Sustainability round-up July 2022

There was no sign of a summer slump in terms of sustainability, on the contrary: in July, several studies were published that provided us with plenty of reading material during the hot days, for example on the ubiquitous topic of greenwashing, but also on textile recycling and consumption. On brand and resale side, there was quite some activity too, and long-awaited fashion fairs also took place in a physical format again.

Brands

French accessories maker Longchamp is repurposing end-of-roll and leftover stock to create new handbags. The luxury bag purveyor is reusing the canvas fabric from its archives to create Le Pliage Re-Play, a new style available in three formats.

Global retailer Uniqlo has launched a new campaign aiming to support more circular and sustainable consumer practices and raise awareness for environmental issues, such as ocean pollution. The international ‘Power of Clothing’ campaign kicked off on 1st July and includes the initiatives ‘Buy and Join’,which will see parent company Fast Retailing donate up to one million US dollars from the profits of a select collection of 100 percent recycled material clothing, and ‘Learn and Join’, the launch of a dedicated website through which visitors can learn more about environmental issues and how to take action.

Meanwhile, Asos, Boohoo and Asda got investigated by a UK watchdog over ‘green’ claims.

Resale

FashionUnited spoke with former Jay Z and Beyoncé execs who launched the fashion resale platform Galaxy. Mytheresa and Vestiaire Collective expanded their resale partnership to the US, while the latter also started a localised service in South Korea.

The luxury resale platform Rebag expanded its product offering to include footwear and select apparel, alongside its luxury accessories for both men and women, while premium high street retailer Jigsaw teamed up with luxury rental and re-sale platform My Wardrobe HQ to launche a fully circular rental, subscription and resale service.

Events

For many brands, retailers and buyers, 2022 is the year of physical fairs after a break of almost two and a half years. The desire to meet face to face and talk about the industry was so great that even the hot weather couldn't dampen visitors’ enthusiasm at the many sustainable fashion events that took place.

Women’s fashion fair Pure London returned to the capital from 17th to 19th July. Despite the extreme heat in London, it drew a positive balance after an optimistic event. Sustainable fashion fair Neonyt focused on end consumers for the first time and counted more than 1,000 national and international visitors.

Innovation

Irish clothing retailer Primark further expanded its partnership with Spanish recycling specialist Recover. It launched a new line of casual wear, becoming the first retailer to use Recover's sustainable RColorBlend fibre on a global scale.

Four textile and footwear suppliers, On, Patagonia, Puma and Salomon, have partnered with French biochemical company Carbios to use its unique biorecycling technology to recycle synthetic fibres, improving the recyclability of their products.

A new polyester recycling trial by Accelerating Circularity is looking to bring post-consumer polyester waste back into textile manufacturing. Entitled ‘Accelerating Circularity Europe’, the initiative, which is backed by Target, Walmart, Inditex, Zalando and Amazon will begin the trial in Europe and has been set as a circular fashion priority in the eyes of European policymakers.

From autumn, Gore-Tex will be launching the first products with a new, more sustainable ePE membrane, which will mark a real turnaround for the entire outdoor industry as it replaces the group of chemicals known as PFCs, which are used as auxiliaries to make PTFE and to give textiles a water-repellent finish.

Last but not least, this article looked at the new plant-based craze in fashion, one of which is mushroom leather. Biomaterials manufacturer MycoWorks revealed the first commercial launch of its mushroom based material, Reishi, which has been used to create the Reishi Collection by luxury hatmaker Nick Fouquet.

Studies

A number of studies and surveys looked at consumer behaviour and willingness to do something for sustainable products in July. This one, for example, wondered if customer selfies could curb online returns?

According to the new textile recycling study “Scaling textile recycling in Europe - turning waste into value” by McKinsey & Company, at least one fifth of textile waste could become new clothing and a circular economy for textiles could create 15,000 new jobs in Europe by 2030 and reach a market size of 6 to 8 billion euros.

Students of the Amsterdam Fashion Institute talked about digital fashion course and the future of sustainable production.