This week’s guest on The WTiN Podcast is Liesl Truscott, director of Europe and materials strategy at Textile Exchange. 

Founded as Organic Exchange in 2002, Textile Exchange is a global non-profit organisation that works closely with all sectors of the textile supply chain. It identifies and shares best practices regarding farming, materials, processing, traceability, and product end-of-life to create positive impacts on the environment. The organisation expanded from a focus solely on organic cotton in 2010 to include a diverse preferred fibre and materials portfolio and is now well known for its standards and conferences. 

In this episode, Truscott introduces Textile Exchange’s new Biodiversity Benchmark. Launched in December 2020 and created in partnership with Conservation International, The Biodiversity Consultancy, and Sappi, the benchmark provides a roadmap for companies to understand their impacts on nature. Here, Truscott talks about why the organisation felt the need to launch the programme, how the textile & apparel industry is intertwined with biodiversity, and how companies can sign up and begin to integrate biodiversity into their business strategy and operations. 

 To find out more about Textile Exchange’s Biodiversity Benchmark, visit www.mci.textileexchange.org/biodiversity