Sustainability Pulse #88
Sustainability Trends & News Worth Exploring — June 27th, 2024
Hey there, green warriors! 🌿
Welcome to another edition of my newsletter.
Let's dive into some exciting updates in sustainable fashion!
First up, Ralph Lauren is committing to recycled cotton for 80% of their clothing. This shift is a huge step forward in reducing waste!
Here’s something to ponder – there are 61.8 million Zara items on Vinted. What does this mean for circular fashion and our consumer habits?
The EU’s Green Claims Directive might favor synthetic fibre makers, causing a stir among natural fibre producers.
Great news – the EU's new right-to-repair rules are here! Brands will need to offer repair services even after warranties end.
Kenneth P. Pucker explains why cutting fashion’s emissions is so hard. It is a must-read for understanding the complexities.
Feeling the pinch of sustainable fashion costs? This article dives into why it can be so challenging.
Dive into these stories, and let’s keep the conversation going.
Catch you later, Vera.
Why Ralph Lauren is going all-in on recycled cotton
Ralph Lauren uses cotton in 80% of its clothing. The company is now working to make sure it’s recycled cotton.
The Sustainable Angle’s Future Fabrics Expo 2024
The Sustainable Angle is excited to announce that the FUTURE FABRICS EXPO 2024 will take place on the 25-26th June from 9 am-6 pm, returning again to Magazine London, a state-of-the-art 3200 square metres space, overlooking the river Thames and Canary Wharf.
Pangobooks Review: Pros, Cons, And Alternatives
Founded in 2021, Nashville-based Pangobooks is an online marketplace where you can buy and sell books. Its app is available for Android and iOS users who want to buy and sell books quickly and easily.
If you’re interested in making money with Pangobooks, you can sell just about any type of book, including your old textbooks. But unlike most textbook reselling sites, Pangobooks is a full-service marketplace. It specializes in more “reader-friendly” material like fiction, memoirs, and other must-read books.
Need a new outfit? Try the library.
Serving looks along with books: For 6 weeks last winter, Dover Public Library offered the city an alternative to fast fashion by lending clothes.
With 61.8m Zara items on sale at Vinted, is circular fashion in trouble?
The substantial presence of 61.8 million Zara garments on Vinted, the popular online secondhand marketplace, presents a complex picture of consumer behaviour, fast fashion, and sustainability efforts in the retail sector. Similarly, the platform lists 59.7 million H&M items, 21.8 million Shein pieces, 21 million Primark items and 10.2 million Mango items.
Revolve to acquire couture house Alexandre Vauthier
Revolve, the California-based online fashion retailer, is reportedly acquiring French haute couture brand Alexandre Vauthier. The 15 year-old company, which entered administration at the beginning of the year, has been looking for a buyer since February, said the Business of Fashion.
‘Hyper Beauty’: Inside Alessandro Michele’s Surprise Valentino Collection
Over 260 images dropped during Milan Fashion Week provided a look at the star designer’s plans for the Roman couture house. ‘It’s a continuous orgasm,’ he said.
Is the EU about to give synthetic fibre makers a competitive advantage?
An EU Green Claims Directive proposed by the European Commission intended to stop greenwashing, may play to the advantage of producers of synthetic fibres, say farmers. There’s a great deal at stake.
What the EU’s New Right-to-Repair Rules Mean for Brands
As part of the EU's "Green Deal" initiatives to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, the new right-to-repair directive mandates manufacturers to provide repair services even after the legal warranty period has ended. Furthermore, if companies already offer repairs under their product warranties, consumers will now enjoy an extended warranty period of one additional year.
Fashion’s Confounding Climate Math, Explained
Do you want to understand why cutting fashion’s planet-warming emissions is so hard? Or why consumers say they care about sustainability, but shop like they don’t? Stop thinking in straight lines, writes Kenneth P. Pucker.
Read More (under paywall)
I am not rich enough to work on sustainable fashion
Reflections on post growth fashion and money
SKY HIGH UNIVERSE X PARLEY
Sky High & Parley Universe Showcase theie first ever ready to wear collection made with Parle Future MATERIAL®: natural and biofabricated ingredients.
Change The Game
Championing sustainability through the spirit of sport.
It will take 800 years to effectively protect the world’s oceans at our current rate. A protected area the size of Taiwan is needed daily to achieve 30% protection by 2030. In the UK, the water is not protected at all.
A full rubbish truck of plastic goes into our oceans every minute, impacting both our water and bodies. The US healthcare system spends $250 billion yearly treating illnesses from micro and nanoplastics.
Primary plastic reduction is crucial to reducing harm. We need creative visionaries to implement solutions and galvanize change.
During London Climate Action Week, Gabriella M. from (re)boot and Sian Sutherland of A Plastic Planet discussed the profound impact of their work.
Here is a great place to start to find out what these incredible people are doing in this space.
(Re)boot https://lnkd.in/er5diM9P
Plastic Free https://lnkd.in/ezsjHSv9
The global apparel industry is a significant yet overlooked source of plastic leakage.
Plastic pollution is a global environmental threat with potentially irreversible impacts on aquatic life, ecosystems, and human health. This study comprehensively assesses the global apparel industry’s contribution to plastic pollution.
Naomi Watts’ menopause brand, Stripes Beauty, is acquired by LVMH-backed L Catterton
L Catterton, the luxury private equity firm, has invested in a menopause brand. It’s part of the broader effort to normalize conversations about menopause.
In data: Shinwon uses AI for fashion forecasting as market set to hit $909bn by 2030
As the global Artificial Intelligence (AI) market is projected to reach $909bn by 2030 according to GlobalData, South Korean fashion giant Shinwon Corporation is leveraging the technology and big data to predict fashion trends, enhance buyers' market insights, and meet evolving consumer demands.
AI fashion face-off: Can tech assistants give good styling advice?
Generative AI chatbots can aggregate facts, but can they understand something as subjective as fashion? Vogue tested chatbots from Google, Meta, and others, asking Vogue editors to evaluate if AI can comprehend style.
Style DNA gets a generative AI chatbot that suggests outfit ideas based on your color type
By analyzing your complexion and facial features, Style DNA can determine your seasonal color type (such as Light Summer or Dark Autumn) and recommend suitable clothing styles.
Komodo Fashion leads the way in eco-friendly shopping online sizing technology
Komodo Fashion, a stalwart in eco-friendly fashion for over 30 years, is furthering its commitment to sustainability by integrating advanced online sizing technology.
N Brown wins Technology Project of the Year
N Brown Group plc, the inclusive fashion and homeware digital retail platform, has been awarded the Technology Project of the Year award at the Retail Systems Awards.
Who Will Finance a More Sustainable Fashion Industry?
H&M, Gap, Mango and Bestseller are leading an effort to provide manufacturers with cheaper loans for decarbonisationprojects. It’s an innovative bid to address fashion’s big climate financing gap, but it still has holes.
Has fashion hijacked the EU’s eco-label for clothing?
Nearly 900 signatories, representing thousands of farmers in natural fibers supply chains, have signed a letter to the EU Council, expressing concerns that the Green Claims Directive's apparel 'scoring' method has been dominated by fast fashion. Only major brands like H&M, Nike, Inditex, and VF Corp can afford to participate and vote in the process.
Julie Bornstein’s New AI Start-Up Raises $50-Million Seed Round
The venture is a search and discovery platform for fashion built around generative AI’s capabilities.
How cool-girl brand Ganni made sustainable style a $700 million business
The Danish ‘It Girl‘ brand is determined to grow, but not at all costs.
Canada’s New Greenwashing Law Will Impact U.S. Companies’ Climate Marketing
To combat greenwashing, the Canadian government has amended the Competition Act, adding a new provision that regulates environmental claims in marketing materials.
Getting Serious: From Fun And Fear To Foundations And Finance
What does the near future hold now that AI is no longer seen as a savior or a threat in binary terms but, more pragmatically, as a spectrum of solutions? Will the core business models balance out? And will the architecture scale to deliver the transformative applications that users, organizations, and investors are anticipating?
Are ‘core’ aesthetics promoting consumerism?
TikTok and the ‘cores’ trends may be promoting overconsumption and the typification of women rather than feminism, argues Gina Stock
Messe Frankfurt Highlights SDGs in Textile Industry at the UN Fashion and Lifestyle Network Annual Meeting
Heimtextil also announces its partnership with celebrated architect, industrial designer, and art director Patricia Urquiola for its January 2025 trade show.
Cut from a different cloth: don’t be fooled by fashion obsession with upper-class wardrobes.
While the aristocracy often informs mood boards and glossy magazine pages, we should not be distracted by the romanticization of inherited titles and unearned fortunes.
M&S launches ‘sustainable’ repair service
We’re making it easier for customers to give clothes another life, says retailer
Vera
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