As in previous years, November was marked by Black Friday and discount battles. However, more and more brands and retailers refuse to participate in this consumer glorification, which comes at the expense of the environment. Instead, long-lasting, sustainable basic pieces are used, clothes are taken back or not sold at all that day.
November also saw the inaugural Made in Bangladesh Week, which made sustainability a key theme alongside security and cooperation. FashionUnited was there and looked around and also attended the Sustainable Leadership Award, which was jointly organized by the export association BGMEA and GIZ for the third time and awarded to 18 sustainable factories in Bangladesh. The Fashion Changers conference, held online, made suggestions for a better fashion industry and the Global Fashion Agenda and the UN announced a new sustainability project at COP27, while a new report shows increased emissions from the fashion industry in 2022.
As in the previous months, more action is being taken against greenwashing. Some brands and retail companies also showed themselves to be innovative. This article explored how difficulties in funding start-ups are holding back sustainability in the fashion and textile industries, while exploring how Russian oil is linked to Western fashion. Read through an exciting November.
innovations
The animal welfare organization Peta is making the tills ring, after all, they launched the “Vegan Wool Challenge”. The USD 1 million (EUR 974.53 million) competition aims to promote the development of a vegan wool material.
The US laminate manufacturer WL Gore & Associates has launched the first laminates from its cooperation with the company Bionic and Patagonia will be the first company to use the 2-layer laminates in its collection for the autumn/winter 2023 season. These consist of the new Gore-Tex ePE membrane, which for the first time no longer consists of the controversial PTFE material, but of expanded polyethylene. This PFC-free, resource-saving membrane was combined with a bionic textile fabric. These textiles are partly made from plastic waste collected from beaches and coasts.
Alternatives to leather are on the rise, but despite the eco-friendly claims made by fashion brands using these materials, there is scientific evidence that these claims could be misleading. The film SLAY reveals a few awkward details that the fashion industry doesn’t talk about when it comes to what leather alternatives are made from.
brands and retail
The Spanish shoe brand Camper has been B Corp-certified since summer and has launched numerous pioneering sustainability projects in recent months: from the introduction of recycled leather and plant-based leather alternatives to a take-back program, shoe recycling and a lifetime guarantee on individual models . FashionUnited spoke to the brand’s sustainability manager, Leticia Sandoval Godinez.
Sustainability researcher Talia Hussain believes that retail can play an important role in making the textile industry more sustainable. She is currently writing a doctoral thesis on this subject at Loughborough University, which FashionUnited asked her about in an interview. “Ethical retail doesn’t exist, but it can be the solution to make the fashion industry sustainable,” she says.
The Berlin public interest think tank Hot or Cool Institute and the network of international organizations Rapid Transition Alliance compiled a report on how the wealthiest consumers have the greatest responsibility when buying clothes, while the Global Sustainability Study 2022 by the strategy consultancy Simon Kucher & Partners found that that for 95 percent of consumers in Germany, sustainability as a purchase criterion for products and services is at least as important or even more important than it was a year ago.
French resale marketplace Vestiaire Collective has stopped buying, selling or listing fast fashion items on its website as of November 22, 2022 and has announced a list of banned brands as a first step, including Boohoo, Asos and Topshop. The ban will allow Vestiaire Collective to better position itself in the increasingly competitive upscale resale segment alongside providers such as The RealReal, The Outnet and Mytheresa.
green washing
In the most recent greenwashing case against the Swedish fashion group H&M, a lawsuit was filed in a US federal court in Missouri. In this, H&M is accused of trying to capitalize on the “green” consumer trend in “misleading, illegal and deceptive ways”. The company should suggest to customers that the products in the “Conscious Choice” line are environmentally friendly purchase decisions.
The Dutch party D66 tabled an initiative motion for a radical reform of the clothing industry in Parliament on Black Friday. With the initiative, D66 and parliamentarian Kiki Hagen, who wrote the letter, want to revitalize the textile industry and make the Netherlands a green pioneer. Among other things, an eco-score and higher fines for greenwashing are planned.