Kate A Larsen
Expert in Responsible Sourcing and Supply Chains, Environmental and Social issues management.
Speaker website
Expert in Responsible Sourcing and Supply Chains, Environmental and Social issues management.
Speaker website
Kate A Larsen is a passionate Environmental and Social Sustainability in apparel and other supply chains Advisor and Trainer. Kate regularly provides insights to audiences from her 20+ year career including over 12 based in China and Asia monitoring factory conditions.
Kate is an environmentalist and factory worker rights advocate who worked both in and with Outdoors brands, as well as advocating and inputting to OECD, Fair Labor Association and other standards in NGOs Human Rights Watch, in a global consultancy, and now offering SupplyESChange.com Responsible Sourcing training.
Southwest based now in Cornwall to surf, but from New Zealand, and a Chinese and (basic) Japanese speaker, Kate has been featured multiple times speaking on BBC and other radio and TV on forced labour of Uyghurs that she saw in China supply chains, and of workers in India, Japan, Taiwan, Italy, and even UK production, and what companies can do. Kate has spoken at numerous events on sustainable apparel, sustainable cotton, decent work, and delivers workshops regularly.
As the first Corporate Responsibility Manager Asia Burberry 2006-12 Kate led collaborations with Patagonia, Columbia, Nike, Adidas, and others. She later advised Kering (former owner Volcom, Puma and Kelly Slater’s Outerknown) and led workgroups with ASOS, SuperDry, and other major retailers, UK Ethical Trading Initiative, and advisory to Mountain Warehouse, WhiteStuff, and more.
Kate’s MSc Environmental Management researched preventing wastewater pollution from Fashion/Apparel for which she interviewed and surveyed environmental experts including from VFCorp (VANS, Northface, Icebreaker, Timberland, formerly Reef), Puma, Levis, and more. She then worked on industry projects responding to the Greenpeace Detox campaign, toward Zero Discharge Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC), Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) Higgs Index, and on cleaner production projects with WWF, NRDC, CP3, LeatherWorkingGroup, and other partners.
Kate is an advisor to https://www.FashionRevolution.org Transparency Index for Sustainability, was a UK Top 100 corporate Modern Slavery influencer 2018, and is a Trustee of https://www.rights-practice.org UK, advisor to https://www.theinno.org Handshake worker helpline China and Asia, and fellow https://www.unseenuk.org anti-slavery charity UK.
A Green Party member, Kate was co-opted a Newquay Town Councillor 2021 and works on beach recycling to protect our Oceans. In HongKong Kate hiked the 100km http://www.OxfamTrailwalker.org.hk , GreenPower 50km hike, and Dragonboated and Outrigged. She has run UK half-marathons for https://labourbehindthelabel.org and OXFAM.
Industry features include Drapers Sustainable Fashion, Apparel Insider, VOGUE Business (on Sustainability), SupplyShift, Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and other ESG (Environmental Social Governance) forums.
