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Higg PM Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

  • Updated

Table of Contents

General

Functionality

PM Excel

 

How is the Higg Product Module aligned with the Product Environment Footprint (PEF) Project in Europe?

As corporate sustainability goals evolve, consumers and regulatory bodies expect the fashion industry to be more transparent. Brands need data that paints a full picture of their impact. The product tool was developed with these expectations in mind and can help companies prepare for anticipated legislation. It is the closest tool to the future Product Environmental Footprint method for measuring product sustainability developed by the European Commission. For organizations with an EU presence, the Higg product tool is designed to evolve and will conform with the future EU PEF Apparel & Footwear Methodology.

 

Can brands use the Higg Product Module to calculate Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions?

The Product Module can calculate the Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions from the following categories of the GHG Protocol: 

  • Users’ purchased goods (Category 1 in the GHG Protocol)
  • Upstream transportation and distribution (Category 4 in the GHG Protocol)
  • Downstream transportation and distribution (Category 9 in the GHG Protocol) 
  • Waste generated in operations (Category 5 in the GHG Protocol)
  • Use of sold products (Category 11 in GHG Protocol) 
  • End-of-life treatment of sold products (Category 12 in GHG Protocol)

 

How does the Higg Product Module consider circularity?

There is emerging interest in circularity and demand for end-of-use consideration at the product level. The Product Module includes features to consider circular strategies, from assessing a product’s recycled material content to evaluating previously used products and considering the useful longevity of a product’s life. 

Recycled materials and previously used products (i.e. secondhand products that only need refurbishment) are modeled using the cut-off approach. This means that new materials and products that are on their “first life” are allocated the full manufacturing impacts. The Product Module measures the impacts of the circular actions that have been implemented instead of focusing on what may potentially be implemented. Once a material or product has reached its end of life and is recycled or refurbished, only the impacts of recycling and refurbishment are included in the subsequent material or product. This means that companies receive credit when they’ve actually taken the steps to recycle a garment.

The Product Module also considers the useful longevity of a product’s life. Quality parameters determine whether a product is designed for a longer usable lifetime. If repair programs are available, this also extends the usable lifetime of a product in the Product Module. 

 

Why does having a rewear program increase the impact score for all 5 categories?

In the Higg Product Module, we offer the user to see both absolute impacts and per-use impacts. If a product is used for a longer time, then the absolute impacts of that product increase because it has more care cycles. However, it results in a lower “per use” impact since the full impacts are split over a higher number of customer uses achieved by the rewear programs.

 

Should I enter packaging materials on the Bill of Materials (BOM) or on the Packaging section?

It depends on how you have set up your BOM. For example, a shoebox could be considered on-product or not, depending on your brand’s BOM setup. On-product packaging that has already been included in the BOM should stay in the BOM (ex: hang tags). For other additional packaging, you can use the packaging section (ex: plastic bag for e-commerce). The important thing is to include all packaging and to avoid double counting.

 

How is ‘Own distribution’ defined for ‘product sold through your own distribution’?

Own distribution represents the percentage (by unit count) of the product that is sold through your known distribution channels. This means that you know the energy and water use in the DCs and retail locations and that you control the logistics from DC to retail, and DC to customers (for online sales). For example, if you know which DCs the products get shipped to but don’t control anything afterward, it is all unknown distribution (from DC onwards). If all distribution of this product is done by dealers or 3rd party logistics, your answer should be 0%.

 

How do I account for the impacts of damaged products or samples in the PM?

The impact of damaged products that remain unsold, are counted towards the Excess Finished Goods rate. In the next two columns, you can indicate what the fate is of the damaged products: recycling/downcycling or landfill/incineration, see screenshot. 

 

The impact of samples are also accounted for here. In the case where all samples will be sold at a discounted rate, you can enter “0%” as the samples will be counted as normal products that will continue the product life cycle. 

 

Damaged products that are returned by the customer and cannot be resold, should be factored into the Distribution Info-impacts on the Overview page, under "Return Rate" and "Restock Rate".

 

 

How do I collect information on net use of materials? 

Option 1: Ask for this information from your supplier or internal teams together with all other information that is needed for doing a product impact assessment with the PM. 

Option 2 (advanced): Incorporate these additional data points in tech packs so that it is being collected during development of the product. 

 

How do I account for defect trims or components that we receive from our suppliers, when modeling our product’s impacts in the PM?

Please model the trims and components in the MSI and indicate the defect rate when creating the trim. That way when modeling your product’s impacts and adding the trims and components to your BOM in the PM, the wastage occurring from the defected trims and components will have been accounted for (in the MSI). 

 

Where is dyeing accounted for in the Higg Product Tools?

In the Product Module, only garment dyeing can be selected with batch dyeing as the only option. 

 

In the PM Excel file, where can I view the Logistics, Retail and Duration of Service impacts?

These sections are not included as separate tabs in the Excel download, but they are listed as separate impacts on the Impact Summary tab in columns AK - AX for per use impacts and columns CO - DB for absolute impacts.

Duration of Service only affects the lifetime of a product so it cannot be seen as its own life cycle stage, rather it is a metric for assessing the product's lifetime. Duration of Service settings affect the impacts of the Product Care stage (these will increase as the product lives longer), and will affect the per use impacts (product is worn more times before reaching end of use).  

 

In the PM Excel file, when I add up the impacts of finished goods manufacturing (FGM), I get a different result than the total FGM impacts displayed on the summary tab and in the PM library. Why is this?

Adding up the numbers from the different lifecycle stages gives a different number than the final total for that lifecycle stage. This has to do with loss rates/wastage that occur throughout the lifecycle of the product, some of the loss rates are calculated towards a certain step, and some are calculated on the total level.

The BOM impacts for example include the Excess Finished Goods-rate and the Sample-rate: more materials are needed to produce these extra products. The BOM impacts do not include the net use: this is included at the Finished Goods Manufacturing step, which is where the losses occur.  

This is an example of where the calculations indeed do not align with the location of where those data-points are entered into the tool. The values in the excel and tool tables are meant to inform you about the hotspots at each stage, but it is not possible to add up any section and get to the final product totals.