FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
In the textile industry, one area ripe for investment is making wet processing more sustainable. As with most pots of gold, it’s not without its challenges — but data indicate that the returns are well worth the effort. Investors keen to seize this nascent opportunity should consider three primary steps.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
Estimating an investment opportunity of $1 trillion, a new Fashion for Good-Apparel Impact Institute report breaks down the funding needed by solution category and identifies the types of funders best placed to take advantage of the opportunity and benefit from the positive returns.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
China’s importance to global supply chains as a key source of raw materials and labor puts brands at high risk of inadvertently supporting forced labor. Right now, the focus is on the garment industry; but other industries should pay close attention and ensure they are closely monitoring their entire supply chains.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
The Design for Decomposition initiative is the next step in the Institute’s effort to transform fashion, stopping millions of tonnes of textile waste escaping into the environment each year.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
With so little time left, we must prepare for the colossal
climate challenges yet to come. We hope our approach to public-private blended finance will inspire other multinationals, investors and climate funds to support protective measures that ensure the climate resilience of their supply chains and the global economy.
ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE -
Setting climate targets is one thing, but achieving them has often proven a challenge. According to VF Corp’s VP of Global Sustainability, Jeannie
Renne-Malone, part of the reason for the company’s success was due to making sustainability a company-wide effort rather than a niche project.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
At SB’21 San Diego, innovators in the agriculture, electronics, food and
plastics industries shared lessons learned from a variety of initiatives aimed at closing loops and optimizing value chains for a circular, regenerative future.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Entrepreneur and author Marci Zaroff coined the term ‘eco-fashion’ back in the mid-‘90s. Here, we discuss why sustainable fashion has taken so long to have its
‘moment’ and how regenerative ag could heal the planet along with the damaging textile industry.
MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
On completion of a two-year, collaborative industry study, the two companies will share the findings to understand potentials and challenges with recycled textiles from a chemical-contamination perspective and to impact circular
economy legislation.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
As consumers demand that brands and retailers provide more sustainable products and ask for transparency, companies understand that these need to start at the very beginning — in the dirt, so to speak.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Retailers and brands that view themselves as leaders in a customer's online shopping journey, and want to keep their trust in sustainability initiatives, need to solve the root of the return culture problem: Fit. Sizeable advancements in AI and machine learning have put the perfect fit in the hands of everyone.
MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
lululemon’s latest partnership aims to replace conventional nylon in its products with bio-based; while two new blends from Pangaia are the brand’s latest step to delivering sustainable alternatives to overproduced materials such as cotton.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
With textile manufacturing responsible for 20% of global water pollution, Waste2Fresh's closed-loop water-recycling system aim to revolutionize the industry’s exploitative methods for dyeing and manufacturing our clothes.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
A recent study analyzes agricultural waste streams in Asia and charts a roadmap for establishing alternative textile value streams at scale; while Lenzing puts this into practice with a lyocell fiber made from orange pulp and wood
fibers.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
The carbon-capture experts and the high-end yoga pants purveyor have developed a waste-gas-based polyester with the same appearance, properties and functionality of virgin polyester — a lower-carbon potential game-changer for the apparel industry.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
thredUP’s 2021 Resale Report estimates that the secondhand clothing market will double in the next 5 years, reaching $77 billion. Policy incentives to end fast
fashion production and disposal would fuel the movement.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
US cotton growers know that sustainability must start at the soil. Ensuring sustainable production for decades to come requires more than conscious growing practices — farmers must also have access to credible data on the soil’s health.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
The luxury fashion giants continue to lead the industry toward a cruelty-free and climate-resilient future — Gucci with its new, biobased, animal-free textile; and Burberry with its bar-raising goal to be climate positive by 2040.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Corporate participation in Canopy’s CanopyStyle and
Pack4Good initiatives — which work with the world’s biggest brands to protect forests and transform destructive supply chains in the fashion and packaging
industries, respectively — is at an all-time high.
MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
The $1.2M Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize seeks scalable, alternative solutions for thin-film plastic; while Paboco has eliminated plastic from
Absolut’s bio-based beverage bottle, making it fully recyclable.