RESET Carbon and The Fashion Pact came together in Paris this month to host a Scope 3 in Practice workshop for small and medium-sized apparel brands, exploring how organizations with leaner sustainability teams can advance supply chain decarbonization with a focused, pragmatic approach.
The session builds on a collaboration between the two organizations that began in 2025, supporting Fashion Pact members on Science-Based Targets and Scope 3 decarbonization. This latest workshop tackled a question many smaller brands face: how do you make meaningful progress on decarbonizing apparel supply chains without the scale, headcount, or budget of the industry’s largest players?
Supplier prioritization doesn’t have to be perfect to be useful
Mapping suppliers, identifying emissions hotspots, and building a clear picture of supply chain emissions takes real time and resources, and for smaller teams, that can feel slow. A key takeaway from the discussion: many brands are facing the same challenges and sit at a comparable stage of maturity. Peer examples and open exchange between brands proved just as valuable as technical guidance, helping participants see practical approaches to supplier mapping and reframe what can otherwise feel like slow progress.
This mirrors what RESET Carbon sees across its work on Scope 3 & Supply Chain Analysis: not every supplier or emissions source carries equal weight, and targeted, focused prioritization consistently outperforms trying to map everything at once.
Progress isn’t sequential, and that’s a good thing
Participants explored how progress across primary data collection, supplier engagement, pilot projects, and monitoring doesn’t happen in a strict, linear order. Each step strengthens the next, and brands often build momentum in ways that don’t map neatly onto a single roadmap. This reflects a broader pattern RESET Carbon has observed through its Supplier Decarbonization Assessment & Planning work across Asia: support should be calibrated to how far along each supplier or facility already is, rather than forcing every organization through the same sequence.
There’s no single way to embed supplier decarbonization
The session also surfaced a range of organizational approaches. Companies with smaller sustainability teams are embedding supplier decarbonization across procurement, leadership, and other business functions in different ways, demonstrating that cross-functional ownership can take many effective forms depending on team structure and company culture. There is no single blueprint, and participants left with a broader sense of what has worked for peers facing similar constraints.
Making ambitious action accessible, regardless of size
A significant part of the conversation centered on new engagement formats designed for brands of different sizes, including the Future Supplier Initiative (FSI), a collaborative finance solution co-developed with Guidehouse, the Apparel Impact Institute, and The Fashion Pact. Through its Contributor model, FSI allows apparel brands and groups, including those with revenues under US$1 billion, to access curated investment pipelines and co-financing opportunities for supplier energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, without the complexity or cost of full FSI membership. The goal: make meaningful Scope 3 contribution accessible and feasible, whatever a brand’s size or resourcing.
A recurring conversation, not a one-off
The Paris workshop is the latest chapter in an ongoing partnership between RESET Carbon and The Fashion Pact. It reflects a shared conviction: that ambitious climate action doesn’t require a large team or unlimited budget, but it does require the right prioritization, the right peer network, and the right tools to turn commitments into measurable progress.
Interested in learning more about Scope 3 and supply chain decarbonization? Get in touch with our team to discuss how we can support your net-zero journey.