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Manufacturers key to realising circular fashion: report
08 Sep '20
2 min read
Pic: Shutterstock
UK-based international sustainability non-profit Forum for the Future and leading fashion manufacturers Cobalt Fashion (part of the Hong Kong-based Fung Group), Ramatex Group (Malaysia) and Yee Chain International (Taiwan) recently called on brands, retailers and other stakeholders to step up efforts to include supply chain voices in the sector’s drive to transform how fashion items are designed, made, sold and used.
In a report titled ‘Making the leap to circular fashion’, they highlighted that mass apparel and footwear manufacturers representing the core of today’s high-production and low-cost fast-fashion system are uniquely placed to develop and implement innovative circular solutions at scale.
By their position in the industry—making sourcing and supply decisions and creating products that retail in shops—manufacturers have enormous potential to shape the fashion sector up and down the supply chain, the report said.
However, the report argued that while significant progress has been made on the fashion industry’s environmental and social sustainability performance, initiatives continue to be driven by individual actors and a compliance-focused approach to manufacturing innovation.
Given the level of dematerialisation and transformation required, it is unreasonable to assume that the industry can achieve these goals by continuing with business-as-usual, it pointed out.
The report called on all actors across apparel supply chains to collectively leverage the existing trust, relationships and social capital in the industry, and lays out a three-step approach for brands and retailers to create the networks vital to ensuring long-term success.
The steps are streamlining engagement: Evaluating points of interaction with supply chain partners that currently inhibit collaboration on circular economy initiatives; engaging supply chain partners at the problem-scoping and ideation stage, and investing in trusted, strategic long-term partnerships; and making learning and innovation central to supply chain partnerships.
Further specific recommended actions are also included for research and innovation ecosystems, manufacturers, as well as for critical enablers of change such as investors, policy makers, non-profits and development organisations.
The report’s insights are drawn from ‘Circular Leap Asia’ (CLA). Funded by Laudes Foundation, CLA is a programme focused on empowering fashion manufacturers in Asia to lead the adoption and scaling of circular solutions.
In a report titled ‘Making the leap to circular fashion’, they highlighted that mass apparel and footwear manufacturers representing the core of today’s high-production and low-cost fast-fashion system are uniquely placed to develop and implement innovative circular solutions at scale.
By their position in the industry—making sourcing and supply decisions and creating products that retail in shops—manufacturers have enormous potential to shape the fashion sector up and down the supply chain, the report said.
However, the report argued that while significant progress has been made on the fashion industry’s environmental and social sustainability performance, initiatives continue to be driven by individual actors and a compliance-focused approach to manufacturing innovation.
Given the level of dematerialisation and transformation required, it is unreasonable to assume that the industry can achieve these goals by continuing with business-as-usual, it pointed out.
The report called on all actors across apparel supply chains to collectively leverage the existing trust, relationships and social capital in the industry, and lays out a three-step approach for brands and retailers to create the networks vital to ensuring long-term success.
The steps are streamlining engagement: Evaluating points of interaction with supply chain partners that currently inhibit collaboration on circular economy initiatives; engaging supply chain partners at the problem-scoping and ideation stage, and investing in trusted, strategic long-term partnerships; and making learning and innovation central to supply chain partnerships.
Further specific recommended actions are also included for research and innovation ecosystems, manufacturers, as well as for critical enablers of change such as investors, policy makers, non-profits and development organisations.
The report’s insights are drawn from ‘Circular Leap Asia’ (CLA). Funded by Laudes Foundation, CLA is a programme focused on empowering fashion manufacturers in Asia to lead the adoption and scaling of circular solutions.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
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