There exist basic assumptions that are commonly, but wrongly, accepted as universal truths. Shirahime has cherry-picked 6 myths and will examine them close up and outside in over the course of 3 article instalments. Part 3.
A phenomenon: National borders segregate markets. Ethical fashion brands don't know much about what is happening abroad.
1st of 2 part posts, incl. event listing.
Strategical setting, structure and goals of the Uniqlo-Grameen joint venture.
6th of an article series that analyses Uniqlo and why it joint forced with Bangladesh's Grameen Bank.
The design stage is usually the longest, most expensive and riskiest part of the chain. Additionally, research has shown that at least an estimated 80% of a product's environmental (and to a lesser degree also social) impact is locked at the design stage into a product. By integrating the product design with the supply chain, companies can compress non-value adding time and costs in their supply chains, increase responsiveness and mitigate supply chain risks – while simultaneously managing (improving) their sustainability performance without added costs or efforts.
Looking at the sales figures of luxury brands a single conclusion can be drawn: The luxury sector is doing well.
The structure of its customers, and the brands' efforts to maintain expert craftsmanship suggests that the luxury sector is where ethical brands really can start changing the world.
The world ‘at the other end’ of the Corona tunnel could never be the same as before. It could be so much better than ever – with a real opportunity to put it on the rails that will make it the place we desire it to be.
Or: it could be same, but indeed worse place then ever. Where past misbehaviours is ignored at best, OK’ed at worse.
With Sao Paulo Fashion Week just closed I am here to write (again) about Brazilian fashion.
This time it is about an interesting project I got to know of personally, Projeto Contem, a private and independent initiative.
Projeto Contem is both a brand and a network of entrepreneurs working in textile and fashion as well as in food, beauty, design, arts, music and cinema.
Japan – for multiple reasons, not the least the still ongoing, if diminishing, cultural influence onto its neighbours – remains an interesting case to look at in terms of sustainable and ethical fashion. And vocabulary and its use and evolution is the start of it all.
Uniqlo's novel hiring system, and it's impact on Japan.
Second of an article series that analyses Uniqlo and why it joint forced with Bangladesh's Grameen Bank.
Regenerative' is really a re-packaging of traditional agro-ecological approaches, with an added notion of leaving the land better than it was found.
And yet - because lack of knowledge runs deep in companies, such lack is compensated by prescribing procedures rather than to focus on outcomes. It is a bit of a deja-vu indeed ...
Uniqlo's corporate Diversity and Inclusion policy in number.
2nd of an article series that analyses Uniqlo and why it joint forced with Bangladesh's Grameen Bank.
In Tunisia, like across most of the Maghrib region, textiles, their significance and methods of production remain a firm part of the country’s identity and history. A portrait.
This post is part of a series where I look at and into the true cost of certain goods and services. This time I’d like to look into the True Cost of all types Transport and Mobility: road, rail, aviation and water. The question therefore is: What are the total costs – the True Cost, i.e. including what is commonly called ‘externalities’ – of the different types of transport we use globally, both for passengers and for freight? Or if you prefer: how do different types of transport compare to each other when it comes to ‘collateral damage’?
Spoiler alert: It is really quite complex and rather diverse. And: public infrastructure investments and maintenance costs play a significant role in it.
Over 100 million people rely on inshore subsistence and small-scale artisanal fishing for their daily food and livelihood. But it’s not them that we’ll talk about in this post – because they are the unfortunate ones at the end of the short stick in the global game of industrial subsides.
In this post we talk about the industrial fishing industry, the subsidies that go into it, the really sticky WTO negotiations to make away with them.
It's not all doom and gloom. There is hope - just that it comes from elsewhere than governments.
The developments in the British Midlands of the industrial revolution have coined the textiles industry possibly like no other.
It was is this area that we find the roots to the modern textile industry, including case studies that (nearly) could be dated from our modern times. From archives and historical records the industrial revolution left behind in the area, we can gain many an insight that will trigger a simple ‘déjà-vu’ when taking note of news about textile factories from the Far East that with regularity hit our headlines.
How do we know what we know about climate change? Computing the Climate takes us behind the scenes of modern climate science, exploring the history, models, labs, and minds that shaped and continue to shape our understanding. This journey not only sheds light on the past but also explains why and how our actions today influence the range of possible futures of our planet's climate.
2045: scenarios for the textile and fashion industry: How will the industry look like in 5, 10 and 30 years time? Scenarios offer research-based insights, and potentially can show how realistic a world is, that looks rather quite different from what we're used to. What if Asia become today's Europe? What if we did not buy to own? What if everyone was a maker?
That textile waste – in the shape of garments as well as in other incarnation – has increasingly a commercial value in an area of globalised markets was a topic here in Shirahime on more than one occasion. This book takes on a larger perspective: Each chapter of the this book offers insights into the recycling economy of a distincly different industry.
'Africa' & 'Fashion' in one sentence, usually evokes the picture of the cliché matron wearing an attire in recognisable prints. To prove that these may indeed just be nothing but clichés, and that there is much much more to African Fashion, is this book's mission
Supply chain transparency is – as it happens – among the prime concerns of investors when considering their risk. The news is though, that it really isn’t any news at all. Supply chain transparency has been called for for at least a couple of decades – for reasons that are entirely aligned with profitability, customer service, competitive advantage, product quality and so on and so forth.
