A new Match Making service for buyers and suppliers within workwear, corporatewear, PPE and accessories has launched today aimed at forging transparency and reliability and driving forward sustainability within the global garment sector.
The Uniform Buyers Network (UBN) identified many sustainability challenges faced by key players within this rapidly evolving global business sector and have generated solutions to enable buyers and suppliers to work together collaboratively to utilise the latest advances in garment science and technology.
Commenting on this new free-to-join service, Yvette Ashby, CEO of PCIAW, said: “Developing creditable partnerships in the industry is key to enabling the efficient sourcing of sustainable, recyclable, resource-efficient uniforms with accuracy and consistency of global sizing and design.”
Whitney Cathcart, Co-Founder and CSO at 3DLOOK, said: “We’ve had the honour and pleasure of working with the amazing proactive team at PCIAW for over a year and we couldn’t be happier with the results. The team’s strong network, consistent industry news updates, and solid reputation helped 3DLOOK to connect with the key players of the uniform market, as well as create buzz while working on several thought leadership pieces. We believe that PCIAW’s new Match Making platform has the potential to completely transform current workwear procurement policies, promote sustainability, forge trust and transparency within the industry. As PCIAW’s Trusted Member, 3DLOOK is very excited about this continual initiative and looks forward to its launch”.
PCIAW are partnered with Business in the Community (BITC) to drive forward sustainable clothing procurement policies with the industry. Peter Belk, Director, Business in the Community commented: “The match making platform is the ideal place to trial and implement the sustainable procurement principles developed by BITC and PCIAW in consultation with buyers and suppliers from across the sector.”
One of the core benefits to this new initiative will see financial and business evaluation specialists Plimsoll Published Ltd providing financial and market data reports on suppliers before they are matched to buyers. This will save time for buyers researching the market for compatible business partners and aims to help forge trust and transparency quickly between both parties.
Directors of The Uniform Buyers’ Network, all highly respected procurers across the private and public sector professional clothing markets, herald the arrival of this new initiative. They include Louise Johnson from the Natwest Group; Samantha Heilling from the Public Sector; Karen Sparrow from Virgin Galactic and Nisha Muire from Air Canada, as part of the Star Alliance Group.
Procurement teams are striving to work towards their sustainability targets and their focus is now turning to uniforms to mitigate against landfill dumping at a garment’s end-of-life. The NatWest Group is one of Principle Partners for the COP26 UN Climate Summit, in Glasgow, UK in November 2021 and plan to launch a new sustainable uniform in 2022 and are enthused by the work between PCIAW and Business in the Community (BITC) on educating about the importance of redesigning, reusing and recycling uniforms.
All these sustainable procurement initiatives will work as a guide and roadmap to support the Textiles 2030 campaign, led by Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), to which PCIAW is proud to be a Founding Signatory. The UBN Match Making service will put theory into practice and help buyers find suppliers who can deliver on their sustainability requirements.
