In the second of this three-part podcast series: 'Threaded Together' about cotton sustainability, host Philip Berman talks to Dr Jesse Daystar, from Cotton Incorporated and Joel Mertens from the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, about the best way(s) to measure sustainability in the cotton industry and how it can drive change.

Jesse and Joel discuss the purpose of a life cycle assessment (LCA), the different types and, in light of  the recent KMPG review of the SAC's Higg Product Module, how they should be used, how they can get misused and their limitations.  

Cotton Incorporated is a US-based, not-for-profit company, that provides resources and research to help companies develop and market innovative, and profitable cotton products. 

It’s probably best known for its Seal of Cotton trademark which was created 50 years ago, in 1973, and has become an iconic symbol to consumers and is globally recognized by the textile industry. 

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Many fashion brands and retailers talk a good game on circularity, but will they ever consistently pay a premium for materials made using 100% textile-to-textile recycling?

Acting CEO of Renewcell Magnus Håkansson joins Ecotextile Talks to discuss the company's current challenges in receiving a higher price for a product offering the circularity so often discussed at textile sustainability conferences.

Despite great industry excitement when Renewcell moved to a full-scale production facility earlier this year, in readiness for full commercialisation, the Swedish innovator has encountered a difficult few months since the summer of 2023.

Share prices have tumbled amid concern that the appetite for Renewcell's proprietary Circulose pulp may not perhaps as high as expected - despite several take-off agreements having suggested this would not be an issue. 

The latest instalment of Ecotextile Talks sets out to better understand the situation behind a slump in optimism about the scaling up of a much-discussed company which aims to help fashion firms move away from linear practices.

In a new three-part sponsored series entitled, Threaded Together, podcast host Philip Berman looks at Cotton Incorporated's role in improving the sustainability of cotton in the textile industry. 

Cotton Incorporated a US-based, not-for-profit company, provides resources and research to help companies develop and market innovative, and profitable cotton products. 

It’s probably best known for its Seal of Cotton trademark which was created 50 years ago, in 1973, and has become an iconic symbol to consumers and is globally recognized by the textile industry. 

In this first episode Philip Berman talks to Dr Jesse Daystar, a Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Cotton Inc; Mary Ankeny, the organisation's Vice President of Product Development and Operations; and Dr Joe Sagues, Assistant Professor in Biological and Agricultural Engineering at North Carolina State University.

They enjoy a wide-ranging discussion covering issues from, the biodegradability of cotton and its impact on microfibre pollution, to pioneering research into composting cotton textile waste to capture CO2.

Subscribe to our podcasts and radio shows by following us on Apple, Google, Spotify and Amazon Music, to automatically get alerts when we launch a new Ecotextile Talks Behind the News podcast. 

Following a report outlining the potential benefits for fashion brands looking to integrate resale into their business model, Ecotextile Talks hears from Andy Ruben, founder of recommerce specialist Trove, who shares his insights on where the greatest opportunities lie.

In a conversation dominated by statistics rather than rhetoric, Ruben speaks to Ecotextile News editor John Mowbray at an industry event in Boston to discuss how Trove worked with sustainable tech platform Worldly to identify the fields in which second-hand apparel can directly improve the economic and environmental outputs of brands.

Rather than casting apparel resale as a solve-all solution, Ruben shares data suggesting successful approaches will always need to be tailored according to variables such as retail price points and will likely prove far more effective for certain market segments.

“When you make items that have value beyond the first sale – which tend to be higher price point items because people can't access them on the first go around – they [consumers] covet those brands, they're strong brands, they want them on the second go around,” Ruben states, referring to the resale suitability of premium, luxury and outdoor apparel.

The episode also dives into how the research, published in Where Are Circular Models Effective Sustainability Strategies for Fashion Brands?, was devised and conducted.

As a formal partnership between the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) and International Apparel Federation (IAF) is signed, a key figure involved in the collaborative process speaks to Ecotextile Talks about what the duo hope to achieve.

Andrew Martin, executive vice president of the SAC, sits down with podcast host David Styles to discuss what a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two organisations might mean for the fashion and textile industries at large.

When asked about the purpose of the partnership and how the SAC and IAF will quantify success, Martin stated: “It has to be built on relationships, partnerships, the longer term. So I think the big numbers that will come out of it will be things like: are we starting to see a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, as one area.”

The SAC executive vice president also spoke candidly about a need for meaningful change in relation to climate targets cited by some brands and retailers. “I'll be quite bold and say, unless they actually have very strong purchasing practices, very strong relationships with their suppliers, they won't hit their science based targets. They just won't.”

Other topics covered in the episode include audit fatigue, decarbonisation efforts and the value of industry partnerships, as well as the process of attempting to bridge influence gap between manufacturers and the brands and retailers they produce for.

* Episode glossary *

MoU – Memorandum of Understanding

SAC – Sustainable Apparel Coalition

IAF – International Apparel Federation

Higg BRM – Higg Brand & Retail Module

STTI – Sustainable Terms of Trade Initiative

GIZ – Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (German development agency)

In an extended episode of Ecotextile Talks, the way in which the apparel sector responds to natural disasters is placed under the microscope.

Podcast host David Styles is this week joined by two guests to discuss reports which respectively shine a light on the past, present and potential future of the industry’s collective response to crises caused by catastrophes such as earthquakes or extreme weather events.

First, Penelope Kyritsis from the Worker Rights Consortium discusses the findings of a white paper exploring the responses of major apparel brands to the devastating earthquake in Turkey earlier this year.

The report brings together the perspectives of 16 fashion brands and 202 suppliers situated in the affected region, with various trends and contradictions highlighted.

In the second part of the programme, Styles is joined by Jason Judd, executive director of Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute, to outline the key strands of a recent study which argues climate breakdown could lead to apparel sector losses of $65 billion without appropriate planning and precautionary measures being taken.

In addition to spotlighting the potential disruption facing the sector – especially in the most ‘climate vulnerable’ garment producing nations, such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan and Vietnam – Judd shares his insights on how the sector can best prepare to counteract such risks.

This topic, along with many others, is also the subject of our news videos available via both the Ecotextile Views homepage and @ecotextileviews YouTube channel.

The latest instalment of the Ecotextile Talks podcast series explores the motivations behind a campaign calling on the fashion industry to move away from conventional care and content labels in favour of digital alternatives. 

Steve Lamar, president and CEO of the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA), who is one of the most prominent industry voices behind the #CutTheTape campaign, sits down with Tom Bithell to share his views on why digital solutions such as QR codes ought to be implemented as soon as possible.

The current “extraordinary” situation cannot be perpetuated, he asserts, with enough label tape being produced annually by the apparel sector to “stretch from here from Earth to the moon and back 12 times”.

This, the AAFA boss states, makes labels themselves – regardless of the garment they are affixed to – a “sustainability burden”.

While material usage is a key tenet of the campaign’s case, during this episode Lamar is also pressed on issues such as who would be responsible for the publication and management of garment care and content data as well as the ethics of leaving some consumers at the mercy of the ‘digital divide’ – affecting those members of society without the means or knowhow to access information online.

This topic, along with many others, is also the subject of our news videos available via both the Ecotextile Views homepage and @ecotextileviews YouTube channel.

Earlier this summer host Phil Berman sat down with Carolina Ledl, Lenzing’s head of product and application management, to discuss the company's ambitious plans to start producing its Ecovero-branded viscose in its manufacturing plant in Indonesia.   

Lenzing first launched its ‘EcoVero’ branded viscose in 2017, in response to growing a demand for more transparent viscose fibres. And with the expansion of its dope-dyed ‘Black’ version now imminent, Carolina explains what the company’s €100m expansion plans in South Asia will mean for sourcing both raw materials and reducing energy consumption in this regional manufacturing facility.

She also talks about why the Indonesian plant will shortly start producing ‘Ecovero Black’ and reveals how it uses less water, electricity, and heat than other conventional viscose dyeing processes. 

You can subscribe to our podcasts on  Apple, Google, Spotify and Amazon Music, and get automatic alerts whenever a new episode is released.

This episode is produced in partnership with the Lenzing Group. 

For more news on Lenzing’s plans, explore our written content on Ecotextile News:

https://www.ecotextile.com/2023083131112/materials-production-news/lenzing-plots-a-greener-future-for-indonesia-plant.html#jextbox-login-module-0

https://www.lenzing.com/newsroom/press-releases/press-release/lenzing-successfully-completing-the-conversion-and-upgrade-of-its-indonesian-site

In the latest episode of Ecotextile Talks, Jeffrey Thimm from Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) discusses an initiative exploring the potential of combining artificial intelligence and satellite technologies to monitor organic cotton production.

Podcast host David Styles discusses with Thimm how GOTS reached the point at which, with project partners the European Space Agency and tech firm Marple, it is watching over cotton production in India from space.

Despite what may seem like a futuristic endeavour, Thimm is adamant that this type of project is a much-needed breakthrough capable of increasing trust in the cotton sector.

“This is a way to increase the integrity of the organic cotton sector. To increase the integrity of GOTS as well,” he asserts.

“And so, not only the brands can be confident that their supply chains are what they believe they are – sustainable according to GOTS standards – but also that consumers can continue to have faith in the benefits of participating in the organic system.”

Another topic raised in the episode is the allegation – attributed in the Indian press to ‘anonymous sources’ – that the project represents a national security threat. This entire debacle, Thimm states, can be attributed to individuals or organisations “engaged in fraud”.

The conversation also reveals that once the latest stage of the experimental project shares its initial results, expected to be at the end of 2023, there may well be other applications for the technologies involved – beyond India and the cotton sector.

The latest report from Cotton Campaign insists the time has come for the fashion industry to act conclusively on forced labour in Turkmen cotton fields, with human rights lawyer and researcher Allison Gill telling Ecotextile Talks that legal obligations must now be met. 

Speaking on behalf Cotton Campaign, an interdisciplinary coalition of human and labour rights organisations focused on cotton supply chains, Gill sits down with podcast host David Styles to discuss the past, present and potential future of Turkmenistan’s use of forced labour and the nation’s relationship with the global apparel industry.

After a decade of what she regards as negligible progress in Turkmenistan, the human rights expert is realistic about the monumental challenge facing those who wish to engender real change but admits she hopes kernels of optimism may soon be evident – if the fashion industry collectively acts.

Publicly shunning Turkmen cotton and funding comprehensive supply chain due diligence, the human rights expert asserts, is the minimum required to start the ball rolling on meaningful progress.

“Companies and businesses should absolutely not be using Turkmen cotton goods… They have a legal obligation not to do so,” Gill argues, before contextualising the reality in Turkmenistan comparative to other nearby controversial cotton-producing hotspots such as Uzbekistan and China’s Xinjiang region.

Despite the latest report describing children as young as eight being compulsorily engaged in physically gruelling work, Gill admits that a key discussion among the Cotton Campaign partner organisations was how to ensure the publication was able to “convey the information so that it grabs people's attention”.

She also labels the newest findings “ground-breaking”, given that much of the information was sourced by monitors working undercover in the secretive Eurasian nation – risking their freedom or even lives to do so.