In December, in addition to exciting collaborations within the industry and the announcement of upcoming trade fairs with a focus on sustainability, there were also studies to read that examined, among other things, what biological diversity and ecosystems have to do with fashion and how to stimulate interest in sustainability in the 13th to 28th year-olds, i.e. Generation Z, into concrete measures.
This article explores how the upcycling business model works for fashion labels and whether it’s viable on a large scale, as supermodel and activist Arizona Muse discusses sustainability in fashion. Read through a varied December!
collaborations
US-based biological recycling company Protein Evolution, Inc. (PEI) has announced a research and development collaboration with Stella McCartney to turn unused polyester and nylon fabrics into “like new” products, enabling a circular solution for the fashion industry. The goal is to demonstrate the potential of PEI’s enzyme-based technology and recycle synthetic textiles and plastic waste in a low-emission, environmentally friendly process to produce new plastic bottles, textiles and other infinitely renewable plastic products.
The global sustainability initiative Fashion for Good has started a pilot project that is testing alternatives to conventional single-use poly bags. She is organizing the six-month “Home-Compostable Polybag Project” along with C&A and Levi Strauss & Co., which developed the novel bags from Fashion for Good innovators Tipa Corp. and use Greenhope in their supply chains.
Spanish fashion company Inditex and conservation organization WWF have signed a three-year partnership agreement aiming to invest in nature restoration and work on nine transformative projects in North Africa, Europe, Asia and Latin America. The two partners will focus on forest restoration and protection, watershed restoration and protection, and species and habitat protection. A one-year scoping phase will examine the impact along the Inditex value chain. However, a switch from the resource-intensive fast fashion model does not appear to be planned. This video shows how today’s fashion trends are tomorrow’s garbage heaps.
Inditex brand Zara, meanwhile, has joined forces with chemical company BASF Home Care and I&I Solutions Europe to launch a new laundry detergent that claims to reduce microfiber shedding from textiles by up to 80 percent. Mountaineering expert Ortovox partnered with Reverse.supply to launch a second-life shop for used items.
brands and manufacturers
Three companies presented themselves in December: the sustainable underwear brand Mausons from the Netherlands, the Zurich bag manufacturer Freitag and the sustainable clothing factory Green Smart Shirts Ltd. Bangladeshi. Read for yourself what’s a little different about these three companies.
Meanwhile, recommerce provider Reverse.supply received the Federal Ecodesign Award, while sustainability assessor Good On You assessed more than 4,000 fashion brands in relation to their climate targets.
Textile discounter Primark presented its results in the latest sustainability report and Woolmark announced the winners of the Performance Challenge Award 2022.
Measure
In January, a new trade fair wants to bring the green fashion industry back to Berlin for the start of the season: the sustainable trade fair Beyond Fashion Berlin will take place from January 17th to 19th in the Atelier Gardens, the site of the former Berlin film studios. So far, more than 30 brands have registered as exhibitors.
Copenhagen Fashion Week (CPHFW) announced that the selection of participating labels for the Fall/Winter 2023 edition will be the first season in which all participating brands must meet 18 minimum sustainability standards to be part of the official programme. 29 have already done so.
From January 24th to 26th, the Munich Fabric Start will be dedicated to the topics of sustainability and digitization. Under the motto “Dare and Care”, the trade fair for spring/summer 2024 wants to focus even more on the sourcing of sustainable material development and solutions for digitization from product to production.