Why so few business leaders rock the boat on sustainability
HKRITA, the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel has respect across the global industry for its research work in areas such as new materials and advanced production techniques. It is a forward-looking organisation and this description also applies to Edwin Keh, its chief executive since 2012. A former senior executive at Wal-Mart, Payless Shoesource and Donna Karan International, Mr Keh’s expertise in sourcing and supply chains has also led to teaching roles at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. It is not always fun to look forward. Mr Keh’s assessment of the eternal discussion in the textile and apparel industry about sustainability is that it has already moved through several phases. It began with a number of companies deciding for themselves that to become more sustainable was the right thing to do. Then, consumer-facing organisations started to put environmental pressure on suppliers, insisting that they had to become more sustainable if they wanted to keep the contracts they had won.
