While fast fashion in the early 2000s focused more on pushing products out and embarking on ambitious expansion schemes around the world, the more recent past has shown them shifting their focus towards ethics and corporate transparency.
In order to fulfil this new narrative, the Amsterdam-based global initiative Fashion for Good, is now aiming to transform the fashion industry, by driving its transition to a circular economy and bringing industry players together to “reimagine how fashion is designed, made, used, and reused”.
Aimed at making all fashion good, the platform supports indigenous innovators across various fields in fashion, made possible through collaboration and community-building. Having first entered India on 28 January 2020 with a South Asia programme, the initiative is now set to leave its mark on Sri Lanka as well.
The Sunday Morning Business interviewed Fashion For Good Managing Director Katrin Ley to speak about the initiative and their plans for Sri Lanka.
What does Fashion For Good stand for?
With Laudes Foundation as a founding partner, and building on our Co-Founder William McDonough’s philosophy of Cradle to Cradle, which is a globally recognised measure of safer, more sustainable products made for the circular economy, Fashion for Good was established as a global, collaborative innovation platform to tackle the problems faced by the fashion industry.
In order to create a truly good fashion industry, incremental improvements are not enough to make the change; disruptive innovation is needed. The good news is we see game-changing technologies that can bring real disruption to the industry and can offer major leaps forward towards circularity, but they are unfortunately currently not being scaled. We increasingly see large corporations that are committed to becoming more sustainable, have pledged towards circularity and who want to adopt these innovations to achieve their ambitions.
We work directly alongside the most promising innovators, bringing them together with market players, such as brands, retailers, and manufacturers, in order to make it easier for them to work together effectively, bridge the innovation gap, and bring these innovations to the mainstream.
To move the industry forward we act on two fronts. First, as an innovation platform;we give promising start-ups the support they need in order to grow and scale. Secondly, as a convenor for change; with our museum in Amsterdam, we are building a Good Fashion Movement to help people understand and reimagine the ways in which they can make a difference through their clothing choices, from before the point of purchase, to garment care and beyond.
What is the market gap that Fashion For Good looks to fill?
Fashion for Good looks at the biggest problems facing the fashion industry and brings together the entire fashion ecosystem to work on solving them through disruptive, sustainable innovation. For true good fashion and a circular supply chain to exist, all elements, from design to end-of-use, must be reconsidered and for this to happen, considering the enormity of the challenge, collaboration is required.
It’s our mission to bring together the entire apparel industry — brands, retailers, suppliers, non-profit organisations, innovators, funders, and the wider public — to innovate and collaborate for good fashion. Drawing from the Cradle to Cradle framework, good fashion is not fashion that simply looks good or is mostly good; it is good in five important ways:
•Good materials — safe, healthy, and designed for reuse and recycling
•Good economy — growing, circular, shared, and benefiting everyone
•Good energy — renewable and clean
•Good water — clean and available to all
•Good lives — living and working conditions that are just, safe, and dignified
How many countries have already adopted this initiative?
Fashion for Good operates on a global scale. Collaborations in the fashion ecosystem are mandatory and absolutely essential — only a global partnership can create the movement needed to create real, structural change.
Our programmes are supported by our global network of partners and like-minded organisations from across the world and we scout innovative start-ups with the potential to disrupt the current apparel and textile value chain, bringing a positive environmental and/or social impact.
How has the South Asian market received the initiative?
South Asia is a global leader in manufacturing and one of the largest consumer markets for fashion. The rapidly growing region presents significant opportunities to create value and impact both socially and environmentally from a transition towards a circular economy. With a rich heritage in textile manufacturing and production, we are seeking to spark and scale promising innovations from this region that have the potential to disrupt the current fashion supply chain worldwide.
We are staunch ambassadors of industrywide collaboration. The launch of our regional programme in South Asia strengthens our network and positions us to better serve local manufacturers, key supply chain actors, brands, and innovators. By connecting them to our global network and leading players in the fashion ecosystem, we help the innovators’ solutions and technologies reach scale and our presence has been met with optimism and a positive show of support.
Why did you decide to venture into Sri Lanka and what plans do you have here?
Fashion for Good is looking for innovative start-ups from across South Asia, including Sri Lanka, with disruptive sustainability solutions applicable to the fashion supply chain. Of particular interest are the unique perspectives of home-grown innovators focusing on key areas including raw materials, dyeing and finishing, manufacturing, retail, end-of-use, and transparency and traceability. Fashion for Good is actively working on scaling innovations in the region, by catalysing collaborative pilots, which address areas such as making organic cotton traceable and solutions for the treatment of wastewater from the apparel manufacturing process.
Can you tell us a bit about the Wastewater Treatment Pilot and the Full Circle Textiles Project ?
With regard to the Wastewater Treatment Pilot, fashion brands and their suppliers need a cost-effective solution for sustainable wastewater treatment. The high expense and environmental impact associated with water treatment creates an attractive opportunity for innovation. To investigate solutions in this area, Fashion for Good initiated a pilot project with scaling programme innovator SeaChange Technologies, whose focus is the treatment of industrial effluent.
Seeking new solutions to the environmental impact and high costs associated with wastewater treatment, Fashion for Good corporate partners Arvind Ltd., Bestseller, C&A and PVH Corp., provided business support, development funding, and expertise to this pioneering pilot project. As a global leader in apparel manufacturing and with a focus on textiles, advanced materials, and environmental solutions, Arvind Ltd. provided access to their Effluent Treatment Plant near Gujarat, India, one of the world’s largest textile manufacturing operations, to conduct a field evaluation. The SeaChange system was implemented over a period of three months to test and evaluate the feasibility of wide-scale implementation of the system.
The pilot provided an opportunity to test SeaChange’s technology in multiple different waste streams. The waste streams tested included sludge, dyeing concentrates and combined effluent, Reverse Osmosis (RO) Reject, and Mother Liquor. All waste streams were successfully treated by the SeaChange system and reduced to minerals in a single pass, demonstrating the technical viability of the technology to process wastewater. Sludge was selected as the most viable application for SeaChange, given its hefty environmental impact and cost of disposal.
A typical dyehouse generates one to three tonnes of sludge per day from wastewater treatment, costing over $ 200,000 annually for its disposal and generating over 5,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year. Across thousands of suppliers and/or dyehouses, these costs are tremendous and are only increasing as options for its safe disposal become more limited under public pressure to improve sustainability. Implementing the SeaChange system into their treatment facility will effectively eliminate such costs as well as the associated environmental impacts.
With regard to the Full Circle Textiles Project, as much as 73% of clothing produced is sent to landfills or is incinerated, and of all new clothing made, less than 1% of material used comes from recycled sources. Focusing on cellulosic fibres, this Project aims to validate and eventually scale promising technologies in chemical recycling from a select group of innovators to tackle these issues.
Man-Made Cellulosic Fibres (MMCF), which are most commonly derived from wood, have the third largest share in global fibre production after polyester and cotton. MMCF production has great potential from a sustainability perspective; moving production away from oil-derived synthetic fibres and reducing the depletion of freshwater through reduced cotton cultivation.
The “Full Circle Textiles Project: Scaling Innovations in Cellulosic Recycling” is a first-of-its-kind consortium project with the overall aim to investigate economically viable and scalable solutions for cellulosic chemical recycling to enable a closed loop system converting textile waste – of cotton and cotton-blend materials – to produce new man-made cellulosic fibres.
Over an 18-month period, project partners will collaborate with innovators, Evrnu, Infinited Fibre Company, Phoenxt, Renewcell, and Tyton BioSciences, to validate the potential of their technologies in this still nascent market. The recycled content produced by four of these innovators will be converted at Birla Cellulose’s state-of-the-art pilot plants to produce high-quality cellulosic fibres. From there, fibres will move through the project partners’ supply chains to be manufactured into garments. Given that Infinited Fibre Company produces industry-ready fibre through their process, their fibre will be delivered directly to the project partners’ supply chains for garment production. The Project will provide an assessment of the innovator’s environmental impact, technologies, recycled output, and subsequent garments. These results along with the Project’s key learnings should determine how best to support and scale these promising solutions.
What is the process adopted by Fashion For Good?
Fashion for Good’s Innovation Platform supports innovators and helps them to scale their innovations in the fashion supply chain. Connecting the innovators with large, corporate players in collaborative pilot projects, is a crucial step to driving mainstream adoption of innovative technologies to shift the fashion industry to a circular system that is regenerative and restorative. Fashion for Good facilitates these collaborative pilot projects, offering innovators coaching, bespoke fundraising support, hands-on guidance and, in some cases, financial support to manufacturers through the Good Fashion Fund.
Are you already in touch with local industry leaders?
Fashion for Good is already active in Asia and is continuously expanding our activities with local manufacturers. We have established partnerships with India-based textile manufacturer Arvind, global home textile leaders Welspun, and are collaborating with world leader in viscose staple fibre and raw materials Birla Cellulose. Additionally, we have established a partnership with the Circular Apparel Innovation Factory (CAIF), an initiative of the innovation platform Intellecap, who provide support in our local activities and expanding our partner and innovator network.
Are you only targeting big companies, or are you going to the grassroots level as well?
We are working with big companies mainly through our platform due to the fact that if they implement innovations, the impact is a lot bigger on the industry and they often have the set-up to make those changes in their supply chains. That doesn’t mean we don’t work with smaller brands though, since all the work that we do, and everything that we learn through our projects, reports, or pilots are being published and made available for free for everyone. So everyone can learn from what we are doing. Next to this, in the museum in Amsterdam we have a shop where we feature and sell smaller sustainable brands like Emroce, Flavia la Rocca, Wires, and many more. We also often invite brands and innovators or entrepreneurs on stage during our (virtual) events, to share their story and key learnings with our audience. If we want to change the industry, we need to work together.
With regard to the Wastewater Treatment Pilot, fashion brands and their suppliers need a cost-effective solution for sustainable wastewater treatment. The high expense and environmental impact associated with water treatment creates an attractive opportunity for innovation. To investigate solutions in this area, Fashion for Good initiated a pilot project with scaling programme innovator SeaChange Technologies, whose focus is the treatment of industrial effluent.
Seeking new solutions to the environmental impact and high costs associated with wastewater treatment, Fashion for Good corporate partners Arvind Ltd., Bestseller, C&A and PVH Corp., provided business support, development funding, and expertise to this pioneering pilot project. As a global leader in apparel manufacturing and with a focus on textiles, advanced materials, and environmental solutions, Arvind Ltd. provided access to their Effluent Treatment Plant near Gujarat, India, one of the world’s largest textile manufacturing operations, to conduct a field evaluation. The SeaChange system was implemented over a period of three months to test and evaluate the feasibility of wide-scale implementation of the system.
The pilot provided an opportunity to test SeaChange’s technology in multiple different waste streams. The waste streams tested included sludge, dyeing concentrates and combined effluent, Reverse Osmosis (RO) Reject, and Mother Liquor. All waste streams were successfully treated by the SeaChange system and reduced to minerals in a single pass, demonstrating the technical viability of the technology to process wastewater. Sludge was selected as the most viable application for SeaChange, given its hefty environmental impact and cost of disposal.
A typical dyehouse generates one to three tonnes of sludge per day from wastewater treatment, costing over $ 200,000 annually for its disposal and generating over 5,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year. Across thousands of suppliers and/or dyehouses, these costs are tremendous and are only increasing as options for its safe disposal become more limited under public pressure to improve sustainability. Implementing the SeaChange system into their treatment facility will effectively eliminate such costs as well as the associated environmental impacts.
With regard to the Full Circle Textiles Project, as much as 73% of clothing produced is sent to landfills or is incinerated, and of all new clothing made, less than 1% of material used comes from recycled sources. Focusing on cellulosic fibres, this Project aims to validate and eventually scale promising technologies in chemical recycling from a select group of innovators to tackle these issues.
Man-Made Cellulosic Fibres (MMCF), which are most commonly derived from wood, have the third largest share in global fibre production after polyester and cotton. MMCF production has great potential from a sustainability perspective; moving production away from oil-derived synthetic fibres and reducing the depletion of freshwater through reduced cotton cultivation.
The “Full Circle Textiles Project: Scaling Innovations in Cellulosic Recycling” is a first-of-its-kind consortium project with the overall aim to investigate economically viable and scalable solutions for cellulosic chemical recycling to enable a closed loop system converting textile waste – of cotton and cotton-blend materials – to produce new man-made cellulosic fibres.
Over an 18-month period, project partners will collaborate with innovators, Evrnu, Infinited Fibre Company, Phoenxt, Renewcell, and Tyton BioSciences, to validate the potential of their technologies in this still nascent market. The recycled content produced by four of these innovators will be converted at Birla Cellulose’s state-of-the-art pilot plants to produce high-quality cellulosic fibres. From there, fibres will move through the project partners’ supply chains to be manufactured into garments. Given that Infinited Fibre Company produces industry-ready fibre through their process, their fibre will be delivered directly to the project partners’ supply chains for garment production. The Project will provide an assessment of the innovator’s environmental impact, technologies, recycled output, and subsequent garments. These results along with the Project’s key learnings should determine how best to support and scale these promising solutions.
What is the process adopted by Fashion For Good?
Fashion for Good’s Innovation Platform supports innovators and helps them to scale their innovations in the fashion supply chain. Connecting the innovators with large, corporate players in collaborative pilot projects, is a crucial step to driving mainstream adoption of innovative technologies to shift the fashion industry to a circular system that is regenerative and restorative. Fashion for Good facilitates these collaborative pilot projects, offering innovators coaching, bespoke fundraising support, hands-on guidance and, in some cases, financial support to manufacturers through the Good Fashion Fund.
Are you already in touch with local industry leaders?
Fashion for Good is already active in Asia and is continuously expanding our activities with local manufacturers. We have established partnerships with India-based textile manufacturer Arvind, global home textile leaders Welspun, and are collaborating with world leader in viscose staple fibre and raw materials Birla Cellulose. Additionally, we have established a partnership with the Circular Apparel Innovation Factory (CAIF), an initiative of the innovation platform Intellecap, who provide support in our local activities and expanding our partner and innovator network.
Are you only targeting big companies, or are you going to the grassroots level as well?
We are working with big companies mainly through our platform due to the fact that if they implement innovations, the impact is a lot bigger on the industry and they often have the set-up to make those changes in their supply chains. That doesn’t mean we don’t work with smaller brands though, since all the work that we do, and everything that we learn through our projects, reports, or pilots are being published and made available for free for everyone. So everyone can learn from what we are doing. Next to this, in the museum in Amsterdam we have a shop where we feature and sell smaller sustainable brands like Emroce, Flavia la Rocca, Wires, and many more. We also often invite brands and innovators or entrepreneurs on stage during our (virtual) events, to share their story and key learnings with our audience. If we want to change the industry, we need to work together.