Trump’s Threat to Human Rights in Fashion’s Factories
Dramatic cuts to US foreign development spending are kneecapping the fragile network of civil society organisations and nonprofits that defend workers in the industry’s global supply chains.
Sustainability
How fashion can do better for people and the planet.
Highlights
Big Brands Banned Fur. Why Is It Back on the Runway?
The luxury sector is turning to a roster of faux alternatives to tap into a resurgence in consumer appetite for fluffy fashions.
Is ‘Clean’ Fashion About to Have a Moment?
With clean beauty now mainstream, an emerging wave of brands are promoting skin-kind clothing made from natural fibres and without the use of harsh chemicals, seeking to tap into consumer interest in products that promise health and wellness benefits.
Latest News & Analysis
A Slap on the Wrist Won’t Solve Luxury’s Sweatshops Problem
This week, Italy’s Competition Authority closed a probe into whether Dior misled consumers about working conditions at its suppliers without finding any wrongdoing. But a new case linking Valentino to poor labour practices suggests this is a problem that won’t go away easily.
A Slap on the Wrist Won’t Solve Luxury’s Sweatshops Problem
This week, Italy’s Competition Authority closed a probe into whether Dior misled consumers about working conditions at its suppliers without finding any wrongdoing. But a new case linking Valentino to poor labour practices suggests this is a problem that won’t go away easily.
Italy’s Competition Authority Closes Dior Probe
The investigation into whether Dior misled consumers about working conditions at its suppliers concluded without finding any wrongdoing, after Dior made a number of commitments to tighten up its controls and communication.
Fashion’s Recycling Start-Ups Inch Closer to Commercialisation
Over the last month, a flurry of companies with backers from H&M to Inditex have advanced plans to build their first industrial-scale textile-to-textile recycling plants, advancing a technology that is often held up as a holy-grail-like solution to many of fashion’s environmental ills.
Fashion’s Recycling Start-Ups Inch Closer to Commercialisation
Over the last month, a flurry of companies with backers from H&M to Inditex have advanced plans to build their first industrial-scale textile-to-textile recycling plants, advancing a technology that is often held up as a holy-grail-like solution to many of fashion’s environmental ills.
What’s the Carbon Footprint of Your Shoes?
Efforts to map the footwear industry’s carbon footprint have lagged behind those in fashion. A new study aims to start addressing that.
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Valentino Unit Put Under Court Administration Over Labour Exploitation
A Milan court found that Valentino Bags Lab subcontracted production to Chinese-owned firms in Italy that exploited workers.
Sustainability Takes a Back Seat, Even at Sustainable Fashion Brands
In a challenging market, a generation of brands that helped pioneer 'sustainable fashion' are shifting their sales pitch, letting design, not values, do the talking.
Tariff Windfall Tests Limits of India’s Apparel Factories
As US retailers shift orders from China and Bangladesh to capitalise on lower tariffs, apparel factories in India’s textile hub of Tiruppur are scrambling to meet demand and are held back by a deepening skilled labour shortage, cost pressures, and fragmented manufacturing capacity.
Tariff Windfall Tests Limits of India’s Apparel Factories
As US retailers shift orders from China and Bangladesh to capitalise on lower tariffs, apparel factories in India’s textile hub of Tiruppur are scrambling to meet demand and are held back by a deepening skilled labour shortage, cost pressures, and fragmented manufacturing capacity.
Lessons From Trump’s Degrowth Experiment
The US President’s tariffs are effectively achieving what a decade of sustainable fashion campaigning couldn’t accomplish: curbing overconsumption. It won’t result in meaningful environmental gains, argues Kenneth P. Pucker.
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Walmart Calls, But India’s Garment Worker Woes Blunt Tariff Edge
American retailers are ramping up inquiries to manufacture in India in response to Trump's trade war, but a labour shortage and high costs in key textile producing regions are hampering suppliers' ability to capitalise on the opportunity.
Walmart Calls, But India’s Garment Worker Woes Blunt Tariff Edge
American retailers are ramping up inquiries to manufacture in India in response to Trump's trade war, but a labour shortage and high costs in key textile producing regions are hampering suppliers' ability to capitalise on the opportunity.
How One Brand Is Defying the Slow Fashion Slowdown
Montreal-based Eliza Faulkner’s ethereal, frocks are more popular than ever, even as other sustainable businesses struggle. Her secret? Putting design first, and applying slow fashion principles to how she runs her business, too.
Fashion’s Big Bet on Textile Recycling, Explained
The nascent textile recycling industry has been positioned as a holy grail solution to fashion’s environmental challenges. The reality is more complicated.
‘Trade War TikTok’ Takes Aim at Luxury
Chinese creators claiming to manufacture for luxury brands have gone viral on the platform, offering cut-price ‘dupes’ in response to Trump’s punitive tariffs on the country.
THE NEWS IN BRIEF
Italy’s Fashion Brands Sign Accord to Fight Worker Exploitation
Italian legal and political authorities, trade unions and fashion industry parties signed a non-binding action plan focussed on the creation of a database of brands’ suppliers and their workforces, after prosecutors uncovered widespread abuse.
Cascale CEO Colin Browne Steps Down After Year in Role
A search to find a new leader for the influential sustainability-focussed trade group is underway.
Lab-Grown Leather Startup Faircraft Acquires Kering-Backed VitroLabs
VitroLabs’ primary assets are 30 patents that Faircraft said would strengthen its capacity to commercialise a technology that has been tricky to bring to market.
Textile Recycler Eeden Raises €18 Million
The German startup aims to build a demonstration plant capable of recycling clothes made of polyester and cotton blends.
NGOs File Complaint Against EU Moves to Water Down Sustainability Regulations
A coalition of nonprofits has lodged a complaint with the European Ombudsman, arguing an ongoing regulatory rollback is ‘undemocratic, untransparent and rushed.’
Trump Officials Quietly Move to Reverse Bans on Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’
The Environmental Protection Agency is beginning to change how it carries out chemical risk evaluations, in a move that could reverse a ban toxic chemicals in consumer products.
Fashion Traceability Platform Fairly Made Raises €15 Million
The platform used by companies including LVMH, Balmain and SMCP plans to use the money to accelerate global expansion.
US Fashion Lobby Warns Trump Cuts Threaten Key Supply-Chain Programmes
The Labour Department is cancelling more than $500 million of funding for programmes that combat child labour, forced labour and human trafficking abroad, further reducing funding for international human rights efforts.