“We need to get where we don’t have meetings about sustainability. The topic of sustainability should become a natural part of every meeting.”
I can’t attribute this quote to any one team member, because many of you have echoed this sentiment. The goal of this newsletter is to help drive make the the conversation of sustainability ingrained in everything we do.
Global attention around climate change is accelerating, especially within the fashion industry. There is an onslaught of news and information on the topic and we will email you weekly with hand-picked articles, videos, tweets and statistics to help you stay up-to-date
.I’d love any ideas (especially a newsletter name!), feedback or submissions, please let us know!
– Ranjan
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard talks about the sustainability myth and why it’s not too late to save the planet
Fast Company: About eight months ago, you wrote a new mission statement for the company: “Patagonia is in business to save our home planet.” What impact has that had so far? Chouinard: It’s affected every single person’s job. Some more than others, but it’s got everybody thinking.
This Is How Your Favorite Fashion Brands Are Really Doing When It Comes to Sustainability
A group named Stand.Earth just released their 2nd (amazingly named) “Filthy Fashion Scorecard” which ranks the climate commitments of 45 major fashion companies.The full report is here and you can get a quick peek at the rankings below:
Sustainable fashion: This is how the fashion girls calculate cost per-wear
Terms you should know: Cost per wear.
Here’s how to do the math.
Sustainable apparel sourcing at scale: Fashion’s new must-have – McKinsey
The question is no longer whether but how to scale social and environmental sustainability in apparel sourcing…
A dense, but incredibly relevant report just issued by McKinsey on trends in sustainable sourcing. There’s a ton to unpack (you can see my public notes here), but my favorite part:
The industry lacks a common language on sustainable sourcing, let alone a shared set of standards.
Hopefully, our work will begin to help create this common language.
It’s official: The first sustainability standard for professional services
Normally the “the launch of NSF/ANSI 391.1: General Sustainability Assessment Criteria for Professional Services (NSF 391.1)” does not seem like something to pop champagne over. But this is a big step in industry-wide coordination in the measurement of sustainability.
Fashion Is Upping Its Clothes-Swapping Game
A Vogue UK roundup of a number of upcycling and clothes-swapping efforts taking place.
The Clothing Rental App That Wants To End Fast Fashion
By Rotation, an UK startup, is like if Rent the Runway’s Unlimited subscription package and AirBnB had a baby.
WATCH THIS
A 7 minute video from The Economist covering the topic
LISTEN TO THIS
Make Me Smart with Kai and Molly – Your outfit is trash
Dana Thomas, author of the new book, “Fashionopolis: the Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes,“ goes on NPR’s Make Me Smart With Kai & Molly to get into an in-depth discussion very relevant to everyone.
AND FINALLY…
As Plastic Pollution Rises, Consider a Sustainable Halloween Costume
We love dressing up for Halloween as much as you. Seriously, we do. But as we start getting used to asking ourselves the tough questions about fashion and sustainability, it is worth reminding ourselves that the throwaway culture of Halloween costumes is certainly a good place to start next year.
