WALKING THE TALK -
With the urgency of reducing our carbon footprint becoming more visible by the day, it’s great to see more and more brands making claims about their carbon reductions.
PRESS RELEASE -
3,000+ brand and innovation leaders to convene June 3-6 at SB’19 Detroit
SAN FRANCISCO, November 27, 2018 – Sustainable Brands® recently released the event brochure for its annual flagship conference: SB’19 Detroit. More than 3,000 business leaders are expected to gather June 3-6, 2019 at the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan to learn how brands can stay relevant by delivering the Good Life consumers seek today, marked by balanced simplicity and connections to family, community and the environment.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
During this season of giving, many of today’s more discerning consumers won’t be joining the masses scrambling to answer the siren call to stock up on discounted “stuff” — they’ll be remembering the values meant to be at the heart of this season, by taking REI’s advice to #OptOutside to enjoy nature and giving back by cleaning up; and when they do shop, they’re increasingly basing their loyalty and purchasing decisions on companies’ reputations rather than just product features and price.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
On Friday, Montreal’s McGill University announced the opening of the Bensadoun School of Retail Management (BSRM) — a hub for students, researchers and practitioners to work collaboratively towards bringing retailers into the 21st century. An interdisciplinary, forward-looking school dedicated to all facets of the retail industry, its research and programming will focus on fostering sustainable consumption and healthy societies.
PRESS RELEASE -
Six innovative technologies from Dow, the world’s leading materials science company, were recognized with R&D 100 awards on November 16, 2018. The R&D 100 Awards, a signature program of R&D Magazine, is designed to identify and celebrate the top 100 revolutionary technologies introduced during the past year.
WASTE NOT -
The global movement to end textile waste continues, with the release of outer- and undergarments from new and established brands alike.
PRESS RELEASE -
In another step toward promoting sustainability and the bio-economy, DuPont Biomaterials has elevated its partnership with The Ellen MacArthur Foundation by joining the organization’s Circular Economy 100 (CE100) initiative. The pre-competitive innovation program brings together corporates, governments and cities, academic institutions, emerging innovators and affiliates in a unique multi-stakeholder platform to learn and collaborate for a circular economy.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Today marks the public launch of a new online tool that will enable global companies to identify the world’s ancient and endangered forests.
NEW METRICS -
Last week at Sustainable Brands’ New Metrics ’18 conference in Philadelphia, PA, over 300 delegates from brands, NGOs, strategists and practitioners across sectors gathered to share their latest tools and findings regarding measuring the risks and impacts of previously unmeasured forms of value, the newest credible tools and solutions for assessing the ROI of Sustainable Business.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Earlier this month, Nike announced the winners of its Circular Innovation Challenge, which called for new products using Nike Grind — Nike's ground-up post-factory and post-consumer materials — and new technologies to advance footwear recycling.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
The apparel and footwear industry accounts for 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions — that’s almost as much as the total emissions of the European Union. And the number of fashion cycles for clothing production has increased from two a year to as many as 50-100. Each cotton T-shirt we own withdrew more than 700 gallons of water from our natural resources during production.
PRESS RELEASE -
Procter & Gamble, a multi-national consumer goods corporation which specialises in cleaning agents, personal care and hygiene products, and has operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. The company has been working to incorporate circularity into their supply chain for many years, and indeed, P&G's focus on waste has allowed their global facilities to successfully divert over 5 million tonnes of would be waste from landfills since 2008. They have recently announced their Ambition 2030 for the decade ahead which includes commitments to reduce their supply chain footprint and striving to drive circular solutions.
PRESS RELEASE -
A joint venture between Procter & Gamble and Italian healthcare group Angelini is working to create a sustainable recycling loop that would allow dirty diapers to be turned into plastic bottle caps and viscose clothing.
More than 20 million tonnes of disposable diapers are burned or dumped in landfills globally every year - a major environmental problem since their use became widespread in the 1960s and 1970s.
Part of the problem is that collecting, cleaning and breaking diapers into their component parts - plastic, cellulose and super absorbent polymer - is tricky and expensive.
The other issue is that no-one has been able to establish a market for the recycled output, dooming previous commercial efforts to failure.
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT -
Ann Starodaj (@AnnStarodaj), director of sustainability at Optoro, spoke with us recently to discuss her passion for promoting sustainable consumption, how Optoro’s software solutions enable this for clients, and how leveraging a strong appetite within the business to measure product impact is helping her expand the sustainability team.
Keep reading to learn more about the inspiring army of changemakers Ann is seeing in the marketplace, her desire to collaborate with members on reverse logistics, and the insights she gained as a pastry chef before diving head long into sustainability.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
While it might be cliche to say that plant-based fabrics are the latest trend in fashion, the recent emergence of luxury textiles made from everything from kapok tree fibers, apples, orange waste and coffee grounds, to a vegan wool alternative made from hemp and coconut fibers suggests these innovations are more than a seasonal blip.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
Last year, the Sustainable Brands community gathered around the world throughout the year to share insights on how they – and their customers – were “redefining the good life.” This year, the conversation has progressed from the ‘what’ to the ‘how’ of designing the sustainable future in which we all want to live.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
New research from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) finds that a transition to a circular economy in China’s cities could make goods and services more affordable for citizens while reducing the impacts normally associated with middle-class lifestyles. The findings are being presented today at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, China.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer many business opportunities for companies while addressing critical operational risks, according to a new report produced by audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG LLP; in partnership with the non-profit organization, Textile Exchange: Threading the Needle: Weaving the Sustainable Development Goals into the Textile, Retail and Apparel Industry.
NEW METRICS -
Companies representing roughly one-eighth of total global market capitalization are now using climate science to define their future direction.
Nearly three years on from the Paris Agreement and with time running out before greenhouse gas emissions must peak, 2018 has seen an unprecedented rise in the number of companies committing to reduce their emissions in line with the levels required to prevent dangerous global warming.