Marks & Spencer signs up for full traceability

LONDON – As part of its Plan A commitment to become the world’s most sustainable major retailer by 2015, Marks & Spencer has signed a deal with supply chain traceability specialist Historic Futures that will give the UK retailer full “raw material to store” traceability on every single clothing item and home product that it sells.

M&S is the first major retailer to commit to full traceability for non-food products and will work with Historic Futures to use its traceability service ‘String’, which allows M&S to collect information from the extended supply-chain, describing where and how every product is made. This includes the source of the raw materials such as cotton and wool.

Mark Sumner, Sustainable Raw Material Specialist at Marks & Spencer, said: “Full traceability will give us even greater ability to differentiate M&S products from our competitors. Identifying every raw material source, spinner and fabric mill gives us the ability to have stronger connections with our extended supply chain.”

The ‘String’ technology has been specifically designed to make it simple for each organisation to record and share relevant information – even at the far end of the chain, such as cotton fields, where access to technology can be a challenge.

For a cotton t-shirt, for example, it will give exact information on where: cotton is grown; yarn is spun; the fabric is produced; the fabric is dyed; and where it is manufactured.

Tim Wilson, Managing Director of Oxfordshire-based Historic Futures, said: “We are delighted that M&S has made this commitment to complete traceability and look forward to working with them to roll-out the ‘String’ service across their clothing and home product ranges. The ability to visualise the entire supply-chain is fast becoming essential in today’s marketplace with increasing interest from consumers, complicated product safety and environmental rules as well as volatile markets for raw materials. This deal clearly identifies M&S as world leaders and demonstrates their commitment to quality and to the Plan A programme.”

The initial roll-out of the system is taking place this year for M&S kidswear and will be rolled out to other areas in due course.