In the garment industry, whether you are a manufacturer, importer, or brand, you must understand the importance of quality control in this business. This industry shifts swiftly, and any time lost in shipment or defect fixings can lead to unimaginable losses. Moreover, quality issues can quickly disseminate in the digital age, giving competitors an advantage. Therefore, quality control is essential, and quality inspection is the most commonly used method. In this post, we will guide you through the steps of a garment quality inspection, the key checkpoints to focus on, and how can C&Z expertise support your garment quality control.
1. Document Overview
This document is the International Workshop Agreement (IWA) 48:2024 published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), aimed at providing a comprehensive framework for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) implementation for organizations worldwide. Its core goal is to help organizations embed ESG practices, enhance transparency, credibility, and sustainability through standardized principles and measurable key performance indicators (KPIs).
2. Main content
ESG Definition and Background
ESG concept: Emphasizing ESG as a strategic framework to assist organizations in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), balancing environmental, social impact, and governance responsibilities.
ESG Status: Currently, ESG standards are fragmented and complex, and there is an urgent need for a globally unified reporting framework to enhance trust and comparability.
Core Principles and Practices
Six principles: integrity, results orientation, fairness, risk and opportunity management, evidence driven, maturity (continuous improvement).
Risk management: Identify, assess, and manage ESG related risks and opportunities through tools such as ISO 31000, combining systems thinking and stakeholder engagement.
Stakeholder engagement: Structured identification and communication mechanisms (such as questionnaire surveys, focus groups) to ensure the integration of diverse perspectives into decision-making.
Importance assessment: Distinguish between "internal to external" (the direct impact of an organization on society) and "external to internal" (the indirect impact of the external environment on the organization), and construct an importance matrix to prioritize key issues.
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Sub Framework
Environment (E):
Themes: Climate change, energy efficiency, biodiversity, water resource management, etc.
KPI examples: proportion of renewable energy use, greenhouse gas emissions (range 1-3), waste recycling rate.
Society (S):
Topic: Labor Rights, Consumer Protection, Community Relations, Human Rights Compliance.
KPI examples: gender pay gap, employee diversity ratio, and proportion of community investment.
Governance (G):
Theme: Board Diversity, Anti Corruption, Data Privacy, Compliance Management.
KPI examples: number of corruption cases, data breach incidents, board independence.
Reporting and Compliance
Reporting principles: accuracy, timeliness, fairness, relevance, comparability, transparency, and verifiability.
Compliance: Distinguish between "compliance" (mandatory by law) and "conformity" (voluntary standards), emphasizing the use of third-party verification (such as ISO 14064-1) to enhance the credibility of reports.
Continuous improvement
Maturity Model: Four stages from "minimum standards" to "value driven", driving organizations to gradually enhance the depth of ESG culture embedding.
Tools and Feedback: Optimize ESG strategies and actions through regular evaluations, benchmarking analysis, and stakeholder feedback.
3. Key Value
Global applicability: Suitable for organizations of different sizes, industries, and regions, with a particular focus on resource constraints for small and medium-sized enterprises and developing regions. Compatibility: Complementary with existing ISO standards (such as ISO 14001, ISO 26000) and international reporting frameworks (such as EU CSRD) to promote global coordination.
Practical guidance: Provide specific action examples (such as carbon footprint calculation, supply chain management) and tools (such as importance matrix) to lower implementation barriers.
4. Implementation significance
Trust building: Enhance the confidence of investors, customers, and regulatory agencies through standardized reporting and third-party verification.
Risk avoidance: Systematically managing environmental and social risks to enhance organizational resilience and long-term competitiveness.
Value creation: Integrating ESG into strategic core, attracting talent, optimizing resource utilization, and exploring emerging market opportunities.
5. Appendices and extensions
Assurance and Compliance Assessment: Guided by the ISO/IEC 17000 series standards, the verification process distinguishes between "reasonable assurance" and "limited assurance" levels.
Continuous improvement tool: Combining management systems (such as ISO 9001) cycle (PDCA) to drive iterative improvement of ESG performance.
Summary: IWA 48: 2024 provides organizations with a set of ESG implementation blueprints from principles to implementation, emphasizing data-driven, stakeholder collaboration, and continuous improvement to help global businesses transition towards a sustainable future.