Sustainability Pulse #33
Sustainability Trends & News Worth Exploring — April 24rd, 2022
Earth Day WeekYear is here again, which means that we're bound to see even more vague assertions about the environment from brands. "Sustainable" has become a buzzword for many companies, especially with so many people focused on ethical spending these days. This track record is even more frustrating because it's not just brands determined not to cause harm who are guilty of greenwashing but brands who are explicitly trying to cash in on sustainable marketing. The fashion industry is one major culprit, and there are several brands guilty of greenwash.
5 Earth Day Fashion Campaigns Which Are Actually Just Greenwashing
Despite their claims, most giant retailers are built on a scale and business model which is fundamentally unsustainable
H&M’s “Looop” Machine Campaign
When you think of H&M, you do not think of sustainability. And you shouldn't. The company is one of the top three leading retailers in the world, selling about 3 billion articles of clothing every year.
The partnership includes the launch of "H&M Looop Island'' on the Nintendo game, Animal Crossing. The Looop machine is H&M's recycling machine, which turns old clothes into fabric for new ones. The elaborate digital campaign aims to target young consumers and create the impression that having a few recycled items makes the brand sustainable.
This is not the first time they have been called out for greenwashing, as other campaigns like their Conscious Collection offered vague promises about being made of more sustainable materials without giving much more information about how the items were made and how the materials were better for the environment.
7 Career Tips For Women From A Leader In Sustainable Fashion
What are you wearing these days? How have your clothing choices evolved since you put down your sweat pants and donned real pants again as life reopens post-pandemic?
According to the UN, there's a one in six chance it was made by a woman. There's also a one in eight chance a woman bought it for you since women make or influence 85% of consumer purchasing decisions.
Questions and Answers on EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles
Do you want to reduce your impact on the environment, reuse what you already have, and maintain your clothes longer?
Do you ask yourself the following questions?
Why do we need to act on textiles?
What are the main actions included in the Strategy?
How does the Strategy address the issue of fast fashion?
How will the Strategy address the export of textile waste?
How does the Strategy address the social aspect of the textiles industry?
6 sourcing strategies for reshoring and nearshoring
The pandemic-related upheaval in the global supply chain, coupled with the war in Europe, has once again put international supply chains in jeopardy. As a result, companies are quickly looking to restore their supply chains to gain greater control and keep them out of harm's way.
Sustainable companies combat the carbon footprint of fast fashion
Fashion is everywhere, from catwalks to social media to the guy sitting across from you on the subway. But for all its omnipresence, it's surprisingly easy to forget that fashion comes from somewhere or even how many people are involved in getting it from there to here. To mark Earth Day 2020, TODAY Style wanted to look at some of the ways companies are working to minimize their carbon footprints while sharpening their style.
Will customers know everything about products with digital ID?
Try to imagine a world, in which everything you buy, every jacket, every cornflake bag, everything you touch has an ID. It could be one of the biggest tech revolutions of our time. But is it desirable? Are there risks involved? Is this the right direction for technology to develop?
Unstitched: Eco-Age's Livia Firth on working together for a greener future
It can be hard to know where to start when it comes to sustainable fashion. With an endless barrage of information, countless new and established brands to research, and a mass of confusing terminology out there, it's understandable that anyone might feel a little overwhelmed.
BASF's e3 Sustainable Cotton programme joins UN online platform
BASF's e3 Sustainable Cotton programme has created a transparent and traceable cotton supply chain. The programme has joined the United Nations' (UN) hosted Conscious Fashion and Lifestyle Network for a series of convenings in New York throughout 2022. The network is an online platform for industry stakeholders, media, governments, and UN system entities.
FashMash relaunches Young Pioneers mentoring scheme
In response to the Black Lives Matter movement and the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic, the London fashion community FashMash is launching a sustainable mentoring scheme to nurture and encourage ethnic minorities and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.
Here's how some Arizona businesses are making fashion more sustainable
FABRIC is trying to reduce the fashion industry's impact on landfills. Garments make up 4% of all solid waste in landfills, according to the EPA; about 21 billion pounds of textiles enter U.S. landfills every year.
For companies like FABRIC, the key to sustainability is a closed-loop supply chain, one where materials are reused and apparel is produced on demand. Creating clothes this way would significantly reduce waste in the fashion industry.
Black algae fabrics and 3D-woven denim: 8 of the best innovations for sustainable fashion
Fashion systems, in their current form, exploit people and the planet. Fortunately, many innovators are rethinking fashion from all angles. Their solutions are often technical—finding alternative materials, processes, and technologies—or logistical. Here's a selection of some of the best innovations we've spotted over the past year.
Bringing together design, technology, and sustainable fashion
Kornit Digital launched Kornit Digital Cloud (KDC), a breakthrough in digital textile printing. KDC allows brands and other fashion-related businesses to customize and distribute any color, pattern, or design for any garment anywhere in the world.
Am I an Ethical-Fashion Mean Girl?
I've been an ethical-fashion advocate for half a decade. On the kind end of this spectrum is a close-knit, in-the-know community with shared values and tastes. The same way that fans of Comme des Garçons or Rick Owens can identify which collection a particular garment came from, Ace & Jig customers recognize the brand's distinct woven pieces and forge friendships on the spot.
Here's How Alia Bhatt's 'Sustainable' Mehendi Outfit Paves the Way for Gradual Shift Away from Fast Fashion
Recently, Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor tied the knot, and tabloids have been overflowing with pictures and the minutest of details about the happy couple. Incidentally, not all of it is mindless jabber.
Social media "influence" accelerates fast fashion culture
Social media is constantly pushing purchasable content onto its audience.
The problem with fast fashion isn't necessarily how much money is being made or wasted. Instead, these items are literally treated as fast food, and this cycle discredits people's feelings towards clothing; they become exchangeable instead of items to cherish.
