• Can fast fashion slow down? It’s not that simple

    One of fast fashion’s biggest players says it’s taking major steps toward a more sustainable business model. But in an industry predicated on low cost, low quality and high production volume, experts say it won’t be simple.

    “It’s hard to see how they actually deliver on their emissions reductions targets,” said Ken Pucker, a professor at the Fletcher School at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., who focuses on sustainability.

    “Because volumes are going to continue to go up.”

     

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/fast-fashion-sustainability-targets-1.6913112

  • Planning Your Holiday Wardrobe? Ask Yourself If You Really Need Another Fast-Fashion Polyester Dress

    With summer comes plastic–polyester dresses, synthetic bikinis, water bottles, and so on. I wonder how many of you are thinking about the repercussions of all of that. I know that today’s fashion motto is “circularity will save us all.” I embarked on a quest a couple of years ago in the form of a short documentary Fashionscapes: A Circular Economy, but I am sorry to break it to you: a recent conversation with former Timberland COO Ken Pucker (and his brilliant analysis in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, A Circle That Isn’t Easily Squared) posited fashion and circularity as an oxymoron.

    https://en-vogue-me.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/en.vogue.me/fashion/holiday-wardrobe-fast-fashion-polyester-dress-livia-firth/amp/

  • Shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic: is ESG a redundant concept?

    Institutions across the globe have welcomed the ISSB’s much-anticipated inaugural global sustainability standards. However, some industry experts warn that too much focus on standardising data could distract from the urgent need to decarbonise.

    https://www.energymonitor.ai/finance/reporting-and-disclosure/is-esg-investing-a-redundant-concept/

  • Carbon Neutral Claims Under Investigation In Greenwashing Probe

    Last month, the European Parliament set out to ban environmental claims about carbon neutrality based on carbon offsetting schemes. This has caused ripple implications for sustainability and marketing teams, especially their public-facing approach on how to reach ‘net zero’.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/amynguyen/2023/06/16/carbon-neutral-claims-under-investigation-in-greenwashing-probe/?sh=2e710bfa6431

  • You Might Want to Think Twice About Clothing Brands That Push Rental, Resale, and Recycling

    This month, three shirts, two dresses, and a pair of shorts arrived at my door. They’re mine, but only for a month. After that, I’ll pack them in a reusable tote bag and send them to a warehouse in Pennsylvania, where they’ll be cleaned and shipped to their next (temporary) owner.

    Along with more than 150,000 other people—most of them, like me, women between the ages of 25 and 35—I subscribe to Nuuly, a rental service operated by URBN, the parent company of brands including Anthropologie, Free People, and Urban Outfitters. For just shy of $100 a month, I get a regular influx of new clothing—and a chance to clear my conscience.

    https://time.com/6285257/is-clothing-rental-resale-recycling-sustainable-nuuly/

  • Asos, Crocs Reset Net-Zero Climate Commitments

    Asos has dropped its 2030 net-zero emissions target and Crocs has delayed its deadline by a decade, rare public resets as scrutiny of corporate climate goals mounts.

    https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/sustainability/crocs-asos-net-zero-emissions-climate-targets-greenwashing/

  • Climate Finance Groups Are Misunderstood, BMO Says

    Climate finance groups that press companies to decarbonize are wrongly confused as being regulators that set rules for businesses to reach net zero emissions, according to Dan Barclay, chief executive officer of BMO Capital Markets.

     

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-25/climate-finance-groups-are-misunderstood-bmo-s-barclay-says?leadSource=uverify%20wall&sref=fnjoKOAK

  • When Marketing Gets Political

    • This week, Rothy’s is turning its marketing clout to support a New York State recycling bill.
    • As brands look to back up sustainability marketing such moves are likely to become more common, particularly when business interests, consumer values and policy efforts align.
    • Support for regulatory changes is needed for brands to deliver on their sustainability commitments, but corporate advocacy also needs to take on the issues brands create.

    https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/sustainability/rothys-bottle-bill-new-york-recycling/

  • How Climate Change Is Transforming the Way We Shop

    Shifting weather patterns are making shopping behaviour harder to predict, adding to inventory management challenges for brands and retailers.

    https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/sustainability/climate-change-weather-consumer-spending-seasonless/

  • Do you know what’s really in your ESG fund?

    The problem is “garbage in, garbage out,” said Kenneth Pucker, a director at Berkshire Partners who teaches at Tufts University. “The reporting is not complete, results are mostly unaudited, and they are not comparable.”

    https://www.courthousenews.com/do-you-know-whats-really-in-your-esg-fund/