the program, she spent three secondments delivering sustainability projects for FAO, Tyson Foods, and Sodexo. She has also worked with Burberry and Alexander McQueen.

  Cliodhnagh holds a first-class honors MSc. in Business Sustainability from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School in Dublin, a B.A. in Business and Economics from Trinity College Dublin, and a postgraduate degree in Design from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in California. 

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  Recent Insights From Cliodhnagh Conlon

  • Investing in Women Workers: How Training has Helped Build Financial Resilience in Shea Supply Chains / February 22, 2024 / Blog
  • Scenarios Reveal the Urgency of Climate Action for the Food, Beverage, and Agriculture Sector / October 31, 2022 / Blog
  • The Rise of Circular Fashion Brings Opportunity to Design a Fashion System That Works for All / December 9, 2021 / Blog
  • Keeping Workers in the Loop / December 8, 2021 / Reports
  • Keeping Workers in the Loop / April 8, 2021 / Blog

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• 

  Laura Macias

  Manager, RISE, BSR

  

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  Laura Macias

  Manager, RISE, BSR

  

  Paris

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  Laura leads RISE's Women’s Advancement and Leadership Program. She also leads the Data, Evidence, and Learning strategy globally and the implementation of RISE in India and Latin America.

  At BSR, she worked on Keeping Workers in the Loop, where industry leaders collaborated on exploring the just transition to a circular fashion model, and she advised companies across the globe on equity, inclusion, and justice strategies, with a focus on supply chains. 

  Prior to joining BSR, Laura researched the relationship between innovation, artificial intelligence, and diversity as part of the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation. She also worked at UNICEF in corporate partnerships and fundraising. 

  Laura writes about equity-related topics as a columnist, and she speaks Spanish, English, and French. She has an MPA degree from Sciences Po, and she completed a fellowship in public leadership at the Universidad de Los Andes.

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  Recent Insights From Laura Macias

  • RISE: A Reflection on Women’s Advancement Beyond Supervisory Roles in the Garment Industry / March 11, 2024 / Blog
  • In Egypt, Digital Payroll Helps Garment Workers Reap What They Sew / July 26, 2022 / Blog
  • Bridging the Supply Chain Gender Gap through Digital Training / May 5, 2022 / Blog
  • Empowering Women Fruit Farmers with Digital Training / March 10, 2022 / Blog
  • Keeping Workers in the Loop / December 8, 2021 / Reports

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• 

  Jacob Park

  Director, Sustainable Futures Lab, BSR

  

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  Jacob Park

  Director, Sustainable Futures Lab, BSR

  

  New York

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  Jacob leads BSR’s Sustainable Futures Lab, a new practice using strategic foresight techniques to help businesses engage with emerging issues that are reshaping the global landscape.

  Before joining BSR, Jacob was the lead futurist in the New York office of Forum for the Future, where he used scenario planning and other futures techniques to develop sustainability strategy and drive innovation for leading businesses, foundations, and multistakeholder groups. Prior to that he worked at Adaptive Edge, a boutique strategic foresight consultancy, on collaborative scenario planning. Jacob began his career doing human rights research and advocacy at Human Rights First and the Center for Economic and Social Rights. He speaks English and French.

  Jacob holds an M.B.A. in Sustainability from Presidio Graduate School and a B.A. in History from the University of Chicago. 

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  Recent Insights From Jacob Park

  • Between Two Worlds: Sustainable Business in the Turbulent Transition / September 19, 2024 / Reports
  • Navigating US Election Uncertainty: A Call to Action for Sustainable Business / July 16, 2024 / Insights+
  • Applying a Future Lens to AI / June 4, 2024 / Audio
  • Beyond 2025: Setting Credible Sustainability Goals for Long-Term Impact / April 16, 2024 / Blog
  • A Business Guide to Responsible and Sustainable AI / March 27, 2024 / Insights+

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Juliette Lemaire, Intern, BSR

The environmental and commercial benefits of a transition to circular fashion are clear, but the social impacts have received less attention. While a shift to circularity will create new roles and important opportunities for entrepreneurship, there are also serious challenges around marginalized groups, reskilling, and labor market disruption. 

This report explores the job impacts of the circular fashion transition, informed by BSR’s 18-month collective research with industry leaders and stakeholders via Keeping Workers in the Loop (KWIL). From automation to climate disruption, it considers the impact of a changing industry context and dynamics on workers and offers recommendations to industry and policymakers on creating a just, fair and inclusive circular fashion system.

KWIL has been supported by Laudes Foundation and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida); is led by BSR, in partnership with Catalyst Management Services, India and economists from the University of Lincoln; and includes H&M Group, Shahi Exports, The Renewal Workshop, Target, and VF Corporation as industry partners.