Sustainability Pulse #120
Sustainability Trends & News Worth Exploring - September 19, 2025
Every week, fashion gives us contradictions. On one hand, antimicrobial fabrics promise fewer washes, firehoses are reborn as handbags, and secondhand malls are reshaping retail. On the other hand, mountains of plastic fast fashion are burying Africa, global plastic treaty talks are collapsing, and fibre production is breaking records.
Innovation surges forward , but so does destruction.
The truth is, sustainability in fashion is never a neat success story.
For every award celebrating artisans and eco-designers, there’s a reminder that “sustainable” can backfire, or that circularity still struggles to scale. The tension is real: style and impact, ambition and accountability, business-as-usual and the desperate need for change.
This issue is a mirror of the industry itself: dazzling ideas, sobering failures, and a few radical visions worth holding onto. The question isn’t whether fashion will change. It’s how fast, how deep, and at whose expense.
Let’s get into it.
Challenging The Fashion Industry On Sustainability
Imagine lowering your water and energy use just by wearing your clothes more often. That’s the vision behind Ultifresh, a Singapore-based company using advanced antimicrobial technology to reduce the need for frequent washing. The result? Cleaner clothes, fewer washes, and a major step toward sustainable living.
Bespoke Menswear and Sustainable Tailoring With Matt Jefferson
How can bespoke tailoring balance sustainability and artistry in modern menswear?
When ‘sustainable’ fashion backfires on the environment
The circular economy – the idea of “reduce, reuse and recycle” – has long been promoted as one solution to the environmental crisis. Instead of the old “take, make, use, throw away” model, it aims to keep materials in play for as long as possible.
Twyg Sustainable Fashion Awards 2025 opens nominations
Nominations for the Twyg Sustainable Fashion Awards 2025 are officially open for nominations until 3 October 2025. This year sees the introduction of the first Pan-African award category: the Merchants on Long Pan-African Artisanal Fashion Award. The awards recognise designers working at the intersection of style, sustainability, and social impact.
Kresse Wesling’s radical brand turns discarded fire hoses into sustainable fashion
Elvis & Kresse have redefined sustainable luxury, turning 315 tonnes of landfill-bound waste into handbags and belts – and it all started in Hong Kong
A Strand of Consciousness on a Piece of Clothing
The love for the Earth movement and awareness of the environmental crisis are creating a wave of sustainable fashion.
AI won’t stop the next supply chain disruption, but it can help companies plan
With the right data and tools, fashion and apparel brands can successfully mitigate pandemics, tariffs and what comes next, writes Paul F. Magel, president of Computer Generated Solutions.
Outsiders are taking over fashion companies. Are they here to stay?
Fashion companies are looking beyond their ranks to find leaders who are well versed in technology and supply chain issues.
Castore acquires Belstaff to accelerate international growth
British premium sportswear brand Castore has acquired 100% of Belstaff, the heritage fashion label, in a deal that brings together two homegrown names to accelerate international growth.
From Next to N Brown to CircKit: What brands are doing to achieve meaningful, sustainable, transformation throughout the value chain
We know what fashion’s future should look like: Sustainable, scalable, and profitable. We know that change is needed, and we know what needs to be done, but how? The practical HOW, is still proving to be a challenge. How do we make our industry more sustainable, while remaining profitable?
Vinted launches ‘RE/Style’ TV show celebrating second-hand fashion with Emma Willis
Second-hand fashion marketplace Vinted is launching a new TV series on Prime Video called ‘RE/Style’, hosted by presenter and former model Emma Willis.
How Sweden’s ‘secondhand only’ shopping mall is changing retail
As a fashion sustainability researcher, finding the ReTuna shopping mall in Eskilstuna was a delightful surprise. Stepping into this Swedish shopping centre felt refreshingly different – it is the first in the world to sell only secondhand and repurposed items.
Sustainable fashion: It's not just a technical challenge—it’s a human one, too
Attending the C2 Conference in Montreal earlier this year was a powerful reminder that the future of business lies at the crossroads of creativity, sustainability, technology and systems thinking. The focus of the event, in part, was to spark innovative conversations ranging from human-centered leadership and transformative technology—like artificial intelligence—to the role of art and design in reshaping the future of business.
What Happens Next? Your T-Shirt’s Journey Through Repair, Resale, and Recycling
When your favourite piece of clothing shows wear, it doesn't have to end up in the trash: repair, resale, and recycling offer circular alternatives to fashion's wasteful linear model. The future of fashion circularity depends on building better systems that make these sustainable pathways as convenient and accessible as throwing clothes away.
EU finally adopts EPR: Industry reacts
Extended producer responsibility, one of the European Union’s most hotly anticipated — and fiercely debated — sustainable fashion regulations, is ready to be enforced.
Why fashion needs to think about methane
While fashion has been laser-focused on carbon emissions, another greenhouse gas has been steadily rising.
Eight leading organizations focused on climate and nature impact launch the Climate and Nature Studio at Climate Week NY
Featuring talks, panels, and round table discussions on everything from preferred material production systems to decarbonization, the studio will run from Wednesday September 24 to Thursday September 25.
5 Breakthroughs Turning Fashion’s Footprint into Innovation Fuel
In this Innovation Watch, we spotlight five technologies helping fashion brands to future proof both supply chains and the industry at large.
How to give your pre-loved clothes a new life
Keep fashion in motion because nothing in your wardrobe should go to waste.
Kew Gardens launches Material World festival exploring sustainable fashion
This autumn, Kew Gardens is turning the spotlight on the fashion industry with a new festival that champions sustainability through plants, fungi and design.
Eco-Friendly Packaging and Vegan Materials Put NoStrain at the Forefront of Sustainable Fashion
NoStrain has emerged as a brand that facilitates the same change, providing feet with eco-friendly, stylish footwear. The firm has prioritized sustainability in its choice of materials and processes in all its products, targeting both men and women who prize comfort and conscience equally.
A Sustainable Fashion Guide for the “Frugal Chic” Person
Because there's nothing more chic than being sustainable.
Cost per Wear: An idea that makes you a smarter shopper forever
Open your wardrobe. Push past the shirts, the polos, the piles of clothes stacked too close together.
Ethical Fashion in Latin America: Technology and Culture to Transform the Textile Industry and Make it Greener
The platform Fundamentally, dedicated to bringing together ethical and circular brands, is now driving a project that promises to change the way environmental impact is measured and communicated in the region.
Hands On With the Most High-Tech Meta Ray-Ban Glasses Yet
The breakout eyewear’s next release comes with an internal display digitally overlaid on the wearer’s field of view that lets users read texts, watch video and get turn-by-turn navigation.
Read More (Under Paywall)
Fashion tech pioneer Federico Marchetti on building YOOX and shaping a sustainable future
The founder of YOOX NET-A-PORTER shares insights from his new memoir, his work with fashion icons, and his mission to blend luxury, technology, and sustainability.
Taiwanese Fashion Design Shines with 3D Immersive Showcase at London Fashion Week
Developed with Portal:M, a fashion-tech startup supported by the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) and the world’s leading garment manufacturer Makalot, highlights Taiwan’s growing influence in merging cultural creativity with technology.
Introducing Devavonne: The Fashion-Tech Brand Using AI to Personalize Style
With a focus on personalization, Devavonne empowers individuals to define and express their signature style with confidence and ease.
How fashion tech could be the coolest weapon against climate change
From laboratory innovation to wardrobe staple, smart cooling garments are reshaping how fashion confronts the climate crisis.
The clothes that never die: How fast fashion is burying Africa in plastic
Kenya imported more than 900 million items of used clothing in 2021, according to the Changing Markets Foundation. More than half were unsellable; more than a third contained synthetic fibers such as polyester and nylon, which do not biodegrade. Instead, they fragment into microplastics, laced with toxins from PFAS to phthalates, which seep into soil, water and air. These fibers can lodge in the stomachs of animals, carrying chemicals linked to cancer.
The Global Plastics Treaty talks failed, again: Industry reacts
There was a lot riding on last week’s plastics negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, but talks fell at the final hurdle.
Material production reaches record heights — and emissions grow
Textile Exchange’s annual Materials Market report reveals ballooning global fibre production and no end in sight for the growth of fossil fuel-based synthetics.
While we're at it, let's make sure these are hitting your primary inbox.
Gmail users: Move this email to your Primary Tab (drag-and-drop on Desktop, three dots on Mobile) and add me, sustainabilityp@substack.com, to your contacts.
Apple mail users: Tap on the email address at the top of this message and select "Add to VIPs."
Using Outlook, Yahoo, Hotmail, or something else? Find instructions here.
Taking a few minutes to do this will ensure you always take advantage of greatness.
P.S. Is there something on your mind… a burning question about fashion, sustainability, happiness, mindset, or consumer behavior? Reply to this email; I might answer you in an upcoming newsletter.
I really hope you're enjoying The Sustainability Pulse, my weekly newsletter looking at sustainability in the fashion industry. If you find the tips and insights useful, please share these articles to help spread the word.
My writing is supported entirely by paid subscriptions - there are no ads, paid placements, or sponsored content here.
It's all powered by you, the reader.
Some great key links here, thanks for sharing