Beyond the commonly known FEM (Facility Environmental Module) and FSLM (Facility Social & Labor Module), Higg offers a suite of products tailored to brands, traders, factories, and raw material suppliers.
One of these, the Higg MSI (Materials Sustainability Index), once ambitiously aimed to label garments in stores with a “Higg Certified” tag. However, due to fundamental flaws in its design and scoring logic—such as concluding that synthetic fiber garments are more eco-friendly than those made from natural materials—the MSI faced backlash. It was accused of “greenwashing,” and the Norwegian government even mandated its removal, banning Higg labels from clothing. Higg refused to discontinue the MSI but agreed to pause its promotion, promising to redesign and relaunch it later.
Impact on FEM: New Restrictions on Score Disclosure
As a result of the MSI controversy, the scoring logic of Higg FEM was overhauled in the 2024 version. Due to operational differences among factories, the number of questions answered varies, making total scores less comparable and reliable. Consequently, Higg has issued the following directives:
- Factories must not publicly promote their total FEM scores or levels.
- Factories must not associate FEM audit reports with specific products.
If a factory has completed a third-party on-site verification of Higg FEM (Core Verification), it may publicly disclose the following:
“We have finished Higg FEM audit”
❌ However, it cannot say:
“We scored XX points on our Higg FEM audit.”
Higg stated it is developing a more robust verification mechanism and expects to allow public score disclosure by 2027.
“The product isn’t mature yet, the scores aren’t reliable—just use it for now, but don’t shout about it…”
— Factory Audit Researcher
