Random

Circularity

One man’s woolly waste is another man’s woollen treasure

June 11, 2018

Wool is slowly recovering some of its former popularity. While for some it is an old acquaintance, for many others in our industry, and in this current time and age, it is a new, or maybe better novel, material for the portfolio. And what about Recycled Wool? This report answers many of the key questions.

Book Reviews Circularity

Local flavours of clothing recycling: India

November 22, 2012

This book emerges itself into how clothing is bought, worn, discarded and recycled within India. In other words, it tracks down how Indian citizens (primarily women) manage their wardrobes, and the strategies and criteria of how they do it.

Biz Strategy Circularity Opinions

Why bother – with Sustainability? Start with Why

October 27, 2020

Over a decade ago, Simon Sinek pointedly demanded: Start with Why. Targeted at a then rather uninspiring marketing and branding industry, 10 years on is still as valid as ever. Just now, we need to ask businesses: Why are you bothering with investing millions, and thousands of hours into sustainability? Often the answer will be: because we have to. An answer just as uninspiring as the sales slogans Sinek was bashing a decade ago. Because when it comes to Sustainability: Know your genuine Why. Or don't bother.

Book Reviews Circularity Consumer-ism Materials Supply Chain

A T-shirt that means the world

October 15, 2010

"The Travels of a T-shirt in the Global Economy" takes the exemplary T-shirt, and takes us on a journey to discover its origins. From Texas, to China, to the US again, and then to the second-hand trade in Africa.

Circularity Consumer-ism

Clothing Libraries – The fashion future is happening right now

January 8, 2011

Fashion Futures has analysed the fashion industry and come up with 4 scenarios for 2025. Opnuu, a UK start up, plans to commercialise clothing rental - outlined already in the Community Couture scenario.

Circularity Future Tech Materials

Cradle to Cradle – The design of essence, not only shape

February 16, 2012

Cradle to Cradle is a design methodology that puts a 'waste-less' world at its heart. What is the concept all about? What does it mean for the apparel industry? And who practises it among designers and companies?

Biz Strategy Circularity Governance

EU Plastic Waste Tax – Or: What went wrong, when compliance fuels R&D?

August 4, 2020

The cat is – long-time coming - finally left out of the bag: while drawing up a Covid19 recovery package, EU legislators have decided to introduce a levy on non-recycled plastic as per 1st of January 2020. Reading through the text, two points offer a considerable surprise: The short notice, the wording, and the focus on packaging. But how come that legislators seem to drive the industry R&D agenda? Here a few questions for boards to ask their CEOs to get to the bottom of this.

Circularity Consumer-ism Globalisation Materials

Where does all the clothing go? – Insights from academic research, but without the jargon

February 2, 2012

The 'Everything must go' exhibition, that took place from January 20 to 22, 2012, introduced the wider public to the details of the global value chain for discarded clothing. Drawing from the results of 5 years of research, the numbers and facts are staggering, and intriguing at the same time.

Biz Strategy Circularity Globalisation Supply Chain

Circularity and Business Models: 2 US reports, many learnings

October 20, 2020

The world, by and large, operates based on land-filling. The only way to improve the situation any time soon is: not to landfill. At all. Or at least as little as possible, and that asap. To that extent, 2 reports on textiles the circular economy have been published, both of which look at the issue from different, and complementary perspectives. What is it that we can learn from these 2 reports, side by side? One, the old adage could not be any truer: One Man’s Rubbish is another Man’s Treasure. And: True cost accounting would make a huge difference.

Brand Portraits Circularity Supply Chain

From recycled materials to Smateria

November 3, 2011

Smateria is a Cambodian upcycling bag label founded by 2 Italian women. What originally was a haphazard venture with the will to improve the lives of Cambodian women has turned by now into a successful social business.

Circularity Materials

Made to Last – The life of a yukata

July 26, 2011

This article has originally been published online by ‘Japan for Sustainability’ (JFS) on May 30, 2005. It is the 1st...

Biz Strategy Circularity Globalisation

Global pandemic and resistant economies: The time is now

April 28, 2020

As I write this, it is late April. And our lessons from the last few weeks in Corona lock down and the impact of the pandemic on our communities and societies, all over the world, have thrown an even harsher light onto some of the realities we either assumed as a given, or worked hard to change for years already. And the lessons have been truly tough medicine.

Circularity Future Tech Supply Chain Trade Shows

Trends: Report from the 2013 Textile Exchange Conference in Istanbul

November 20, 2013

On November 12 and 13, 2013 the yearly Textile Exchange conference took place in Istanbul, Turkey. I was invited to run a workshop on Scenario Work as one of the 'Strategy' break out session on the first day. The workshop was fully booked with 25 highly interested and active participants. In 90 challenging minutes they experienced a compressed version of a Scenario Planning workshop.

Brand Portraits Circularity

One Good Factory: Goodone’s high-street ready upcycling garment factory

May 24, 2012

“Innovatively combining new British and sustainable fabrics with reclaimed textiles” – this is Goodone’s raison d’etre in their own words. Their most recent initiative: A proper upcycling factory that can cope with both, pre- and post-consumer waste, and is the first ‘streamlined’ upcycling facility equipped and ready to work with designers on something more than one-offs.

Circularity Materials Trade Shows

Performance Wear: Leading the way of innovation and development in textiles

May 15, 2013

Like its larger sister ISPO – normally taking place at the end of January or the beginning of February, half way between the two Fashion Week cycles – Performance Days feature a high-end portfolio of performance and sports wear manufacturers, many of which actively develop and push the innovation agenda of their industry.

Planetary Boundaries - Stockholm Resilience Centre

Circularity Future Tech Globalisation

Outside the comfort zone: Planetary boundaries and Europe

October 13, 2020

Overconsumption or ‘simply’ consumption? Fair resource use, or resource depletion? Fair share, equal share or acquired share of resources? Those are questions that pop up when the Planetary Boundaries are being discussed. “Is Europe living within the limits of our planet?: An assessment of Europe's environmental footprints in relation to planetary boundaries”, published in April 2020 does exactly that: it evaluates and calculates the European performance for planetary boundaries by taking a consumption-based (footprint-based) perspective. This is turn is interesting as it relates environmental pressures to final demands for goods and services. And the results are ... shall we say: a stark call to action.

Circularity Globalisation Opinions

Is the industry going down the drain? The stats tell a story insiders don’t want to see

December 12, 2012

ntil the late 80s, fashion retailers and brands would typically have two main collections a year: spring/summer and autumn/winter. Then, in the 90s things changed dramatically. Increased competition saw retailers incentivising customers to visit their stores more frequently.

Biz Strategy Circularity Opinions

Regrettable Substitution: Life is full of surprises

March 23, 2021

Reducing humanity’s footprint on this planet is a journey of decisions. Some of them tough, some of them very clear. And some of them – let’s just say: with very limited available data. The journey we’re on, is the proverbial Designer’s Paradox. More scientifically speaking of course, we are faced with the ever lasting conundrum of Regrettable Substitutions. So: Is there a best possible AND least bad option (combined) at this very moment?

Biz Strategy Circularity Consumer-ism Governance Opinions

Quality vs Quantity – Or: Preparing the growth elephant for landing

September 1, 2020

There are two approaches on how we can define of what is viable and desirable for our global economy. In one, the 'soft attributes' and non-physical factors such as consumer desires, lifestyles or distribution of goods are a fixed attribute. In the other, quantifiable, physical attributes - amongst them natural resources - are fixed. The challenge of boards in this time and age: Recognising that the first - the present - is failing. And outlining the path towards the second.