MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Hot on the heels of its release earlier this month of the world’s first football and running performance products made from upcycled marine plastic waste, adidas continues its journey toward revolutionizing materials with the unveiling of the world’s first performance shoe made using Biosteel® fiber – a synthetic version of spider silk.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Ramblers Way, an ethically sourced, American-made sustainable clothing company announced today an extensive rebrand across the company along with the new tagline ‘Clothing for a Good Life.’ The new brand look and feel embodies Ramblers Way’s commitment to protect the planet, support local economies and build its business based on lifelong values.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Tom Singh, founder of UK fashion brand New Look, has backed a London-based fashion technology company to help apparel retailers and manufacturers manage their supply chains.
PRESS RELEASE -
The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Purdue University
have diverted almost six tons of waste from landfills through an innovative recycling program that turns used lab gloves and garments into shelving, flowerpots and lawn and garden furniture.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) has launched a new version of its Higg Materials Sustainability Index (Higg MSI), a cradle-to-gate scoring tool that measures and communicates the environmental performance of thousands of materials used in creating apparel, footwear and home textile products.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
This past week saw even yet still more circular economic initiatives sprouting up in the apparel industry.
First, the C&A Foundation granted €250,000 ($276,000) to the social enterprise Circle Economy, which is dedicated to accelerating the practical and scalable implementation of the circular economy. Circle Economy will use the funding to advance its Circle Textiles Program with a mission to close the loop for textiles and create a zero-waste industry.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Fast fashion has followed a trend similar to the fast food chains that inspired its name - explosive growth, massive popularity, and then consumer skepticism. Turns out that having access to clothes en masse mere days after the latest runway shows requires production practices that aren’t healthy for societies or our planet. Just like factory farming and consuming Whoppers and fries consistently isn’t healthy or sustainable, inexpensive clothing meant to be worn once or twice and constantly replaced isn’t much better for us.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Today, sportswear leader adidas and environmental organization Parley for the Oceans unveiled the first football and running performance products made from upcycled marine plastic waste, recovered via Parley’s interception and cleanup operations in coastal areas of the Maldives.
MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
The issue of hazardous chemicals isn’t new in consumer products; the Romans knew lead was harmful over 2000 years ago.
Scheele’s Green, a copper-arsenic-based pigment, was one of the first colourfast greens used for textiles in the early 1860s. However, as the picture below demonstrates, it didn't take long for the toxic effects of this pigment to become known.
Something has to be going wrong if hundreds of years ago we knew arsenic and lead were hazardous, and today, we still have to communicate this to the value chain.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Apparel company Kering has launched a new curriculum to help fashion students understand the environmental impacts of their designs, just days after the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) partnered to embed systems thinking and circular economy into the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum across Europe.
PRESS RELEASE -
How do you challenge entrenched patterns of consumption and disposal while growing a fashion business at the same time? Join thinkPARALLAX for a conversation with the founder of MUD Jeans, the upstart Dutch “circular denim” brand that is tearing down the idea that sustainability or the circular economy can’t be fashionable.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
It’s no secret that "denim is a dirty business.” But does this mean our love affair with denim is over?
To open the KingPins 2016 Amsterdam Show on October 24, 10 leaders transforming the denim industry were invited to answer one question: Is the scary part of hazardous chemicals on the way?
The day, dubbed the “Transformers,” invited a range of perspectives from the chemical industry, along with manufacturers, brands, and industry coalitions - and while there was certainly some debate, common themes emerged.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Many clothes are now made in Turkey because of its proximity to Europe, allowing retailers to fill last-minute orders and get new designs into shops more quickly. But Turkey is a challenging place to do business, especially following the influx of almost 3 million refugees escaping war and bloodshed in Syria. With under-resourced humanitarian assistance, jobs and wages are critical to refugee families’ well-being and security.
MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
The latest textile innovations include a new TENCEL® made from cotton fabric waste, recently picked up by Patagonia, and a research breakthrough that could lead to ‘tarantula blue’ textiles.
PRESS RELEASE -
For the past three years, Stratham, NH-based Timberland has partnered with the University of New Hampshire (UNH) to encourage and support the next generation of sustainable business through the university’s annual
New Hampshire Social Venture Innovation Challenge (SVIC).
Now in its fourth year, the global outdoor lifestyle brand is working with UNH to challenge students and community members to develop innovative business solutions as part of the company’s long-standing commitment to addressing social and environmental challenges in communities across the world.
PRESS RELEASE -
A series of
Goodwill goBINs,
thermoformed by Ray Products, are being deployed to Goodwill chapters around the country. The goBINs make it easier and more convenient than ever for city dwellers to recycle clothing and textiles.
"Convenience is the most important factor for people deciding what to do with the items they no longer need," said SF Goodwill Director of Donations Leslie Bilbro.
ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE -
Marking the 25th anniversary of its industry-changing supplier code of conduct, called Terms of Engagement, Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&Co.) announced a new commitment to expand the company’s pioneering Worker Wellbeing initiative – both within and outside the company. By 2025, the company aims to:
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
In the past, H&M has faced criticism for labor issues in its supply chain and its “fast fashion” business model that relies on high rates of consumption.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
The Stella McCartney brand reduced the overall environmental impact of its materials by 35 percent in the last three years, whilst enjoying its best business performance since its launch in 2001. The brand announced its first Global Environmental Profit and Loss Account this week, with positive results for 2015 that reinforce its responsibility commitments.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
Mission-driven startup Give Back Box® was founded in 2012 by Monika Wiela, who at the time was running an online shoe store. The idea was inspired by a homeless man she encountered in Chicago, who was holding up a sign saying he needed a pair of shoes. Wiela returned later that day with shoes for him, but he was gone. She spent that night thinking about what she could do with all the empty boxes in her warehouse and also help people like that man, and a new social enterprise was born.