Sustainable Procurement News

California is tackling the problem of textile and fashion waste with the country’s first law that requires clothing companies to implement a recycling system for the garments they sell.

Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed SB 707, the Responsible Textile Recovery Act. The new law requires a clothing, apparel and textile extended producer responsibility (EPR) program, as defined by lawmakers, reported Waste Today.

“I’m very proud to see SB 707 signed into law. It will have a major positive impact on California’s environment and communities,” said state Democratic Senator Josh Newman, who authored the bill, as Sourcing Journal reported. “SB 707 isn’t just about recycling; it’s about transforming the way we think about textile waste.”

Fashion is one of the most taxing industries on our planet, behind oil, gas, and cement, due to its high-water consumption, chemical pollution from fibres to finished garments, the loss of natural ecosystems and high carbon emissions at every stage of its value chain. To say waste is a problem for the fashion industry, is to understate just how much we as consumers buy and fail to wear. The McArthur Foundation recently estimated that clothing production doubled in fifteen years while utilization went down by 20%. In the European Union, 80% of clothes end up in waste fields.

PVH, owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, recently teamed up with Standard Chartered Bank to create a new financing program for suppliers tied to the apparel company’s sustainability goals.
Under the program, PVH suppliers can finance day-to-day operations through a facility benchmarked to PVH’s metrics on environmental and social goals. Suppliers that meet certain standards can get discounted financing.
Suppliers will be benchmarked on metrics around PVH’s environmental goals as well as those related to health, safety, forced labor, child labor and harassment and abuse at their manufacturing sites.

Activist shareholder platform Tulipshare is calling on Nike to offer more transparency on working conditions in its supply chain.

In a shareholder proposal released Thursday, London-based Tulipshare requested a report from Nike on whether its policies effectively address its stated equity goals and human rights commitments.

The group, which owns 276 Nike shares and aims to help investors push for environmental and social commitments, asked Nike for information on the methodology and metrics used to track forced labor and wage theft risks.

The proposal also calls on Nike to consider implementing model supplier contracts developed by the American Bar Association and to assess whether its findings lead to changes in the company’s policies or decision-making.

Patagonia, Inc. makes outdoor clothing and is committed to the environment. The Ventura, Calif.-based company was founded in 1973 and has operated in at least 10 countries worldwide; it has factories in 16 countries. Since 1985, the company has given 1% of its profits to environmental causes.

The company says its mission is tied to the products it sells: the enterprise profits from marketing outdoor clothing. Patagonia is committed to organic materials and running all its operations using renewable energy. Indeed, the apparel industry is responsible for 6.7% of the globe’s greenhouse gases. It releases as much as 3.29 billion tons of CO2 equivalents annually, according to Quantis.

“We’re already at 100% renewable energy for our owned and operated stores, offices, and distribution centers, but the real challenge comes from materials manufacturing, which accounts for 95% of our emissions,” says Patagonia’s corporate responsibility statement.

Prada just released its first-ever fine jewelry line with a sustainable approach.

The debut collection, dubbed Eternal Gold, features 48 designs crafted entirely from 100-percent certified recycled gold. The campaign images, which star award-winning poet and activist Amanda Gorman, show a snake-shaped wrapping bracelet, chain necklaces with heart pendants and ribbon chokers are part of the offering. Gorman wears a pair of earrings shaped like the brand’s signature triangle motif. The collection is exclusively available in Prada stores, and 10 of designs are only available on a made-to-order basis. 

Prada revealed plans for this project nearly two years ago at the group’s Capital Market Day in November 2021. Since then, the Italian fashion label has formed a skilled team of artisans to work line, including Timothy Iwata, Prada’s jewelry director and former global innovation officer at Cartier. The designs leaned heavily on the vision of Miuccia Prada, the brand’s co-CEO and co-creative director.

Prada Group has acquired a 43.7 percent stake in Superior S.p.A, a tannery based in Santa Croce Sull’Arno, on the outskirts of Pisa, Italy. As part of the deal, Superior founder and current CEO Stefano Caponi will maintain his C-suite position.

“The acquisition of a shareholding in Superior S.p.A. represents another important step in the strategic direction towards vertical integration of the Prada Group’s supply chain, through investments in infrastructure and people, to increase our industrial know-how as well as control quality along all manufacturing stages,” said Patrizio Bertelli, chief executive officer of the Prada Group.

“This venture will enable us to accelerate our progress on important issues such as traceability of raw materials and transparency of our supply chain,” he added. A 60-year-old tannery, Superior has recently made a digitization push and heightened its sustainability credentials, including energy efficiency and water-saving programs.
Characterized by a strong R&D approach, Superior has forged ties with Pisa’s university Scuola Superiore Normale to identify high-tech solutions, including an ultrasound system, aimed at reducing its manufacturing footprint. As of January 2022, Superior is the world’s first tannery to be certified Carbon Neutral, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Prada Group’s acquisition reflects its commitment to the Italian supply chain. Over the years it has structured its own supply chain and today has 20 production sites in Italy and three in Europe. Last year, in  an unexpected venture, Prada and Zegna each bought a 40 percent stake in Filati Biagioli Modesto SpA, which specializes in the production of cashmere and other precious yarns.

The European Parliament is progressing with plans for a Digital Product Passport (DPP) for textiles, as part of delivering on the European Green Deal and Circular Economy Action Plan.

Development of such a mechanism aims to address some of the complex challenges facing the fashion industry, including its substantial environmental footprint and the need for greater transparency throughout the supply chain.

Prominent fashion brands are partnering on a groundbreaking financing initiative to expedite the decarbonisation of their global supply chains, which are responsible for approximately 99% of the industry’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

The Future Supplier Initiative, facilitated by The Fashion Pact in collaboration with the Apparel Impact Institute, Guidehouse, and DBS Bank, will offer a collective financing model and technical support to assist suppliers in major manufacturing hubs in transitioning to renewable energy and adopting low-carbon technologies.

A Nike shareholder is asking the company to take stronger action to protect human rights for its garment workers.

Tulipshare, which currently owns 276 Nike shares, filed a shareholder proposal that asks Nike’s board to assess and rethink how its supply chain upholds the company’s committments to human rights.

The proposal requests a report from Nike that details if the company’s supply chain upholds these values — and asks Nike to use specific metrics to track perfomance on forced labor and wage theft. Tulipshare also asked Nike to consider using a model contract clause from the American Bar Association (ABA) that protects human rights for workers in the supply chain.

“We are asking Nike to implement these clauses into all of its supply chain contracts, which will not only make human rights policies into ‘operational commitments’ but also continue to allow Nike to be leaders in supply chain innovation moving forward,” read an explanation of the proposal.

Tulipshare said that Nike acknowledged the receipt of the proposal, which was submitted on Thursday. FN has reached out to Nike for a comment.

According to Tulipshare CEO and founder, Antoine Argouges said Nike’s current reporting methods, including its annual Impact Report, do not adequately analyze how it addresses potentially using Uyghur forced labor in its supply chains.

More than 50 percent of fashion decision-makers say traceability will be a top-five enabler to reduce emissions in their supply chains, according to BoF and McKinsey & Co’s State of Fashion: Technology report. It is an essential tool to meet consumer and shareholder expectations around improving sustainability endeavours.

Technology platform FibreTrace offers real-time verification of products as they move through the global supply chain.

Online retailer Shein plans to cut emissions across its supply chain by 25% by 2030, the company announced in September.

The targets are among the first public steps to cut carbon emissions for the company, which has become a formidable player in the U.S. fast fashion market. The growth has come with a heavy carbon footprint. Last year, Shein’s operations produced 6.3 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

“Today we’re taking a significant step forward, announcing a new set of 2030 goals that will help us accomplish emissions reduction targets for our entire supply chain over the next seven years,” said Adam Whinston, global head of ESG at Shein.

As part of its efforts, Shein set a series of sustainability goals using 2021 data as a benchmark, compiled as a greenhouse gas emissions inventory with the help of certification company Interek. The retailer outlined reduction targets for each emissions level, which includes working with hundreds of suppliers to implement greener practices.

BY THE NUMBERS: SHEIN’S EMISSIONS GOALS
  42% - Percent by which Shein aims to reduce its scope 1, owned-operations emissions by 2030
  500 - The number of partner facilities Shein and the Apparel Impact Institute will work with to implement energy-savings programs, as part of its scope 3 emissions targets
  25% - The percent by which Shein aims to reduce its scope 3 emissions by 2030

The H&M Group is a multinational clothing company. The Swedish retailer is known for “fast fashion,” which is clothing that is made and sold cheaply. The company has shops in 75 locations worldwide with 4,702 stores, although they are marketed under different brands. The company positions itself as a leader in the area of sustainability. Its goal is to be carbon positive by 2040. In the nearer term, it wants to reduce its emissions by 56% by 2030, using 2019 as a baseline, and to make its clothing using sustainable components.

Furthermore, H&M established an internal price on carbon in 2021. It aims to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2025. Those emissions fell by 22% between 2019 and 2021. Scope 1 comes from owned and controlled sources, while Scope 2 comes from those sources of energy it purchases from others. 

Also, by 2025, it wants to cut its Scope 3 emissions or those that emanate from its suppliers. Those emissions dropped by 9% between 2019 and 2021.

Meanwhile, it produces its clothing with sustainable components such as organic cotton and recycled polyester. It aims to make all of its clothing using recycled components by 2030. It says it is 65% of the way there now.