From Litigation to Sustainability Tech: How Worldly’s Loretta Tam Shaped Her Career Enabling Supply Chain Transparency and Environmental Impact

By: Loretta Tam, VP, Customer Success at Worldly

Article key points: 

• Loretta Tam, VP of Customer Success at Worldly, has a 15-year career in sustainability, that started with environmental advocacy and litigation support.
• She was involved with Patagonia and the formation of the nonprofit global alliance Cascale, formerly the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), which created the Higg Index, available exclusively on Worldly
• Supply chain transparency is crucial for preventing environmental harm and ensuring accountability. It requires monitoring, tracking, and stakeholder engagement.
• The benefits of supply chain transparency include compliance with future regulations, maintaining market competitiveness, and contributing to global environmental health.
• Sustainability is now a critical business practice, moving beyond a marketing buzzword, and involves data-driven decision-making and supplier engagement to drive positive social and environmental impact.

I’ve been with Worldly as our VP of Customer Success for almost three years, but I have a long history in sustainability that started nearly 15 years ago. I’ve been part of the world of environmental and social justice for my entire professional career, and it is core to who I am and what I want to achieve. My goal, both personally and professionally in life, is to leave a lasting impact on the world and its inhabitants through the work I do.

The start of a career in environmental advocacy

My journey in sustainability began during my college years, where I studied ecology and evolutionary biology. After graduation, I joined an environmental engineering litigation support company. Our mission was to use science-based data to support plaintiffs in toxic tort cases mostly in the southern part of the United States. My role was hands-on and field-oriented. I was out in the field collecting soil, water, and dust samples to help communities that had been adversely affected by harmful environmental practices.

In this role I witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of poor environmental practices. Innocent people were being harmed by chemicals that should never have been released into the environment. Such organizations should be held accountable, and monitored to prevent such impacts, not just in the United States but globally.

The early days of sustainable apparel

The next step of my journey led me to work with apparel brands as they began to realize their role in environmental sustainability and how their own operations and their suppliers’ manufacturing practices could change the world for better, or for worse.

In 2009, I was working on a graduate school project with Patagonia when Rick Ridgeway, the company’s Head of Sustainability at the time, wrote a letter to invite other major brands and retailers to join Patagonia as inaugural members of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), now Cascale, the global nonprofit alliance. I was there at the very first meeting between all these member companies that started this incredibly important movement that led to the development of the Higg Index, the standardized sustainability framework, and eventually served as the foundation for Worldly. Being there at the ground floor of such a movement was an honor, and has inspired me to keep working with brands and their supply chain partners to measure and improve the social and environmental impact of their business practices. 

The importance of transparency in the supply chain

Supply chain transparency is of the utmost importance to ensure that no living being is harmed by environmental practices. If you don’t know what’s happening in your supply chain, you can’t take any meaningful action.

This means monitoring, tracking, asking the right questions, and engaging with stakeholders to help them understand the impacts they are having. And it means sharing the findings with your supply chain partners, so everyone has a clear picture of the current state, and the ability to make goals for future improvement.

The long-term benefits of supply chain transparency include maintaining competitiveness in a market where sustainability is increasingly important, preparing suppliers for future regulations, creating resilient and risk-free businesses, and contributing to the health of the planet and the well-being of future generations.

Now, more than ever, there is a growing understanding of how climate change affects the entire planet, not just one region or city. Everything we do is interconnected, and the actions of one can have far-reaching consequences.

The role of supply chain data and supplier transparency

Through data gathering, we are now beginning to understand the significant role each player across the supply chain plays in addressing climate change. Every single brand and supplier has substantial influence, and engaging with them is crucial to driving positive social and environmental impact. By collecting and analyzing data from across the supply chain we can help businesses make informed decisions and take meaningful actions to protect our planet and its inhabitants.

From marketing buzzword to vital business practice

Sustainability is no longer just a buzzword; it is a critical aspect of business, and will only become more central to business operations as time goes on. By fostering transparency, engaging with stakeholders, and using data in day to day decision making, businesses can continue to profit and consumers can continue to buy products they enjoy while supporting a more sustainable and just world at the same time.

If you’re a brand or retailer, or supply products to them, Worldly can help you measure your social and environmental impact and share your findings with your supply chain partners so we can all strive for a world that’s here, and inhabitable, for the future.