Gerald Pinkley, vice president of compliance at Cap America, PPAI 100’s No. 41 supplier, is surprised by the number of suppliers that either don’t know what percentage of their manufacturing and sourcing locations are covered by social or environmental audits or prefer not to disclose that information. Nearly 10% of respondents fell into that category. “In today’s environment, visibility into the supply chain is increasingly important,” Pinkley says. “Issues such as forced labor can create significant legal, reputational and operational disruption. Not knowing where your products are being made and whether those facilities meet established social and environmental standards creates a level of risk that companies increasingly can’t afford to take.” The State Of Responsibility 2026 | Must Read TABLE 3: Approximately what percentage of your manufacturing or sourcing locations are covered by social or environmental audits, certifications, or verified standards? 76–100% 51–75% 26–50% 11–25% 0–10% Don’t know/ prefer not to say Suppliers $100M+ 92% 0% 0% 0% 8% 0% Suppliers $25M-$100M 74% 12% 3% 3% 0% 9% Suppliers $10M-$25M 61% 17% 4% 0% 9% 9% Suppliers $3M-$10M 55% 0% 20% 10% 0% 15% Suppliers Under $3M 43% 14% 0% 0% 29% 14% Tables 3 and 4 say more about how “compliance” gets defined than about actual performance, according to Jackson. “The questions are broad enough that a supplier with a baseline factory certification can answer ‘yes’ without that meaning much at the product level,” he says. “We’d want environmental due diligence asked about on its own, separately from social compliance, to get a cleaner read on where the industry actually stands.” TABLE 4: Roughly what percentage of products sold in 2025 had verifiable environmental or social attributes? % of products sold with verifiable environmental or social attributes Suppliers $100M+ 51% Suppliers $25M-$100M 46% Suppliers $10M-$25M 58% Suppliers $3M-$10M 47% Suppliers Under $3M 72% “The industry needs to move past ambiguous, feel-good language toward claims that can actually be proved – and this is a good opportunity for PPAI to push suppliers in that direction.” —DOUG JACKSON, STORM CREEK “In today’s environment, visibility into the supply chain is increasingly important … Not knowing where your products are being made and whether those facilities meet established social and environmental standards creates a level of risk that companies increasingly can’t afford to take.” —GERALD PINKLEY, CAP AMERICA • OCTOBER 2026 • 29
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzU4OQ==