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?
Detox has been a repeat topic on this blog. Most recently after my visit in May to Performance Days, but also previously.
While slowly but surely more and more brands (17 at the time of writing) – and retailers – have signed a Detox Solution Commitment with Greenpeace, and hence work in some way or other with ZHDC (Road map to Zero), a key threshold was passed event most recently: With the Italian fabric mill Canepa, the first manufacturer has taken the pledge.
"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.
Can AI help us to get to (better) grips with supply chain compliance?
Supply chains are based on fairly complex partnership networks where every link ideally must meet strict efficiency and compliance standards.
Supplier audits and legislation aim ultimately to ensure high standard, it is a not the least highly time demanding task to be successful at. AI offers the potential to support practical solutions for risk assessment, process optimization, and partner evaluation. Commercial providers are already jumping on the band wagon by providing ways to build 'digital twins' of real supply chains – hence opening them up for 'offline optimisation' - and of course highly sophisticated data analytics tools drawing from multiple disjoint data sources.
Animanà is a calling to give the world an alternative production model that connects the market with the artisans who live in marginal areas of the Andean region. A portrait.
Contrary to common opinion, ‘Australian-made’ does not always mean ethically made. In some cases salaries as low as AUS$ 4 are paid. Ethical Clothing Australia is campaigning to change their domestic fashion industry from within.
The word Beshtar means 'More' in Dari. The idea behind the brand and its designs is to do more for the people of Afghanistan. The inspiration for Beshtar comes from the resilience of a people living in a country that has been at war for more than 30 years.
In the 1990s Nike was caught in a sweatshop scandal showing poor working conditions in the Asian factories of its suppliers.
Today Nike wants to “bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world”. The evolution of the company’s mission is powerful because it adds meaning and purpose to its existence: from “produce”, to “help” to eventually “inspire and innovate”.
Adidas was the first sportswear company to report on sustainability in 2000 following its first Standard of Engagement (SoE) in 1998. Allegations of sweatshops in their supply-chain preceded this move.
The latest 2012 report is now out - what is does it say?
C&A, part of the Cofra Holding that owns C&A Europe, Brazil, Mexico and China, has been a family business since 1841.
The company is quite conservative in communicating corporate responsibility achievements. Their style of communication appears to be more emotional than factual.
The company has been awarded the Textile Exchange Future Shaper award in 2012 recognising the company’s commitment to promoting the analysis and certification of organic cotton and textiles.
Levi Strauss was the very first apparel brand to establish and publish a code of conduct in its industry in 1991. It was also the very first company to determine global guidelines for water quality standards for their suppliers in 1992.
North Italian fabric manufacturer Bonotto is returning to their roots and at the same time giving luxury fashion fabrics a new lease of authenticity and craftsmanship.
For their ‘Fabbrica Lenta‘ (the slow factory) range, they have unearthed the looms as well as dye techniques their district made its name with in the early 20th century.
The book explains key factors in doing successful business with the poor, profitably as well as with a positive social impact. Numerous case studies show the how-to.
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.
Mid last year, an interesting campaign piece was delivered to my mailbox: London based Offset Warehouse launched a capsule collection of T-shirts retailing at £4.99 (app. Euro 6, plus P&P). Now, the point is, that even if these T-shirt were sold through a major retailer, they would hardly have retailed at more than £10 - and this at a vastly superior quality then is often case.
What do we know about how garment cost is broken down across the supply chain? This is the first of the two questions for which the most insightful research with fairly hard data has been published by Prof. Doug Miller from Northumbria University in Newcastle.
What of all that are buyers aware of, and how do they use it?
This is the second of the two questions for which the most insightful research with fairly hard data has been published by Prof. Doug Miller from Northumbria University in Newcastle. The two most relevant papers in this context are: 'What price a living wage' and 'Towards Sustainable Labour Costing in the Global Apparel Industry'
Uncertainty is widespread in the cotton market: Textile Exchange published organic cotton production figures. The current Farm & Fiber Report shows a drastic decrease. Simon Ferrigno on the current developments of the organic cotton sector and about his predictions for the future of the eco fashion market.
In a recently published consumer study 52% percent of U.K., U.S. and Canadian consumers believe that businesses’ alignments with social...
At the forefront of the Japanese ethical fashion movement, and commercially the most successful, are social businesses. They're principle strategy is to build a firm base in their own national market, but beyond that Asian markets are their principle expansion area. Design is flexible, but their business principle are everything but.
