Trust starts at the factory gate

September 9, 2025

Amy Nelson-Bennett is CEO of Positive Luxury

The most luxurious thing you can do? Know your supply chain.

If luxury brands want to survive in this new era of accountability – let alone lead – then let me be blunt: we need a supply chain revolution. It’s time to rip up the transactional playbook and start again.

We’ve created – intentionally or not – a system where the responsibility for accelerating sustainability sits squarely on the shoulders of suppliers, many of whom are under-resourced, under-invested in, and operating in near-total opacity.

Transparency is key
Suppliers feel squeezed. Isolated. And frankly, they’re exhausted.

Meanwhile, boardrooms across the luxury sector are waking up to risk but are still turning a blind eye to where it lives.

Deloitte and CIPS (Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply) report that nearly 80 percent of organizations have faced disruption due to lack of supply chain visibility. Eighty percent!

And still, many brands don’t know who their tier 2 or 3 suppliers even are, let alone the conditions those workers face or the environmental damage being done.

Let’s talk facts. Up to 90 percent of a luxury brand’s environmental footprint lives in its supply chain.

Not your office lighting; not your glossy HQ; your supply chain.

That’s where the raw materials are sourced, the energy is used, the labour conditions take shape. It’s also where so much of the creativity, innovation and hidden value reside.

So why, in 2025, are so many brands still treating suppliers as little more than cost centres on a spreadsheet? Luxury brands need to be brave.

Put a name – and ideally a face – to the partners and people who make your products. Because trust doesn’t grow in the dark.

The best brands? They’re turning supply chains into engines of growth, resilience and brand equity.

Here’s the commercial truth: according to McKinsey, companies with ESG-aligned supply chains reduce costs by up to 10 percent, grow faster, attract better talent, build stronger brand equity and are valued more highly by investors.

NYU Stern’s data shows us that sustainably marketed products are up to 20 percent more appealing to consumers – and sustainable sourcing is a key driver of this appeal.

Add in rising supply chain risks from climate change and geopolitical disruption, and it’s clear: investing in your suppliers is investing in the future of your business.

Reputational risks are real
So, in tough times, collaboration isn’t a luxury – it’s a strategic imperative. Two heads, or two businesses, really are better than one.

Co-creation leads to material innovation, process efficiencies and creative solutions to shared climate and social risks. But it only happens when suppliers are treated as long-term partners, not faceless vendors.

Let’s be clear: the reputational risks are no longer distant or theoretical. The Made in Italy scandal showed us – in Europe at least – exploitation can exist shockingly close to home.

And the public outrage that followed is only a glimpse of what’s coming if we don’t get ahead of the issue. Claims of craft and heritage don’t hold up when they’re tainted by labour abuse or environmental degradation.

Consumers see through it, and they’re increasingly unforgiving. That’s why brands must reframe supply chains as engines of value creation, not risk containment.

Invest in visibility tools like digital product passports and credible certifications. Share your challenges and your progress – even when it’s messy.

Because here’s what consumers are really asking for: not perfection, but honesty.

Not spin, but substance. A reason to believe.

Partnering to protect luxury supply chains
At Positive Luxury, if there’s one consistent thread we see across the luxury businesses that are truly thriving in 2025, it’s this: they treat their supply chain not as a liability to manage, but as a partnership to invest in.

I’ve seen partnerships drive breakthroughs in circularity, traceability, low-impact dyeing, regenerative sourcing, and more.

And the smartest brands we work with? They are flipping the narrative entirely – seeing suppliers as collaborators, not just vendors.

They’re building relationships based on shared purpose, not just contract terms. As a result, they’re more resilient, more innovative, and far better positioned to meet the evolving expectations.

And in terms of communications, when brands lift the lid and proudly showcase the partnerships behind their products, it leads to measurable impact, richer brand stories and stronger consumer loyalty.

It turns sustainability from a risk to be managed into trust, into a value to be celebrated.

Luxury has always been about excellence, and it has always been an investment – in materials, in people, in time. So why aren’t we investing more in the people and partners who make our products possible?

Let’s make sure that excellence runs all the way through – from raw material to finished product. This is how we close the value gap, it’s how we re-ignite the romance with luxury.

In luxury, how something is made is as important as what is made. And that story starts in the supply chain: the conversation can no longer stop at the factory gate.

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Trust starts at the factory gate

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