The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
"How Can Lidl Sell Jeans for £5.99? Easy… Pay People 23p an Hour to Make Them" (The Guardian)
"Lidl does not buy its jeans from Bangladesh because Dhaka's factories are the finest in the world: it does so because they pay their workers a pittance."
"Is It Time to Give Up Leather?" (The Guardian)
"To luxury fashion houses, leather goods are the rocket fuel of their huge expansion over the past decade. To high street fashion brands they represent an unrivalled cash cow. To consumers they're just another disposable fashion product."
"Nordic Pulp Firms See Future in Turning Birch Trees into Fashion" (Reuters)
"Nordic pulp makers are developing clean ways to turn birch and pine trees into clothes to help revive their industry and meet demand from fashion and furniture firms for alternative textiles to cotton."
"This Patagonia Supplier Has Received the First-Ever Global Traceable Down Standard" (Sourcing Journal)
"Downlite, a U.S.-based down and feather processor and supplier of responsibly-sourced performance fills, announced Tuesday that it's the first company to be certified to the Global Traceable Down Standard."
"IFC to Promote Vietnam Textile Industry Sustainability" (Fibre2Fashion)
"IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is partnering with global apparel and footwear major VF Corporation and consumer products retailer Target Corporation to improve resource efficiency at their supplier factories in Vietnam."
Europe’s Parliament has signed off rules that will make brands more accountable for what happens in their supply chains, ban products made with forced labour and set new environmental standards for the design and disposal of products.
Fashion’s biggest sustainable cotton certifier said it found no evidence of non-compliance at farms covered by its standard, but acknowledged weaknesses in its monitoring approach.
As they move to protect their intellectual property, big brands are coming into conflict with a growing class of up-and-coming designers working with refashioned designer gear.
The industry needs to ditch its reliance on fossil-fuel-based materials like polyester in order to meet climate targets, according to a new report from Textile Exchange.