🌱Will incoming fashion regulations change the way we think about clothes?
🌱Will incoming fashion regulations change the way we think about clothes?
+ 3 good news stories for a fashion fix
Happy Monday! Every Monday we suit up and get serious - digging into a climate topic, rounding up the past week’s Good(s) News and sharing updates from across FTF, so you’re never out of the loop.
If you feel like your high quality, sustainable brand is being stitched up by the internet’s instant satisfaction fast fashion giants, then the European Green Deal lot have some rules up their sleeve that might be of interest to you. This week we unpick the incoming Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles.
Let’s dive in…
> In Focus
EU’s Strategy to Combat Over-Consumption and Excessive Waste
by Laura Matz
The dawn of ultra-fast fashion ‘e-tailers’
Fashion is always having a moment. But this moment…not its finest. Some of us remember the backlash against Nike back in the 90s when their sweatshops were making headlines. At the time it felt like we uncovered the dark side of the garment industry. The awareness that fashion’s price tag was higher than the cash we handed over for the goods embedded itself in our minds and led to a little pinch of guilt when buying high street fast fashion. But things didn’t seem to get any better. Ecommerce allowed fashion to get even faster and the stats about the tonnes of clothes hitting landfills were staggering. More recently, the growing popularity of platforms like Vinted, Depop and Thrift+ had some of us thinking we were seeing the system shift towards more conscious shopping. But two things can be true at once, and just as we saw one generation make second hand fashionable, the next started buying impossibly cheap clothes… a find vs a haul. Did anyone envisage we would have companies adding 6,000 new items to their range daily at an average cost of £7.90?
State of fashion in 2024:
Between 80 and 100 billion new clothing garments are produced globally every year.
87% of the materials and fibres used to make clothing will end up in either incinerators or landfills. Only 20% of discarded textiles are collected. Only 1% of clothes will get recycled into new garments (Source: The Roundup)
How can responsible fashion brands compete?
Short answer, they can’t! Not unless someone levels the playing field, and that someone needs to be the regulator. Today’s incoming regulation in focus is the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles. When we say incoming, we mean snail’s pace. When the strategy comes into effect in 2030, it will include mandatory design requirements for circularity, increased transparency on the environmental impact of textile products, and stronger regulations on the use of harmful chemicals.
Mandatory design requirements, you say? Let’s unpack that…
When designing the garment you need to consider the whole lifecycle, it needs to be:
Durable and designed to last.
Repairable, with instructions on how to repair. That might include replaceable parts or making certain elements standardised.
Optimised for recycling. That means avoiding mixed materials that are difficult to separate for recycling. It also means that glues should not be toxic and elements like closures and elastics should be easily removed.
As circular as possible. So if it can’t be repaired, you ideally want to be able to give it back to the brand to be reintroduced into the production cycle, or if it can’t be salvaged, biodegradable.
Optimised so that the garment and the production are using as few resources (like energy, water and chemicals) as possible.
Sustainably sourced. Both in terms of the materials and the supplier practices.
And all of this needs to be transparent. Enter the Digital Product Passport…
One label to rule them all
The proposed Digital Product Passport (DPP), which would be mandatory for all textile products sold in the EU, will share useful information about the composition, origin and environmental impact of the product. They can be added as RFID tags or QR codes to scan. When it comes to the challenges of rolling out a system like this, some brands may struggle to get the information needed while others have the information but will have to find a way to store and share that information. Two brands that are staying ahead of fashion and already piloting DPP are Swijin and Marimekko.
Swijin have partnered with Avery Dennison to create a digital care label which carries manufacturer details, certifications, footprint data and care instructions to extend the life of the garment.
Marimekko have partnered with TrusTrace under a pilot programme called Trace4Value. The programme helped Marimekko identify the data they needed to gather to create a DPP for their closed loop t-shirt, the Erna.
Will this be a game-changer?
On its own, this regulation might have exposed us to more vague and shiny claims from brands, but coupled with green claims regulations and CSDDD, we will hopefully be able to see at a glance which sustainability credentials are verifiable and which companies are measuring and managing the impacts of their supply chain. Though these regulations will likely create roadblocks for ultra-fast fashion brands, our responsible brands should look at this as an opportunity to educate and inspire. Jake Hannover, Director of Digital Solutions / Apparel Solutions at Avery Dennison says,
“Enhanced brand storytelling through DPPs can support consumers as they transition to a more ’emotional’ model of clothing consumption, where they take responsibility for extending an item’s lifecycle. There’s an uphill climb ahead, but the view from the top will be worth it. We can design our way to a brighter fashion future.” Source
> The Action Part
You’re working at a fashion brand and you’re thinking “so, how should I prepare?”
Five to six years seems like a long way out, until you get started. Then it lands home just how much work is to be done. So where should you start?
Begin mapping out all the processes and inputs involved in producing the product all the way back to the raw materials. Use that as a checklist to trace each garment’s supply chain back to source.
Sit down with your team and decide what your ideal circular product would look like. Which elements of that can you build into your current production/sourcing process? Which elements can you build into your design principles?
Think about how you will collect, store and share your impact data in future. Start the conversation with your suppliers as they may have many customers in the same boat and will probably jump at the chance to minimise the systems they have to use!
Follow in the footprints of Marimekko and Swijin and test out DPP for one item.
> Follow up with…
Whitepaper: The DPP Protocol, TrusTrace
Framework: Circular Transition Indicators, WBCSD, VF Corporation and Deloitte
> Last week in consumer goods x climate…
The Good(s) News
Up and coming brands…
🎯 Naia™ from Eastman announced that they are introducing Naia™ Renew in denim, to help make sustainable fashion more accessible and offering versatility for broad range of fashion segments. The cellulose acetate fibre delivers supreme softness and boosts performance benefits.
🎯 Velor announced the world's first fully circular jersey, in collaboration with GR3N SA. This milestone in sustainable cycling wear ensures old garments are given a second life, to reduce waste and minimise carbon footprint.
🎯 SOJO announced their launch with Vestiaire Collective, making Vestiaire Collective the first luxury resale platform to offer customers digital tailoring and repair service.
🎯 Winsor & Newton announced that they are B Corp certified.
Bigger organisations…
⭐ Chivas Brothers announced that they are joining a new sustainable agriculture programme in partnership with Bairds Malt Limited and Scotgrain Agriculture Ltd. The programme aims to support Scottish farmers to reduce the barley-growing industry’s carbon footprint and improve soil health & biodiversity.
⭐ Moët & Chandon announced that they are launching a new plastic-free foil on its champagne bottles. Teaming up with Amcor Capsules, they created a plastic-free hood from aluminium and paper, to have 31% lower carbon impact than standard complex foils.
Want good news sooner? We post our top 5 stories every Friday on LinkedIn! If your FMCG brand has good news to share, let us know.
> In case you missed it
Want more? Here’s what’s happening across FTF at the moment…
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That’s it for today!
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Much love,
Team FTF