This newsletter is about the fashion world needing to embrace the challenge of transforming into a more sustainable industry.
Back in January, in one of our earlier editions, we covered "What happened to recycling?" We found it a bit shocking that a July 2017 policy change in China had cut down the amount of American plastic being recycled by potentially 70%, yet we barely heard about it. Sure, we were all going through the motions of recycling, but for some reason, it wasn't a massive news story that we were, at least temporarily, engaging in recycling theater.
Fast forward to this week, where we learned something even potentially far more sinister. It turns out, it's never been economically feasible to recycle most plastics. Please go read this NPR/PBS Frontline investigation right now.
In fact, the famous triangular shape that lists out various categories of plastic was pushed by the plastic industry to confuse and convince people that all plastic was recyclable:
Industry documents from this time show that just a couple of years earlier, starting in 1989, oil and plastics executives began a quiet campaign to lobby almost 40 states to mandate that the symbol appear on all plastic — even if there was no way to economically recycle it. Some environmentalists also supported the symbol, thinking it would help separate plastic.
Smith said what it did was make all plastic look recyclable.
"The consumers were confused," Smith says. "It totally undermined our credibility, undermined what we knew was the truth in our community, not the truth from a lobbying group out of D.C."
There were tens of millions of dollars placed into advertising campaigns. Anyone who grew up in the late 80s and early 90s would remember this time well; schools and communities were mobilized.
According to the NPR report, a number of these efforts were funded and pushed by the plastics industry (and in turn, the oil industry) to push people to use more plastic.
This is a revelation that might require an entire newsletter edition to dig more into, but if nothing else, it’s a reminder that consumer education must be a prerequisite to any environmentalism, and we should all strive to understand what is sold to us as green.
Stay engaged and educated,
The Embrace Team
Burberry to Bring High Fashion to Sustainable Bond Market - Bloomberg
All the good intentions in the world won't matter if there's no money. Starting from the first edition of this newsletter, we've covered sustainability-linked financing in the fashion industry. There were sustainability-linked loans and revolving credit facility signed by luxury companies such as Prada, Moncler and Ferragamo.
Keeping the grass green requires lots of green and we're about to see who has the deepest pockets.
Earlier this year, VF Corp closed the €500 million green bond offering to fund programs within their sustainability strategy. When last week Burberry announced their launch of the first sustainability-linked bond to fund social and environmental improvements, we decided to take a closer look at green financing.
Let's break down financial jargon and see how these "green" financial instruments actually work:
First, let's clear up that "sustainability" encompasses not only environmental issues but social too.
Second, "sustainable finance", as defined by experts, refer to financial instruments that integrate ESG criteria into business or investment decisions (e.g. bonds, loans, revolving credit facilities)
Bonds vs loans. Without going into details, both have to do with debt, but loans typically have to do with borrowing money from a bank, while bonds — borrowing money from the public through raising capital.
This Greenbiz piece did a great job of describing the nuances of a great variety of financial tools. There are different types of bonds; sustainability bonds are those used to finance projects that bring clear environmental and social benefits.
On the other hand, sustainability-linked loans (which apply to the case of Prada, Moncler and Ferragamo) encompass:
Rather than raising funds for a particular category of projects or initiatives, the proceeds of sustainability-linked loans can be used for general business purposes. However, their interest rate is tied in part to the borrower’s sustainability performance. It requires the borrower to set ambitious and meaningful "sustainability performance targets" and report regularly — at least annually — on its progress, ideally with independent verification.
Such loans have a built-in pricing mechanism, in which the interest rate drops if the borrower achieves its goals; it may rise if the goals aren’t met.
Now, let's get back to Burberry:
In its sustainability bond framework the UK fashion house outlines a series of goals that include:
an operational net zero carbon footprint
100% of cotton procured more sustainably by 2022
a positive impact on one million people by 2022 via projects that tackle educational inequality, support social and economic development and community cohesion
Specific projects that the cash raised through the bond issue can go towards include buying and refitting more energy efficient properties, sustainably sourcing cotton and sourcing recyclable packaging. Previously called out for burning unsold stock, the luxury fashion house makes steps to a greener future.
H&M backs biodiversity research with investment - EcoTextile
Offsetting the "green guilt"? Fast fashion is pouring money towards the protection of biodiversity in order to make up for its detrimental effect on the environment.
H&M Group has committed significant, non-earmarked financial support to IPBES which will support a new project on biodiversity science and policy. The Swedish retailer is also testing the resale business model with one of its brands, while the sustainability advocates question the H&M's efforts for addressing environmental concerns.
Engineered by Nature
Why mushrooms could be the key to sustainable fashion - World Economic Forum
Many consider mushrooms as an untapped resource for a number of industries and it looks like “fungus fever” has finally taken over the fashion industry.
There are different types of materials that can be created from fungus through a process, called bio-fabrication. Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus, it is multicellular and can grow into macro-size structures. It is possible to give it a predictable structure by controlling temperature, CO2, humidity and airflow.
One of these innovative materials is mushroom leather, a more eco-friendly alternative to real and faux leather. Over the past years, several companies have been developing mycelium-based leather, among which there are MycoWorks, Bolt Threads and Ecovative Design.
In 2018, Bolt Threads used the Mylo material, licensed from Ecovative Design, for creating a prototype version of Stella McCartney's Falabella bag.
It's quite exciting to see how researchers are exploring uses of mycelium. Now that we have mushroom leather, there will be mushroom meat (including bacon!).
Is Plastic Recycling A Lie? Oil Companies Touted Recycling To Sell More Plastic - NPR
Continuing on the intro:
The industry sold the public on an idea it knew wouldn't work — that the majority of plastic could be, and would be, recycled — all while making billions of dollars selling the world new plastic.
Challenges of recycling plastic
There are signs that plastic recycling isn’t as profitable as it should be.
If one of the assumptions is "all used plastic can be turned into new products", actually, it doesn't account for the fact that plastic degrades over time and can't be reused more than once or twice.
Moreover, new plastic is much cheaper and of better quality than "recycled" one.
If you put the recyclable item in the trash bin rather than the recycle bin or the wrong stuff is separated, then the trash is disposed. Eventually, there will be nowhere to send all the trash anymore.
The truth is a lot of valuable plastic ends up in landfills despite all the recycling technologies and public effort.
Around the news
Salvatore Ferragamo Sets Goals to Cut GHG Emissions by 2029 - one of the signatories of the Fashion Pact, Salvatore Ferragamo sets science-based target to reduce its GHG emissions by 42 percent by 2029 against a 2019 baseline.
Gap creates sustainability tool in partnership with Textile Exchange - Gap Inc. and Textile Exchange released Preferred Fiber Toolkit (PFT), an online resource that provides environmental and social impacts of raw materials and promotes a data-driven approach for procurement in the fashion industry.
Fashion for Good initiates Full Circle Textiles project - Fashion for Good launched a new project on chemical recycling to tackle textile waste. With the support of a consortium of brands, manufacturers and industry organizations, “Full Circle Textiles Project: Scaling Innovations in Cellulosic Recycling” project aims to investigate economically viable and scalable solutions in cellulosic textile production.
Fashion’s Leading Conveners Convene to Form Coalition Of Their Own - 9 of the world's fashion-forward NGOs, including Fashion for Good, Global Fashion Agenda and Textile Exchange, join forces to form The Fashion Conveners, a coalition for sustainable change.
The 10 Fashion Sustainability Initiatives to Know and What They Do - from the UN Sustainable Development Goals to B Corp certifications, WWD recaps the ways the fashion industry is working towards a more sustainable future.