loader from loading.io

Big Closets Small Planet

Fashion and apparel. It touches nearly everyone. When its at its best, fashion and apparel is not only functional, but also fun, expressive, sexy, and for some businesses, very profitable. But when it is at its worst, fashion and apparel is superficial, exploitative, polluting and extremely wasteful - in other words the essence of unsustainable consumption. And while it is argued that the industry's rapid growth has created employment opportunities for more than 300 million people worldwide, especially for women in poorer countries and those in extreme poverty, many garment workers still struggle to earn enough to pay to meet even their most basic needs. More alarming is the fact that as the industry grows - by 2030 more than 8 billion people will live on the planet, and nearly 5 billion of these will be part of the global middle class - its negative environmental impacts may become unmanageable, potentially undermining its social benefits and contributing to ecosystem degradation on local, regional and global scales. Who would have thought garments could be so destructive? The fashion industry must change now, but will we manage in time? Join Mike Schragger, founder of the Sustainable Fashion Academy, as he explores the challenges, incentives and disincentives and emerging solutions needed to rapidly transform the industry. Listen in as he talks with the business leaders, activists, researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs, investors, legislators, consumers and citizens - who are racing against the clock to find solutions that will transform the industry, thus ensuring it truly operates for the benefit of people and the planet. www.sustainablefashionacademy.org/podcasts/big-closets-small-planet

info_outline THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Dr. Jennifer Hinton Thinks Not-for-Profit Business Models Can Help Address The Problems of Fast Fashion. 05/08/2024
info_outline THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: For Ken Pucker, circularity is just another win-win fantasy & distraction for the fashion industry. 06/29/2023
info_outline HOT OFF THE PRESS: Climate & The 1 Trillion Dollar Question 04/06/2022
info_outline HOT OFF THE PRESS: Fashion is endangering our forests. A new report from Canopy weighs in on what we need to do about it. 12/16/2020
info_outline HOT OFF THE PRESS: Are the Sustainable Apparel Coalition and the HIGG tools making a meaningful difference? A new report weighs in. 11/25/2020
info_outline DEBATE: Part 2 - A proposed Swedish chemical tax on textiles - is this a case study in great government leadership or political greenwash? 11/11/2020
info_outline DEBATE: Part 1 - A proposed Swedish chemical tax on textiles - is this a case study in great government leadership or political greenwash? 10/28/2020
info_outline THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Sustainable investment expert Sasja Beslik thinks the fashion industry is a very poor performer and possibly a stranded asset. 10/14/2020
info_outline MAKE YOUR CASE: Phil Patterson believes the way we use chemicals in the textiles industry is broken and here is his plan to change it! 09/30/2020
info_outline FACT OR FICTION: Alden Wicker and Sandra Roos think the fashion industry has a misinformation problem... do you agree? 09/16/2020
info_outline THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Femke Groothuis argues that tax reform is the best way to transform the apparel industry at the scale and pace required. 06/24/2020
info_outline LEADING CHANGE: What can a new psychology of climate action teach us about being better change agents? 06/10/2020
info_outline INDUSTRY UPDATE: Circular business models, like clothing resale and subscription rental, are taking off - but can they ever fully replace today's retail models and deliver the radical sustainability improvements we need? 05/27/2020
info_outline FACT OR FICTION: Does the apparel industry really create more greenhouse gases than flights and shipping combined? 05/13/2020
info_outline INDUSTRY UPDATE: COVID-19 - Are millions of workers at risk? Will Bangladesh ever be the same? 04/29/2020
info_outline INSPIRING INNOVATION: Is digital clothing the future of fashion and a solution to overconsumption? 04/15/2020
info_outline HOT OFF THE PRESS: Pioneering analysis estimates 300 billion USD is needed by 2030... 03/25/2020
info_outline MAKE YOUR CASE: Lewis Perkins warns the industry not to reinvent the wheel 03/11/2020
info_outline INSPIRING INNOVATION: Will molecular bonding of fibers mean the end of polyester? 11/27/2019
info_outline BUSINESS LEADERSHIP: The optimist CEO of Lenzing, Stefan Doboczky, weighs in on circular business models, short-termism & watchdogs. 11/13/2019
info_outline INSPIRING INNOVATION: Can a simple phone call make invisible workers visible? 10/30/2019
info_outline INDUSTRY UPDATE: Finance & Innovation - Today’s financing models don’t cut it. We need new approaches that are structured in a way to help reduce risk for all parties involved. 10/16/2019
info_outline INDUSTRY UPDATE: Sound the alarm? Or have we overestimated the problems associated with microfibers & microplastics?!? 10/02/2019
info_outline INSPIRING INNOVATION: The robots are coming! This development may be good for the environment, but is this the beginning of the end for garment workers in production countries? 09/18/2019
info_outline INDUSTRY UPDATE: A Sexy Update on the State of Chemical Management in Textiles Today. "As consumers, we've probably never been safer. As citizens, we have probably never been more unsafe..." 09/04/2019
info_outline INSPIRING INNOVATION: Subcritical water… what the “!#@%” is that? And what can it do for the apparel industry? 06/05/2019
info_outline INSPIRING INNOVATION: Apparel industry = waste. 05/29/2019
info_outline BUSINESS LEADERSHIP: Climate Action - The H&M group boldly committed to becoming climate positive by 2040. But getting there requires unprecedented leadership and change. Is the H&M group in over its head? And what can the H&M group’s journey teach us a 05/22/2019
info_outline INSPIRING INNOVATION: What if using your credit card to purchase clothing could actually help combat global warming? 05/15/2019
info_outline THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Innovation - Edwin Keh thinks that to solve the fashion industry’s sustainability challenges we need to radically rethink R&D. 05/08/2019
 
share