The Spitalfields taylors Alexander Boyd is London's last shirt maker. All their shirts are made at the Rayner and Sturges factory in Kent. Impressions from the factory, and the 'making of' a bespoke Savile Row shirt.
After some results at the COP in Vancouver, as well as efforts by the TNFD (Task Force for nature-based financial disclosure) – we finally (!) got the first ever Science -Based Targets for Nature (SBTN).
It is a first release, however. So the question obviously is, how do these targets address the 5 key drivers of biodiversity erosion? Are the SBTNs worth their salt?
Made in Neukölln: A social enterprise project that aims at introducing Berlin high school students to the different textile trades of the apparel, while pitching for social integration and sustainable supply chains.
"A recent New York Times op-ed piece demonstrates ignorance of social enterprise. Should we be alarmed?"
How can environmental sustainability benefit from small and micro units? And, how can it be ensured that the associated skills sets are unique, yet valuable to the global fashion industry as a whole? Through 3 case studies from South-East Asia we show how different potential solutions could look like.
True Cost Accounting is – while far from sufficient – a step forward in the sustainability discussion, beyond the fashion industry. Let's look hence a bit close into what the three large apparel industry initiatives in this area are really about.
In 2012, we have seen risk management and sustainability play a more important part in the agendas of leading fashion brands. Nevertheless, many companies still perform poorly at many stages of their supply chain and are unaware of the risks, particularly if they lie beyond their direct operations.
The following are the the main trends we see happening in the near and mid future. A few exist already but will become substantially more pronounced; others are just about to emerge and hit the surface of public awareness.
Traceability can be implemented at three different levels of stringency. Which level is implemented typically depends on the exact needs (technical, quality), legal and customer requirements – and last but not least also on the budget available.
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.
Launched at the end of 2006, the Global Social Compliance Programme is a business-driven programme, and aims for continuous improvement of working and environmental conditions in global supply chains.
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.
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 'ethical' business trends can we see across the globe. In this double post, we look at what the trends in fair trade are, and what we can infer from them.
Part 1: What we probably know.
In the luxury segment, production focuses on highly complex garments and low order volumes that might involve just five pieces per style which makes sourcing very challenging. The approach currently pursued by European high-end apparel brands to address the problem is that of ‘High End Fashion Cluster‘.
What would the Inevitable Policy response mean for the consumer goods industries? What could the effects be? This instalment of a 3-part series looks at shifts in costing paradigms, in transportation, and in supply chain structures.
Panipat is an ancient and historic city in the Panipat district, state of Haryana, India. The city is the global centre of “Shoddy Yarn”. It is a business that is worth 1 billion dollars world wide. 85% of the volume is for the domestic marketm 15% for export. But the industry has more shadows then there is light ...
Minimum wage, living wage. Many are the approaches to guarantee fair remuneration for work. In 2010, Bangladesh textile workers have been rioting for fair pay. What's it all about?
This is the first of a series that will look at and into true cost of certain goods and services. Cash subsidies thereby is one component, but certainly not the only one relevant one – indirect subsidies (e.g. in the form of environmental degradation or similar) need to be considered also. In this particular post, I’d like to focus on Oil & Gas subsidies, fossil fuels' True Cost, and what we know about these. What we already also learn: comparing apples to apples won't be easy.
True Cost calculations are only ever 'best available efforts', and much data remains missing or speculative at best. This is an issue we will encounter again also once we'll look into renewables, or indeed other kinds of industries outside of energy.
This post is part of a series where I look at and into the true cost of certain goods and services. When in the previous post I looked at subsidies and the True Cost (associated with the True Price) for oil and gas, this time I’d like to look into what we know about the True Cost of Energy. Not just about fossil fuels, but indeed across the breadth of the energy spectrum.
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 energy we use globally?
Spoiler alert: It's very interesting - and also a bit suprising and counter-intuitive.
Let’s put the conclusion at the beginning: This book is a must read, for those that intend to ‘go into luxury’, fashion, or any other creative industry. But also for all those that are of the opinion that the ‘Gig Economy’ only came into being with companies like Uber, AirBnb, Just Eat and the like. In fact, luxury – and linked to it – the creative arts have been pioneering the Gig Business Model for many decades already.
