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.
The ratings agency pointed to mounting scrutiny of the industry’s environmental footprint from consumers, regulators and investors that is likely to force costly changes to fashion’s business model and risks eroding brands’ credit quality. Longer term, the industry is likely to face more financial pressure related to environmental risks, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report published Wednesday.
“The credit impact of environmental risks on the apparel companies we rate has been limited to date,” the report found. “However, in the longer term, the industry’s profitability is at risk because input costs will increase as production practices put increasing strain on material resources.”
The analysis underscores the financial implications of the industry’s sustainability challenges at a time when brands are facing financial pressure in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic as well.
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.
Cotton linked to environmental and human rights abuses in Brazil is leaking into the supply chains of major fashion brands, a new investigation has found, prompting Zara-owner Inditex to send a scathing rebuke to the industry’s biggest sustainable cotton certifier.