The European Outdoor Group (EOG) and the German Federal Association of the German Sporting Goods Industry (BSI) have teamed up to launch the ‘Sustainability Data Exchange Project’, which aims to harmonise the exchange of product level sustainability…
Andy Ruben, the founder and executive chairman of resale platform Trove, talks about why he left the retail giant Walmart to enter the resale space and gives readers a unique insight into what the future may hold for global resale as it continues to…
Funding new textile technologies requires more corporate interest if a repeat of the clean tech bubble burst of the late 2000s is to be avoided, argues Rogier van Mazijk, Fund Manager at Textile Innovation Fund. Over the last decade, numerous…
CHRISTCHURCH – In a conversation with textile technologist Colleen Ahalt-Eagle at the Performance Days trade show in Munich, she told Ecotextile News that her laboratory forensic work on synthetic fibre breakdown in New Zealand showed that existing,…
Brooklyn-based Caroline Priebe is a US sustainable fashion designer with two decades of experience under her belt, so Tom Bithell caught up with her for a quick Q&A about her ideas on designing for true sustainability. Q: How is a garment…
Last summer’s floods in Pakistan displaced seven million people, caused a death toll of over 1,500 and damages of an estimated $30 billion, with only $5.6 billion covered by insurance. As just one instance of the increasing number of extreme weather…
The promotion of biodegradation and biodegradability is being used to assuage consumer guilt associated with over-production and the ‘buy-use-dump model’ for both chemicals and clothing. There are three things that are clear about drawing…
Amidst growing calls for fashion brands and retailers to consider pulling out of sourcing from Myanmar, World Bank figures reveal that garment exports from the country actually shot up for much of last year. Reports that exports of garments from…
A proposal put to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) by Sweden and France in 2019 to restrict some skin sensitisers – with a decision expected to be presented to the EU commission shortly – is causing concern among some textile industry groups who…
New Nike-funded research proposes a new way to more accurately measure and control the amount of microparticles found in textile wastewater. The research hoped to address the problem of comparing microparticle data from different studies, due to a…
Protein Evolution has linked up with Stella McCartney to demonstrate the potential of its enzyme-based technology to recycle synthetics. US start-up Protein Evolution (PEI) is working with Stella McCartney in a bid to turn unused polyester and nylon…
The Apparel Impact Institute Climate Solutions Portfolio (CSP) provides millions in grant funding for innovations and existing textile industry solutions that can demonstrate their power to reduce supply chain greenhouse gas emissions. It’s finally…
As professor of human rights and contemporary slavery at Sheffield Hallam University, Laura Murphy’s research shines a light on the murky supply chain lines linking major brands to forced labour in china. As an idealistic young girl, Laura Murphy…
Some of the textile industry’s leading players, including Euratex, Global Fashion Agenda, Fairtrade Foundation, Canopy, Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Transformers Foundation, and the Better Cotton Initiative give us their views on a series of…
FRANKFURT – It’s often said that there is no ‘silver bullet’ to achieving a fully sustainable and circular textile industry, but OceanSafe, based in Bern, Switzerland, claims that it may have provided a conceivable route to just that. And with one…
What is the 'functional unit' of a winter coat, or a pair of boots? The 'functional unit' is a central concept for lifecyle assessment (LCA) based tools. In the ongoing work on the European Union's (EU) PEFCR (Product Environmental Footprint…
Increasingly, in our industry, there has been a face-off between data optimists and data pessimists - those who believe we can get good, specific data to assess impacts and those who think that global averages are as good as it’s likely to get. This…
The message from COP 27 was unequivocal – climate change is THE number 1 priority for mankind. In textiles, I’d agree that this is also a very high priority, but we also must take a holistic view and consider a basket of metrics to carry out our…
One of the most keenly-anticipated sessions at the recent annual meeting of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s (SAC) in Singapore brought together different sides of the ongoing controversy over the use of data from the Higg Index suite of tools on…
GLOBAL - The Textile Exchange industry body's recent report on organic cotton contains "numerous anomalies that should raise suspicions", according to a senior figure in the industry. Terry Townsend, a former executive director of the International…
MUNICH – At ISPO here in Munich, talk of Bluesign technologies and the ZDHC aligning to no longer certify coatings, formulations and water and oil repellent textiles that use fluorine-based PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ from 2024, led to industry…
In areas of the world that are experiencing massive energy price shocks, there has probably never been a better time for textile dyers and finishers to justify investments in energy-saving measures, says Phil Patterson. But talk around ‘net zero’…
Earlier this year, textile recycling innovator Infinited Fiber Company (IFC) published a mid-way report of the New Cotton Project it started back in 2020. The EU-funded initiative was, to all intents and purposes, centred on IFC’s proprietary…
Vietnam vies with Bangladesh for the title of the world's second biggest garment manufacturer after China. But with most of its factories reliant on coal-fired energy, it's also responsible for a big chunk of the industry's carbon footprint. With…
Consumer watchdogs sent shockwaves through the fashion industry when they declared illegal the use of Higg Materials Sustainability Index (Higg MSI) data to guide consumers on environmental impact. At the heart of the concerns of the Norwegian…
Just before the world went into lockdown, Fashion for Good estimated the investment needed in chemical recycling technologies to create man-made cellulosic fibres (MMCF) from more sustainable, 'next gen' sources at an eye-watering US$20 billion. To…
Sustainability was a major theme of the 2022 Australian Cotton Conference which last month returned after a four year hiatus due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Speakers at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, included Don Butler, of…
The Xinjiang Police Files attracted global attention when Adrian Zenz, a senior fellow at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, shared them with 14 major news organisations earlier this year. The result of a hacking attack on police…
June was not a good month for the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) and the Higg Index suite of tools it has developed to monitor the social and environmental impacts of the fashion industry's global supply chain. The SAC found itself obliged to…
On the return of the Future Fabrics Expo, a programme rich in diverse thinking coincided with the usual fabric displays. It was there that one panel discussion explored the vast potential of waste agriculture.
In a quiet corner of rural North Yorkshire, Agroisolab UK is championing new technology which it believes has the potential to be a game changer in terms of tackling the textiles industry’s traceability problem. Whether or not fibres are what…
Fairtrade cotton promises to address both environmental and social challenges, yet it has often been overshadowed by other cotton standards despite Fairtrade having high consumer recognition by comparison. Now, with organic cotton seemingly in some…
With fashion's carbon footprint recently estimated at roughly two per cent of the global total, turning greenhouse gases into textiles sounds like the holy grail in terms of reducing the industry's impact on climate change. However, a small but…
Tough new proposals to force companies to disclose their climate-related risks to investors in the US have been described as the Biden administration's most significant action so far on climate change. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),…
When fashion companies and trade unions agreed to set up a new body to hold brands accountable for workplace safety in Bangladesh last year, it was always intended that it would seek to expand to other garment manufacturing countries. Joris…
At the beginning of this century, life in the world of textiles was simple but concerning. Production was growing, consumption was expanding, and globalisation was happening at an alarming pace, with almost all textiles made using conventional…
Jack Ostrowski, the founder of sustainability solutions provider Yellow Octopus, has developed a new consumer-facing app and brand plug-in to spark drastic changes within the fashion sector. His concept, the Loop Digital Wardrobe, strives to…
“Everyone is looking for business, not integrity.” So says one of our sources within the organic cotton sector – an industry dominated by large platforms, and a place where some experts are afraid to speak out publicly for fear of losing their…
Net Zero Pakistan, the country's drive towards net zero carbon emissions in industry - was intended to be cross-sector but so far 95 per cent of the signatories come from the textiles sector. Saleha Asif, CEO of the Pakistan Textile Council, argues…
Further regional lockdowns in China due to its zero-COVID strategy have caused severe supply chain bottlenecks accompanied by concerns on product quality, supply chain security and environmental safety. By doubling down on a draconian strategy that…
With ecommerce marketplaces proving the scalability of the secondhand fashion space, resale tech specialists are now extending the appeal to brands and retailers. Although many in the industry have watched from the side-lines amidst the rise of the…
New York is set to be the first US state to implement its own fashion sustainability law. Major brands and retailers would have to reveal what they are doing to reduce their environmental and social impacts, with heavy penalties for those which fall…
Achieving net zero by 2050 could cost the textile industry an estimated US$1 trillion. Here, the president of the Apparel Impact Institute (AII) tells Ecotextile News why - and how - we must foot the bill. Clothing has always represented our…
I’m a textile dyer and, with over 30 years’ experience in the industry I’ve seen a few things come and go in terms of the ‘next big thing’ but the fundamentals of how dyes remain intact and attached (or not) to fibres hasn’t changed one bit. Some…
The race to bring next generation materials to market at scale is on.” That was the message from Nicole Rycroft, the executive director of environmental non-profit Canopy after man-made cellulosic fibre (MMCF) manufacturers Lenzing and Birla…
After going from strength to strength over the last four decades, Bangladesh's garment industry suffered something of a shock last year when it fell behind Vietnam as a sourcing destination. That was largely down to the impact of the COVID-19…
The VF Corporation fashion giant has confirmed it will source all of its cotton from the US, Australia or certified environmental cotton sources by 2025, as it releases new goals on sustainability and transparency. Through its newly-released 'Made…
More than 60 apparel companies could be sued under California Prop 65 chemical regulations after high levels of the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A (BPA) was found in women’s and children’s branded socks. The first stages of litigation have already…
At the end of a dismal 2020 came optimism, courtesy of a newly launched research facility to “stimulate innovation and economic growth in UK textile manufacturing”. The Textiles Circularity Centre (TCC) was the focus of £5.4 million in funding last…
More than 22 US companies are now taking part in ongoing trials to collect, sort and recycle waste clothes in a bid to ramp up textile-to-textile circularity to commercial scale. Clothing retailers and brands such as VF Corporation, Gap Inc and…
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