Ecotextile Talks

Host Philip Berman talks to Alisia Mätz, from OEKO-TEX®, about the launch of their new tool to help facilities measure and manage their carbon emissions and water usage.

Their new Impact Calculator (IC) has been implemented into the STeP certification system at the start of 2022.

You can find more details about it here.

Ken Pucker discusses why 25 years of corporate social responsibility has done little to curb carbon emissions from the textile industry, and why we urgently need new laws to save the planet.

Ken is a former chief operating officer at Timberland, a lecturer, and a vocal critic of the Environmental and Social Governance Industry.

His most recent article for the Harvard Business - entitled The Myth of Sustainable Fashion has gained some traction online - so we thought it was time to get him on our podcast!

It was partially a take-down of the ESG industry, and how he thinks it has failed to curb the carbon excesses of the textile industry.

Currently, he's a senior Lecturer in Sustainable Business Dynamics at the Fletcher School at Tufts University in Boston.

He's also been advising some of the NGOs involved in pushing forward The Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act in New York State - which discuss in the podcast.

We started off by talking about his time at Timberland from 1992 to 2007, with the last seven years as Chief Operating Officer.

This was during a period when its CEO Jeff Shwartz pioneered a business model of Justice with the three pillars of Environmental Stewardship, Global Human Rights, and Citizen Service.

Other articles by Ken Pucker:

Harvard Business Review

Host Philip Berman talks to Caroline Ledl, Head of Product Management Textiles for the Lenzing Group, about how her company plans to halve its CO2 emissions per tonne of product by 2030, and also be completely climate neutral by 2050.

In the latest Ecotextile Talks podcast, host Philip Berman speaks with the Lycra Company's sustainability director, Jean Hegedus, about how its eponymous stretch fibre can play a part in textile circularity.

Known for being hard to extract when separating blended textile waste, Jean Hegedus provides an insight into how elastane fibre could still play an important part in circular textile supply chains, if the economics stack up.

She also adds to the debate of whether PET bottles should be leveraged amidst the textile industry's push for circularity, or whether textile-to-textile recycling is a more suitable alternative.

In the final episode in our five-part documentary series, we get to hear two brands' views on the future of textile to textile recycling and talk to shoppers about their attitude to buying more sustainable clothes.

Features interviews with:

Jodi Evering, Fabric and Sustainability Manager, Filippa K; and Camilla Skjønning Jørgensen, Sustainable Materials & Innovation Manager, Bestseller

The fourth episode in our new five-part audio documentary looks at the potential impact of the 2025 Waste Directive on the reuse and recycling of textiles.

• David Stevens, CEO of the Textile Services Association (TSA) whose members meet 90-95 percent of the laundry needs of the NHS and the hospitality industry in the UK.

• Martin Böschen, CEO of Texaid, one of the largest collectors and sorters of textile waste in Europe

• Anna Granskog, a partner at McKinsey & Company, and co-author of their influential report in 2020: "The future of sustainable fashion."

To coincide with this year's United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, we're bringing to you part two of a new five-part podcast series, in affiliation with Forestry industry group Södra, that explores how diverting textiles from landfill can accelerate the industry's environmental ambitions.

In this second episode, Ecotextile Talks host Philip Berman talks to Södra's Johannes Bogren and Helena Claesson about the magic behind their recycling process. Plus we also hear from Umar Chowdhury at Sateri, who already uses OnceMore and Sonja Zak at Lenzing, who are currently trialling it.

Accelerating Circularity's Karla Magruder and Nicole Rycroft, founder of the environmental non-profit Canopy - also appear briefly.

Ahead of this year's United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, we're bringing to you part one of a new five-part podcast series, in affiliation with Forestry industry group Södra, that will explore how diverting textiles from landfill can accelerate the industry's environmental ambitions.

In this first episode, Ecotextile Talks host Philip Berman speaks to Södra's Johannes Bogren, the founder of Accelerating Circularity Karla Magruder, circular fashion researcher and consultant Cathryn Hall, and Nicole Rycroft, who founded the environmental non-profit Canopy.

To coincide with the release of a new scientific study from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in San Diego, Florian Heubrandner, VP of Global Textiles Business at the Lenzing Group, discusses the importance of fibre biodegradability.