ACT Accountability and Monitoring Report 2025

Challenge

ACT (Action, Collaboration, Transformation) needed a trusted analytical partner across multiple survey cycles to help build a robust data tool and analysis that supports the continuous improvement of the purchasing practices of its members - major brands and retailers in the textiles, garments, shoes, and leather industry.

ACT is a public-benefit organisation implementing the Memorandum of Understanding between global brands and retailers in the TGSL sector and IndustriALL Global Union. Its primary goal is to establish collective bargaining agreements in key sourcing countries, supported through brands’ purchasing practices.

For ACT, purchasing practices are important for driving positive change and supporting sound supply chain industrial relations. Signatory brands of ACT commit to progressively implementing the ACT Global Purchasing Practices Commitments across their supply base to deliver tangible improvements in the buying and sourcing process. To measure progress in the implementation of the commitments, online surveys among brands and their suppliers are conducted every two years. These surveys are the largest standalone piece of research globally on purchasing practices in the TGSL industry.

The surveys provide critical insight for companies into their implementation progress and their response to regulatory expectations under the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG), the forthcoming EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, and other national HREDD legislation, all of which require companies to consider the impacts of purchasing practices on their supply chains.

Solution

ACT engaged SLR to collect and analyse highly sensitive data from across global supply chains:

• SLR designed and built a secure online platform to run the ACT Purchasing Practices Surveys and the Commitment Reporting surveys, providing the necessary level of security, independence, and trust to ensure anonymity for respondents. Acting as a neutral “clean room,” we safeguarded confidentiality throughout the process, including the protection of commercially sensitive supplier data.
• We managed the end-to-end survey delivery and conducted detailed statistical analysis of more than 2,000 survey responses from suppliers around the world. This was the third time we had supported the data collection, handling, and analysis of the ACT Surveys. The statistical analysis we provided was then used by ACT as the foundation for its publicly published performance report.
• We advised ACT on the further development of the survey and process to generate more meaningful, actionable insights in future iterations.

Impact

Our data work enabled ACT to publish a robust, data-driven assessment of purchasing practices across the TGSL industry, strengthening transparency and accountability among participating brands and retailers, as well as manufacturers and suppliers across their global supply chains.