Maria Intscher-Owrang

If you have a spare 7️⃣ minutes this is a real eye opener. Have you heard of the word 👔#Deadstock👖 Deadstock can be anything from left over material from designers, to unsold garments in the fashion industry. 🌍This video gives some real insight into the detrimental affect it is having on the world 🌍 Where there is always a negative we find many more 🫶🏻 positives, like companies Queen of Raw and FABSCRAP FABSCRAP 👗 for taking these materials and turning them into shredded fibers used for the automotive industry and much more. Queen of Raw 🧥 are tackling more than $288 billion of excess inventory sitting in warehouses. Revolutionising the industry with a marketplace to monetise the waste. The more companies embrace the problems we have in the world the more positive change we will see. 🫶🏻

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What's been happening in sustainable fashion this week? ⬇ 1) Last week, The Material Innovation Initiative (MII) announced its closure. Since it founded in 2019, MII has facilitated over $2 billion in investments, supporting innovators to develop next-gen materials to replace animal-based products in fashion and other industries. 2) Meanwhile, in material news, JACK & JONES (part of BESTSELLER), have launched their latest collection with Infinited Fiber Company - a pair of cargo pants crafted using 40% INFINNA™ fiber, which is derived from recycled textile waste, and 60% in-conversion cotton*. This is the second product of the collaboration between the brands, following the successful launch of jeans made with INFINNA™ in 2023. *"In-conversion cotton" refers to cotton that is grown by farmers transitioning from conventional to organic farming practices. This transitional period usually lasts for about three years, during which the farmers adopt organic methods, such as avoiding synthetic fertilisers and pesticides. Although the cotton is not yet fully certified as organic, it is grown using the same principles. The "in-conversion" label helps support these farmers by giving them recognition and access to markets during this transition, as they don't yet benefit from the premium prices of fully certified organic cotton. 3) Coachtopia (by Coach) has introduced instant resale, powered by EON and in partnership with Poshmark, enabling customers to resell their Coachtopia products on Poshmark with a single click, using the items digital ID. 4) In supply chain news, garment workers in Cambodia have been granted a small increase in their minimum wage - from $204 to $208 per month - by the county's National Council of Minimum Wage (NCMW) 5) The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have published a guide to help fashion businesses stay on the right side of consumer law when it comes to making sustainability claims about their products. 6) Meanwhile, the CMA have also written to 17 'well-known' UK fashion brands to advise them to review how they market their sustainability claims amid ongoing crackdowns on greenwashing. Incoming regulations mean that the CMA will soon have the authority to fine companies up to 10% of their global revenue if they break consumer law. 7) Congratulations to Mulberry England on joining the B Lab community and achieving B Corp Status with 87.1 points. 8) Reskinned have partnered with ACT UK to take back clothes, shoes and accessories from ANY brand in ANY condition. The initiative is led by the UKFT Association, making it easier for everyone to recycle waste textiles and a goal to turn it into valuable resources for recycling 👏 Have a great week! Lydia 🔗 Links to articles in comments Brought to you by enkel To receive this newsletter direct to your inbox every Monday morning (UK / CEST) sign up at www.thisisenkel.com #sustainablefashion #circularfashion #enkel Image: Mulberry

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#SlowFashionCaucus is leading the charge in transforming the apparel industry by promoting textile reuse, repair, repurposing (upcycling) and recycling. Embracing circular economy principles is key to reducing resource consumption and fostering sustainability. The initiative is raising awareness on fast fashion's environmental consequences, advocating for a shift towards a circular economy. Efforts to localize textile production and encourage sustainable fiber use are underway. Collaboration among federal agencies is pivotal in advancing textile sustainability and curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Together, we have the power to drive significant change in the industry's environmental impact. “For too long, the so-called ‘fast fashion’ industry has been given free range to pollute our planet, exploit workers, and shortchange consumers. In fact, textile waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the United States and is responsible for more carbon emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. The launch of our Slow Fashion Caucus marks a new era in the fight against climate change and sends a clear message that Congress will not stand by as the harmful fast fashion industry flies under the radar to destroy our planet,” said Pingree, Founder and Chair of the Slow Fashion Caucus. “It doesn’t have to be this way. As lawmakers, we can create incentives for the apparel industry and consumers to reduce natural resource consumption and engage in reusing, repairing, rewearing, and recycling textiles. I am eager to get to work and thankful for the widespread support of sustainable style advocates, industry leaders, and, of course, my fellow Members of Congress who are joining me in this new effort to rein in fast fashion pollution. This is just the beginning!” #SlowFashion #Sustainability #CircularEconomy #TextileRecycling #EnvironmentalImpact More About Slow Fashion Caucus

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“Sustainability Pays.” That was the message delivered at the Textile Exchange annual conference in Pasadena earlier today. The keynote, delivered by a well respected sustainability author and consultant was titled “The Business Case for Climate Action.” The presentation made the case that “gigatrends" (transparency, generational change, pressure from investors) are “unstoppable” and that these trends overwhelm obstacles thereby assuring that “#sustainability pays." In the panel post the keynote, the Vice Chairman of one of the world’s largest fashion manufacturers, demurred, noting “as a supplier, we do not see all of the good things that you mentioned. Brands still do not pay for sustainability.” In a 2021 article title “Reorient the Case for Business Sustainability” in SSIR, professor Mike Barnett and five other professors write "In biasing corporations toward sustainability investments that are predictably profitable, technologically innovative, and consumerist, the business case falls short and has even exacerbated environmental problems. “ They continue, "it is foolish to keep our collective fingers crossed in hopes that some firm somewhere will uncover the innovative solution to our major sustainability challenges, such as climate change and the destruction of ecological diversity. Business-case logic guides firms to internalize innovation to retain any revenues. Yet firms cannot solve “super wicked” sustainability problems.” Which is it? Andrew King Maxine Bédat Delman Lee Livia Giuggioli Firth Livia Papi Gil Friend Joel Makower Anne-Laure Descours Saqib Sohail Dr. Vidhura Ralapanawe Kim van der Weerd Sean Cady Michael Beutler Anna Turrell Tricia Carey Sarah Kent Rachel Arthur Matt Powell John Elkington Mads Oscar Haumann Auden Schendler Ahmed Zaidi Duncan Austin Michael Schragger Alison Taylor Katy O'Brien Andy Ruben Alissa Baier-Lentz

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Here's the headlines from Sustainable Fashion this week ⬇ 1) Last week John Lewis & Partners announced they have teamed up with the University of Exeter to develop a framework and strategy for circular designed products, created in line with the circular design toolkit from WRAP. The 20 piece collection includes nightwear and bedding, and supports the retailers commitment that 100% of new 'own-brand' products are to be designed with circularity in mind by 2028. 2) In material news, US workwear brand Carhartt has joined the US Cotton Trust Protocol and Better Cotton in a move towards more responsibly sourced cotton. 3) Biotech specialist CARBIOS has struck a deal with Chinese textile group Zhink Group, to build a bio-recycling plant in China. The plant will use Carbios technology which enables recycling of PET plastic and textile waste into virgin-like products, with the aim of achieving true circularity. 4) Italian synthetic yarn manufacturer Fulgar has launched a new bio-based Nylon (branded as Q-Geo) , which is derived partially from corn-waste. 5) Australian recycling company Samsara Eco, who work with lululemon, has raised AUS $100 million ($65m) in latest funding. The funds will be used to scale-up global recycling capabilities using their enzyme technology to recycle apparel waste, diverting millions of tonnes of plastics away from landfill and incineration. 6) At last weeks The Sustainable Angle Future Fabrics Expo, UK bio-based start up 3D Bio-Tissues (powered by BSF Enterprise) launched their high quality 100% ethical-lab grown leather sample. The leather is grown without harming animals, and can still be treated using traditional methods, and meets the growing demand for alternative leather products. 7) As part of their 'Plan A - Another Life' Campaign - Marks and Spencer have announced a clothing repair service in partnership with SOJO. According to M&S, only 10% of the population feel confident enough to repair clothing themselves, and 60% of consumers want retailers to offer more services which support them to live a more circular life. 8) This week Barbour launched their rental service in partnership with Oxfam at Glastonbury, offering festival goers the opportunity to rent pre-loved, upcycled wax jackets for £45 for the duration of the event. Love the concept, intrigued to know if they all get returned after the rental period 🤔 9) Last week eBay announced the launch of 'Rocket Man Resale' featuring hundreds of items from Elton John's wardrobe! All proceeds will go to the Elton John AIDS Foundation. 10) The latest on the SHEIN - UK human rights group Stop Uyghur Genocide has launched a legal campaign to stop the flotation on the London Stock Exchange (potentially worth £50 billion), although paperwork for a potential London IPO has been filed by Shein 🤮 Have a great week Lydia SPONSORED BY Recomme.co Making circularity work for you https://www.recomme.co/ Image: Barbour

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At the start of this year, things looked fairly bleak for fashion’s textile-to-textile recycling industry. Though practically everyone in the nascent space agreed more investment was needed to develop the infrastructure and technologies required to turn old clothes back into usable materials at scale — advances the industry is relying upon to meet existing sustainability commitments and comply with incoming regulation — in a slowing market, no one seemed willing to stump up the cash. The downturn resulted in some high-profile failures. Pioneering Swedish textile-to-textile recycler Renewcell declared bankruptcy in February as weaker-than-expected sales pushed it into a cash crunch and revealed deeper, structural challenges. Contagion made it even harder for other start-ups to secure new funds. But the crisis appears to have galvanised the industry to action. In its wake, more brands have inked purchasing agreements with start-ups, promising to buy hefty volumes of recycled textiles once plants currently under construction hit commercial scale. These commitments have, in turn, helped unlock more funding, de-risking investments by guaranteeing material innovations a future market. New, deep-pocketed players have stepped into the space and manufacturers, a crucial link to get new materials from production to product, are becoming more active. Read the full story by BoF's Sarah Kent.

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