Fashion's Sustainable Revolution
Transforming textiles to create a regenerative industry
What if the clothes in your closet helped to restore the planet?
Fashion is a significant polluter, but thanks to innovations across the supply chain, a new picture is emerging – one of an industry that could give more than it takes.
This is not a distant reality, but rather, a possibility within our grasp. It’s also the vision of Omoyemi Akerele, the CEO of Lagos Fashion Week and Style House Files, and a close collaborator of the Sustainable Markets Initiative.
According to Omoyemi, the global textiles industry is at a critical juncture; “we have to change some things fundamentally.”
The fashion industry today sends millions of tonnes of wasted garments to landfill and is responsible for up to 10% of the world’s total carbon emissions. With the current system hanging by a thread, it’s time to spin a new narrative.
Key players in the sector are already redesigning fashion in a way that honours craftsmanship, revalues waste, and enhances the natural environment.
One such player is Ponda, a biomaterials company based in Somerset, UK. For CEO Julian Ellis-Brown, the guiding question is, “can we build a material supply chain which is inherently healing to the planet?” Ponda’s core material, Biopuff, is an insulation made from plants grown on regenerated wetlands.
5,000 miles away, Erdos Group are redefining sustainable production across the entire value chain. At their eco ranch in Inner Mongolia, quality cashmere is tied to the health of the ecosystem, while at their Care Centre in Beijing, cashmere can be altered, repaired and reused.
Reuse is central to the circular economy, but recycling apparel – with its seams, zippers and buttons – isn’t always straightforward. Resortecs are a Belgium-based company whose proprietary Smart Stitch yarns dissolve at high heat, making the seams disappear so clothing can be recycled more easily and transformed into new items.
It’s not just old garments that can create new value. In the case of Ananas Anam, it is pineapple leaves from the agriculture industry that are repurposed for textiles. Ananas Anam’s materials can replace cotton, leather and plastic, all of which require large amounts of natural resources to be produced.
These forward-thinking solutions are helping to complete restitch the system. As Omoyemi explains, "the future of fashion is already here."
With thanks to the following contributors:
Erdos Group
