Ecotextile Talks

Exclusive Podcasts that tackle the crucial environmental issues impacting today’s global textile and clothing supply chains. Put together by the team that launched the pioneering Ecotextile News magazine back in 2007, we take listeners behind the scenes to reveal how we break the news and also provide deep dive Newscasts on sustainability, ethics, policy, retail, pollution and the carbon crisis engulfing our planet.

What a waste! European textile reuse and recycling on brink of collapse 12/18/2024

Inside the legal case against 'Shein's £50 billion IPO' 09/30/2024

Inside the legal case against 'Shein's £50 billion IPO' This episode of Ecotextile Talks explores facing fast fashion company Shein as it considers listing on the (LSE). In the summer UK based charity, , asked the (FCA) to reject any potential request from Shein to list on the LSE. At the moment, we don't know for sure whether Shein has submitted a request to the FCA so as we all wait, we thought that it would helpful for a lawyer to take us inside the legal case against Shein's listing on the London Stock Exchange. Not just any lawyer, but the one representing Stop Uyghur Genocide, from the UK law firm . We discuss: The legal basis for opposing Shein's potential listing, focusing on the UK Modern Slavery Act and the Proceeds of Crime Act. How these laws could apply to Shein's operations, even though the company produces goods outside the UK. The alleged evidence presented to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regarding forced labor in the Uyghur region and its alleged connection to Shein's supply chain. Shein's response to the allegations and correspondence from Leigh Day The potential next steps in the legal process, including the possibility of a judicial review if the Financial Conduct Authority approves any potential Shein's listing. In the interests of balance and journalistic integrity, we emailed Shein on 25th September to give it an opportunity to respond to the allegations being made in this podcast by Leigh Day, on behalf of Stop Uyghur Genocide, in particular that its supply chain allegedly features forced labour, and the consequential handling of criminal property in breach of the UK Proceeds of Crime Act. We asked Shein for either a recorded interview to include at the end of this podcast, or a written statement but as of September 30th no one from Shein had replied. In the podcast we also invited Shein to record a follow-up podcast with us, to respond to the content of this one. If you would like to read more about the, "NCA and its failure to investigate imports linked to forced labour - see this article If you're interested in this issue, then you might like to listen to another recent edition of Ecotextile Talks entitled: "" which has an interview with the Executive Director of the Worker Rights Consortium, Scott Nova. /episode/index/show/ecotextiletalks/id/33156022

Navigating new regulations: The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive explained 09/24/2024

Monitoring organic cotton from space 09/17/2024

Can we trust textile factory audits in China? 07/01/2024

Can we trust textile factory audits in China? Fresh from his high-profile appearance at a recent , Scott Nova, Executive Director of the in Washington DC, gave Philip Berman a hard-hitting interview questioning the reliability of social compliance audits in China. Scott says about auditing companies working in the Xinjiang region: "I'm sure there are some that are actually claiming that they can conclusively demonstrate the absence of forced labor in the region, but no auditor should be working there. It's incredibly disreputable. Even aside from the fact that you can't conduct a methodologically credible audit there, what you were doing by operating there, Is you are enhancing the ability of the Chinese government to keep doing what it is doing to the Uyghur people because the best hope the Uyghur people have is that this economic boycott will convince the Chinese government that it is in its interest to chart a different course in terms of its treatment of the Uyghurs." Scott and Philip discussed the impact of the Ughur Forced Labor Prevention Act, in stopping goods made using forced Labor coming into the US. Interestingly, Scott said that since the Act has come into force, "to our knowledge, nobody has overcome that rebuttable presumption," that goods coming from that region were not made with forced labor. We followed up this point with Scott after the podcast - as it appeared that a number of goods had been seized by US customs under the law and Scott told us: "On UFLPA seizures, there are two different phases of the process. In the first phase, 'targets' shipments that it thinks have content from the Uyghur Region. Some of the targeted shipments are released because CBP determines they don’t have such content. If CBP does confirm there is content from the Uyghur Region, then the shipment is denied entry to the US, based on the presumption that all goods with content from the Uyghur Region were made with forced labor. That is the second phase. At that point, an importer can attempt to rebut that presumption by showing that no forced labor was actually used. No company has successfully done so. The released goods to which you are referring were released in the first phase, based on where the content was from." It's a fascinating and broad-ranging conversation, with Scott and Philip discussing several issues around this topic, in particular: Why, according to Scott, impartial factory audits are so hard to carry out in the Xinjiang region? Does he think the issue is confined to just this province? Whether we should trust any social audits in China? And what does he think this all mean for any company wanting to do business there? You can read much more on this issue online at where we most recently reported that a c This comes after cotton exports from the region despite legislation in the USA. /episode/index/show/ecotextiletalks/id/31914457

How to come together to decarbonise with Cascale and 'About You' 04/16/2024

Taking the carbon out of clothing, with Cascale 04/09/2024

Are you ready for the new EU laws on sustainability? 04/02/2024

Measuring for impact, with Cascale 03/26/2024

Ep 2: Cash for Climate Solutions - figuring out fashion’s CO2 emissions 02/29/2024

Ep 2: Cash for Climate Solutions - figuring out fashion’s CO2 emissions In the second episode of this podcast series, produced in partnership with the about its (CSP), we take a look at the tool it's built to help decide who should get the funding, and what a winning application looks like. As a quick re-cap, the CSP aims to find, feature and fund any initiative, project or piece of tech with the potential to reduce energy use and/or greenhouse gas emissions at scale in the industry. And it has up to 250,000 dollars per year to award to projects that have the data to show they have the potential to make an impact. In this episode, Ecotextile News correspondent and environmental scientist explain how they developed a tool they call the 'Ready Reckoner' – to objectively compare the overall CO2 savings of different innovations and solutions across all parts of the textile manufacturing process. Phil Patterson told host Phil Berman that he's come up with a punchier, and more colloquial nickname for the tool. “Apologies for my language, but it's a bit of an ‘eco bullsh*t detector’ because there's lots of innovation out there but there are lots of people overclaiming the benefits that their solutions can deliver." “What we’ve created is what we call a gas map of the entire supply chain, which is essentially looking at where greenhouse gases emissions occur, allocating a percentage of those emissions to individual processes within the supply chain. Patterson and Greer talk in detail about how the tool can be used, and how it can be improved in the future as better data becomes available. And most importantly they both drop some big hints on what they are looking for in applications, with lots of do's and don'ts. Applications are open from 1 to 31 March, 2024. To find out more about the Portolio, do check out its dedicated where you can also contact their team if you need help with your application. /episode/index/show/ecotextiletalks/id/30096558

Ep 1: Cash for climate solutions, with the Apparel Impact Institute 02/22/2024

TRAIL: How to win cash for climate solutions 02/21/2024

Threaded Together: How the US Climate Smart Cotton program is helping to reduce the carbon footprint of textiles 12/07/2023

Threaded Together: How the US Climate Smart Cotton program is helping to reduce the carbon footprint of textiles To coincide with the week of , our third and final episode of our Threaded Together: cotton and sustainability podcast series, sponsored by , looks at the - a bold, new and exciting initiative in the US, which aims to measure and improve the country’s cottons’ carbon footprint. We look at what it is, how it works, who can take part, why it's needed, who benefits from it and why it's of interest to the whole value chain in the textile industry. To answer these questions, host Philip Berman is joined by: , the , which leads on the programme. , , which is partner on the programme. , Chief Sustainability Officer at Cotton Incorporated, which is partner on the programme. Daren Abney tells listeners: "I think this opportunity really came about because the US government is seeing agriculture at scale as an opportunity to address climate challenges." Soil health expert Dr Morgan explains later in the podcast: "The main thing that we want to do is improve the soil. We want to get carbon out of the atmosphere and we also want to release fewer greenhouse gases into the atmosphere." Here are the factsheets recently released by Dr Morgan that she says demonstrate how soil health management systems are making cotton growers more profitable. Other partners in the programme include, Cotton Council International, Agricenter International, North Carolina A&T State University, Alabama A&M University and Texas A&M AgriLife Research. Cotton Incorporated is a US-based, not-for-profit company, that provides resources and research to help companies develop and market innovative and profitable cotton products. Cick here for : Cotton and Sustainability and Click here for : How best to measure cotton's environmental impact. For a look at our complete podcast archive, click HERE.Subscribe to our podcasts and radio shows by following us on , , and , to automatically get alerts when we launch a new Ecotextile Talks Behind the News podcast. /episode/index/show/ecotextiletalks/id/28954638

Threaded Together: How best to measure cotton’s environmental impact 11/30/2023

Has Renewcell been let down by fashion brands? 11/22/2023

Threaded Together: Cotton and Sustainability 10/24/2023

How far can fashion resale drive decarbonisation? 10/18/2023

Bridging the influence gap between apparel manufacturers and brands 10/11/2023

Fashioning a better response to natural disasters 09/29/2023

Should QR codes replace clothing labels? 09/13/2023

'Viscose Voyages' - uncovering Lenzing's plans in Indonesia 09/05/2023

Why organic cotton monitoring is out of this world 08/23/2023

Time fashion gets tough on Turkmen forced labour? 08/16/2023

Time fashion gets tough on Turkmen forced labour? The latest report from Cotton Campaign insists the time has come for the fashion industry to act conclusively on forced labour in Turkmen cotton fields, with human rights lawyer and researcher Allison Gill telling Ecotextile Talks that legal obligations must now be met. Speaking on behalf Cotton Campaign, an interdisciplinary coalition of human and labour rights organisations focused on cotton supply chains, Gill sits down with podcast host David Styles to discuss the past, present and potential future of Turkmenistan’s use of forced labour and the nation’s relationship with the global apparel industry. After a decade of what she regards as negligible progress in Turkmenistan, the human rights expert is realistic about the monumental challenge facing those who wish to engender real change but admits she hopes kernels of optimism may soon be evident – if the fashion industry collectively acts. Publicly shunning Turkmen cotton and funding comprehensive supply chain due diligence, the human rights expert asserts, is the minimum required to start the ball rolling on meaningful progress. “Companies and businesses should absolutely not be using Turkmen cotton goods… They have a legal obligation not to do so,” Gill argues, before contextualising the reality in Turkmenistan comparative to other nearby controversial cotton-producing hotspots such as Uzbekistan and China’s Xinjiang region. Despite the describing children as young as eight being compulsorily engaged in physically gruelling work, Gill admits that a key discussion among the Cotton Campaign partner organisations was how to ensure the publication was able to “convey the information so that it grabs people's attention”. She also labels the newest findings “ground-breaking”, given that much of the information was sourced by monitors working undercover in the secretive Eurasian nation – risking their freedom or even lives to do so. /episode/index/show/ecotextiletalks/id/27768090

Australia trials voluntary textile circularity levy 08/09/2023

Australia trials voluntary textile circularity levy As an apparent global push to include extended producer responsibility (EPR) frameworks in legislation gathers pace, podcast host David Styles catches up with Claire Kneller, managing director of WRAP Asia Pacific, to discuss the Australian Government’s approach. Claire joins the latest episode of Ecotextile Talks as a representative of the consortium behind Seamless, an initiative aiming to convince fashion brands and retailers to voluntarily contribute four cents per garment to fund textile circularity programmes and avoid a mandatory levy being imposed by central government. “Textiles is on the minister's list. It has been for a while,” Kneller explains. “Perhaps unsurprisingly, the industry was not taking enough action. There are things happening in the industry, on an individual brand and retailer level, but by no stretch of the imagination is it enough activity.” It was this perceived stasis that led Australia’s environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, to put the nation’s fashion companies on notice: they have 12 months to act or risk much harsher measures being imposed legally. Success for the scheme, Kneller believes, would be 60% of the industry signing up to contribute by June 2024. “That's actually not that many companies,” she notes. “That's probably between 15 and 20 businesses, depending on which ones you get. So it's not a huge number, but the market in Australia is extremely consolidated at the top end.” While WRAP Asia Pacific’s managing director is optimistic this level of uptake can be achieved, she issues industry with the cautionary tale that failing to do so may result in a higher contribution than the 4 cents per garment being proposed in this preliminary voluntary phase. “Industry has the opportunity for it to continue as an industry led scheme. Once it becomes a co-regulatory scheme, it's quite a different setup… What currently is drafted as a four cents per garment levy might be 40 cents per garment under a regulatory scheme. Now I'm not saying it will be, but it could be because it really is out of industry's hands.” /episode/index/show/ecotextiletalks/id/27700092

The DNA detectives: a look at Hohenstein's new test for organic cotton 07/11/2023

The DNA detectives: a look at Hohenstein's new test for organic cotton In our latest Ecotextile Talks podcast, Philip Berman catches up with John Murphy, Hohenstein’s technical director for Europe, for an update on the company’s testing and certification process for its new Oeko-Tex organic cotton standard that was launched in April. The new testing procedure has been created to verify the labelling of organic cotton textiles, but with additional criteria that meets with the stringent Oeko-Tex Standard 100. It claims to ensure that cotton samples contain less than 10% genetically modified material, comply with limits on hazardous chemicals including pesticide residues, and guarantees its organic origin down to farm level. Asked why he thinks the cotton industry needs a new organic label certification process, Murphy suggests that as the demand for organic has grown rapidly, so has the need to ensure that the labelling is reliable, particularly for consumers. “We saw a need from the industry for a new independent label for organic cotton,” he tells Ecotextile Talks, explaining that Hohenstein took its time to develop the process to make sure of its integrity and that it was trustworthy. In addition to the qualitative DNA analysis of the sample material (i.e. does a product contain genetically modified cotton, yes or no?), Murphy notes that a second important step involves quantification – determining the proportion of genetically modified cotton in a sample. The aim, he says, is not only to check production, but also to make sure the raw material is traceable throughout the supply chain. The result is a quantitative method of GMO testing, which, for the first time he says, allows for differentiation between contamination and purposeful addition of conventionally grown cotton. Pressed on the feasibility of this process, Murphy raises an important point around the delineation between contamination, which maybe is accidental, and that which is purposeful and potentially verging on the fraudulent. Asked how the testing manages to differentiate between those two processes, he clarifies that there is always slight contamination with cross-flying lint in production. “We’re not trying to eliminate cross contamination – that’s very, very difficult,” he says. “What we are trying to eliminate is suppliers who may dilute the organic cotton with conventional cotton to try to increase volumes and this test will differentiate between accidental contamination and genuine contamination. “We’ve set limits of less than 10% for accidental contamination. We’ll look at this limit which has been set for now and see how relevant it is over time.” Subscribe to our podcasts and radio shows by following us on , , and , to automatically get alerts when we launch a new Ecotextile Talks podcast /episode/index/show/ecotextiletalks/id/27421554

Ten years since Rana Plaza: What lessons learned? 04/17/2023

Inside the minds of sustainable shoppers 03/02/2023

A new due diligence approach to apparel supply chains 12/13/2022

How Timberland and Lenzing tackled traceability 11/02/2022

Editor's Picks - 2 September 2022 09/02/2022

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