Sustainability Pulse #127
Sustainability Trends & News Worth Exploring - January 13, 2026
I’ve been sitting with this week’s newsletter longer than usual, trying to make sense of what feels like two contradictory realities happening at once.
On one hand, 2025 has been rough. Luxury brands linked to sweatshops, companies quietly dropping their sustainability messaging, and the persistent gap between what we know is right and what actually makes money. It’s easy to feel like we’re moving backwards.
But then I look at the other stories crossing my desk: researchers growing mushrooms on textile waste to create insulation, FIT launching a course on adaptive fashion design, and brands rallying behind circular materials. Small signals, maybe, but they’re there.
What strikes me most is that sustainability in fashion has never been about a smooth upward trajectory. It’s messier than that, full of false starts, economic realities, and genuine innovation happening in pockets while the mainstream hesitates or retreats. The work is in paying attention to both, in understanding why the monetization gap exists while also tracking who’s finding ways through it.
This week’s collection reflects that complexity. It’s not all progress, and it’s not all doom. It’s just where we are.
Luxury Scandals and the Retreat of ‘Sustainable Fashion’
Between top luxury players being linked to sweatshops and brands walking away from overt sustainability messaging, fashion seemed to backslide on both the social and environmental fronts in 2025.
Sustainable fashion’s harsh truth: Why doing good is losing money?
INSIGHTS
Sustainable fashion faces a monetisation gap.
While ethical awareness is rising, high costs, price sensitive consumers and limited scale continue to constrain revenues.
Brands that rely solely on sustainability struggle to convert intent into sales, highlighting the need for sharper pricing, stronger design appeal and clearer market specific communication.
Fashion Institute of Technology Launches New Course on Adaptive Fashion Design
The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) has opened enrollment for a groundbreaking new certificate course titled Adaptive Fashion Design / Inclusive Innovation, set to begin on February 10, 2026. Led by adaptive fashion expert and FIT alumna Alina Kuderska, the program aims to equip designers, students, and entrepreneurs with the skills to create inclusive clothing that prioritizes functionality, empathy, and style for people with disabilities, chronic conditions, or mobility challenges.
How best to recycle Europe’s fast fashion waste? Grow mushrooms on it, say researchers
The researchers calculated how close each use would be to an ideal solution, using four criteria – environmental, economic, technical, social – and rated each option. They found fungal-based insulation material had the greatest future development potential. This can be achieved by growing Pleurotus pulmonarius, a type of oyster mushroom, on a mixture of agro-industrial waste and recycled ground textiles.
What if beauty didn’t poison anyone? UT lab is rethinking fashion
The fourth floor of the Texas Science and Natural History Museum is designed for reverence — fossils, minerals, evidence of deep time. The building trains you to think in epochs and extinction events, not hemlines or handwork. It is not designed for fashion.
Vestiaire Collective Makes Shopping Vintage Easier Than Ever
Since 2009, Vestiaire Collective has remained focused on pre-loved fashion, redefining our relationship with what—and who—we’re wearing.
Resale, Repairs & the Future: A Product’s Second Life May Matter Most
Luxury brands have long relied on marketing that positions their products as made to last and even to be passed down. But the reality is that most companies are lagging when it comes to offering the services that would allow such longevity to actually materialize.
IS THE ‘CLEAN FASHION’ MOVEMENT ENOUGH TO MAKE SHOPPERS CARE ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY AGAIN?
The emerging social media trend is raising awareness of clothing’s impact on human health. Can it cut through the fast fashion noise?
3D Fashion Deep Dive 07: Rethinking Virtual Try-On
Why Real-Time Fashion Is Bigger Than the Fitting Room
Tod’s founder warns ‘Made in Italy’ reputation at risk from supply chain probes
“Made in Italy” is the term used in the country as shorthand for Italian exports and quality goods.
Prosecutors allege Tod’s “culpably failed” to adequately oversee its suppliers, including two contracted directly, in order to pursue higher profits. The company - which is not under investigation - said that it complies with the law.
Is the future of beauty skincare you can wear? Sylva’sTallulah Harlech thinks so
The stylist’s label, Sylva, comprises a tightly edited collection of pieces designed to complement the skin’s microbiome, made possible by rigorous technical innovation – something she thinks will be the future of both fashion and beauty
Unmissable fashion exhibitions to add to your calendar in 2026
From a trip back to the 1990s at Tate Britain to retrospectives on Schiaparelli, Madame Grès and Vivienne Westwood, 2026 looks set to continue the renaissance of the fashion exhibition
Sustainable digital fashion in a metaverse ecosystem
The digital revolution is reshaping consumer behavior and attracting significant enterprise capital toward platforms supported by emerging technologies Casestudy
DressX is the largest digital fashion platform, offering 3D digital clothing, AR-filtered outfits, and NFT products that focus on sustainability and affordability. This study examines the link between digital fashion and sustainability in the metaverse using a game theory model to analyze brand and platform interactions.
The business case for sustainability: engaging with consumers to drive conscious consumerism
Building robust transparency through audits, certification, and data collection comes with its own costs, and more visibility can expose higher true costs such as traceable materials and living wages. In the short term, that can compress gross margins.
Gen Z proves most resilient as US apparel spending dips in 2025
Younger shoppers in the US have emerged as a resilient force in the apparel, accessories and footwear market, according to Consumer Edge’s 2026 Apparel, Accessories and Footwear Outlook Report.
Fashion for the future
Matilda Billinge muses on how 20th century futurism actually relates to where fashion is headed
Fashion giant Zara quietly closes 60 stores in latest blow to brick-and-mortar retail
Despite a banner sales year, Zara is quietly shutting stores at a rapid rate.
Fast Fashion Overconsumption Statistics
Fast fashion fuels waste, pollution, water depletion, and worker exploitation.
On Indian cotton plantations are still cases of child labour A new investigation accuses a company working with Inditex, Amazon, the H&M group and Gap Inc.
Transparentem found that some fields were cultivated with illegal synthetic pesticides both locally and internationally.
Why Thrifting Is Trendy but Still Not Accessible to Everyone
The surge in thrifting’s popularity is closely linked to the increasing awareness of the environmental consequences of fast fashion. Purchasing pre-owned garments is viewed as a means to minimize waste, save money, and differentiate oneself from mass-produced styles. For many young urban shoppers, thrifting also embodies a narrative — discovering distinctive items and transforming them into personal fashion statements.
Fashion brands rally behind Circulose’s next chapter
Swedish textile recycling company Circulose has entered into a series of partnerships with international fashion brands as part of its commitment to restoring its market presence.
US hemp fibre exporter Heartland taps into India’s supply chain
Detroit-based material science company Heartland has unveiled a new textile business unit in India to increase the adoption of hemp fabric within the wider supply chain.
As natural resources dwindle, luxury fashion must pursue sustainability says Square Management study
Long defined by rarity, artisanal excellence, and desirability, the luxury sector now faces an unprecedented equation: how can it continue to create value without further increasing pressure on natural and social resources? This is the question addressed by the report “Business models for sustainable luxury,” published by the consultancy Square Management, which offers an in-depth analysis of the transformation of luxury business models through the lens of planetary boundaries.
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.