In the retail gazette’s article ‘Fashion retailers work towards green future’, dating from August 19th 2011, the following was quoted...
In the last post I wrote about one of the most historic inter-governmental landmark decisions: At the ‘Biodiversity’ COP (COP15) 200 countries had agreed on 4 Goals and 23 Targets.
It goes without saying though that the interesting piece is the enforcement and implementation mechanisms of the mentioned agreement.
Hence, the focus of this article is: How exactly – if at all – will the goals and progress measures reached in December 2022 be enforced and tracked?
Financial accounting is rather ill suited as well as ill equipped to deal properly with a system that has finite natural resources. Else, why would it not record the environmental losses that come with e.g. extracting bauxite? And what about ESG? Well it turns out, ESG is just more of the same (growth) just in a shade of ‘green’. It is for a reason that the Global Materials Footprint has kept growing in alignment with the much coveted GDP growth. Despite all green efforts. ESG – investing in ‘greener’ tech and businesses – is definitely NOT ‘Sustainability’ as we need it.
The KISS principle - Keep it Simple, Stupid. Can it also be applied to the term ‘sustainable fashion’? Can it the concept help us to clear up some of the confusion around the term 'sustainable fashion'? A discussion by Nerida Lennon.
Many of the most important resources our current civilisation depends on – all of them finite natural resources - form part of what historically would have been called ‘The Commons’. And yet, many of them are economically treated as 'income' and not the valuable and finite 'assets' they are. That again is the tragedy of the commons.
In this article a very brief run down of the main varieties of ‘better’ cotton that exist: Cotton made in Africa, Better Cotton Initiative, Organic and Fairtrade cotton, and 2 more generic good practise farming systems.
Where and how was 'ethical fashion' invented? Who played key roles in the past? And where are we at and where are we going? A retrospective analysis that also looks into the future.
The influence of decision bias is nothing new when scrutinising corporate governance. And yet: by and large businesses continue to fail to adjust their strategic decision-making processes to become more climate viable. At best they have just barely started on their journey. Why is that? As we look deeper into the corporate discourse on Climate Change, it becomes evident that one of the silent yet crucial culprits behind the climate change inertia lies in the cognitive biases at play in corporate decision making. What are those biases, what do they mean for boards in the context of strategic Climate Change decisions, and what can be done about it?
Fashion that has been produced by people who work reasonable hours in safe conditions and are paid a living wage.
Definition of 'sustainable' by the London College of Fashion's Center for Sustainable Fashion.
Sustainable fashion design := sourcing and production that do not pollute through the process of manufacture and do not deplete non-renewable resources.
Ever heard of EMAS, the European Eco Management and Audit Schema? No? This is a brief introduction to what it is, with links to further resources.
It is quite astonishing: all the different contexts that the term ‘circularity’ or ‘circular economy’ is being used. They key point mostly is of course the waste reduction promises inherent in the term, and the subsequent lower dependency on finite resources.
But, in addition to reducing waste, carbon – or rather carbon footprint – is a key factor.
Unfortunately, the reality is sobering: taking fashion as example, at best between 3% and 6% of the industry's carbon footprint could be remedied that way.
And even worse: in order to realise the potential, three fundamental hurdles must be addressed. Some efforts are underway, of course, but a steep hill remains to climb.
Fall 2010, Summary: London Fashion Week, the dream destination of fashionistas. Insights from LFW about sustainability and commitment of fashion brands.
Interns are more often increasingly taken over account executive responsibilities. Yet - they do not get paid. A said story of labour rights abuses in UK, Europe
One of the challenges of sustainable fashion is the wording used to define it. We commonly associate adjectives like “sustainable”, “green”, “eco”, “responsible”, “conscious”, “ethical” with the word “fashion”. The question is: are certain words more popular than others? Or are some others nowadays outdated? How do consumer talk about sustainable fashion? And the industry?
What means ethical in the fashion business? The lack of 1 widely accepted label is an issue. Yet: The principle problem is the lack of a consensus of what ethical business practises really are.
This is the second post of a two article series. It will look at what we can say about the 'ethics behind a brand' from how they practically do business.
The 5 principles of good design: Invisible, solves problems, open to communication, in sync with life cycle, and mimics nature.
Fall 2010, Conclusion: Paris Ethical Fashion Week, the longest standing ethical fashion event. What is the make-up of a successful ethical brand?