Colin Browne jokes that he got the job of helming Cascale because he was head and shoulders above his competition—literally.
“I am quite tall,” he said on Tuesday, a day before he was named CEO of the multi-stakeholder group formerly known as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, or SAC. “I’m 6 foot 5.”
It’s more likely, however, that the apparel veteran’s experience snagged him the post, which has remained vacant since Amina Razvi left the then-SAC at the end of December, though VF Corp vice president Sean Cady pinch-hit as interim chief for a while. It was the organization’s executive team that oversaw day-to-day operations, including its sweeping rebrand as Cascale, which it used to signal its “new phase of growth and expansion” to adjacent product categories such as home furnishing, sporting and outdoor goods, and bags and luggage. (“CA-scale” refers to “collective action at scale” and “CAS” is “SAC” backward.)
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Browne isn’t new to Cascale. He did a seven-year tour of duty at longtime member Under Armour, most recently as its chief operating officer. Before that, he was vice president and managing director of Asia sourcing at VF Corp., another Cascale stalwart. At both companies, it was part of his remit to work with the Higg suite of tools, something that he will become intimately involved with as a member of the board at Worldly, formerly Higg Co. Sustainability, Browne said, is something that he’s passionate about.
“I’ve spent probably 25 percent of my career living and working in factories,” he said. “And then I’ve spent probably a good 30 percent of my career within supply chains and operations and sourcing and that side of the business. And then the balance of my career in running businesses and CEO’ing and COO’ing. So I’ve got a fairly broad remit.”
He’s only had a few weeks to let his appointment sink in, but Browne said that he’s painfully aware of the enormity of the task he’s been given—and the challenges that lie ahead. By his own volition, he wished to address the elephant in the room. Unlike Razvi, a woman of color, Browne is white and male.
“I may be many things but I’m not diverse,” he said. “Amina was an incredibly talented leader and a diverse leader who helped move the agenda forward in so many different ways. And I would just reiterate that I’m incredibly committed to building a diverse organization. The breadth and the scope and the ability to execute against this requires it to be diverse.”
“This” refers to Cascale’s raison d’etre: how the industry—or industries, now—can give back more than it takes from people and the planet. These include combatting climate change, fostering decent work and building a nature-positive future, all of which Browne said are “in our sights and in our reach.”
But it’s still, as he put it, a “big, hairy, audacious goal,” one that the then-SAC was soundly criticized for falling short of, most notably with its Higg Materials Sustainability Index, which was accused of promoting greenwashing through its use of partial and outdated data. Other skeptics have blasted voluntary initiatives like Cascale for presenting only the illusion of progress rather than meaningful accountability. More have called out its largest members for their slow headway toward Paris Agreement goals.
“Are we going to get it right all the time? Hell no,” said Browne, who is embarking on a 100-day meet and greet, during which he will engage with the organization’s 300-plus brand, manufacturer and civil society members to learn about their most pressing concerns. “We would not be driving hard enough if we didn’t have the odd speed bump. I think we have to be open to criticism. We have to be open to learning. We have to be mature enough to be able to take that criticism, reflect on it and then figure out how do we go at it again.”
Browne doesn’t consider himself a sustainability expert by any means—more of a “keen amateur,” he said. But he believes in the “robustness” of Cascale’s strategic plan and its emphasis on decarbonization, responsible purchasing practices, circular design and environmental management systems.
“It makes a huge amount of sense,” he said. “It’s a question of how do we double down and how do I use the experience, the credibility and the legitimacy that I bring to move things along.”
