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Fashion brands work to produce circular materials
04 Jun '17
4 min read
Courtesy: Fashion Positive
Leading fashion brands have joined the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute’s Fashion Positive PLUS collaboration to accelerate development of safer, circular materials for use in the apparel industry. Under the PLUS initiative, brands, designers and suppliers have come together to develop “circular” materials to be used and reused perpetually.
The five members include H&M, Kering, Loomstate, Zero + Maria Cornejo and Eileen Fisher. The members convened before the Copenhagen Fashion Summit to begin the process of identifying “building block” materials, such as fibres, yarns, finishings, trims, and dyes that the group will collaboratively work to optimise for material health, safety and circularity.
The process will eventually culminate in the assessment and verification of these materials using the Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard. The materials will also be added to the Fashion Positive Materials Collection, which currently lists 70 Cradle to Cradle Certified materials with apparel and fashion applications.
“The aim of Fashion Positive PLUS is to convene some of the biggest brands and brightest design innovators in the world to collaborate on accelerating the optimisation and availability of positive, circular building block materials for the fashion industry,” said Annie Gullingsrud, director of the textiles and apparel sector for the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute.
“Specifically, PLUS will focus on driving the improvement of commonly used materials with the highest potential to positively impact human and environmental health and, in the process, catalyse systemic change for the fashion industry,” Gullingsrud said.
“As a company, we see that we need a systemic change to the way that fashion is made and used, and we need to find ways to and scale circular materials. Fashion Positive PLUS is a good way to join forces with others who have the same ambitions,” said H&M Circular Lead Cecilia Strömblad-Brännsten.
“Through PLUS, we think we can achieve a whole range of circular materials that we can put into the market within a very short time, including yarns, fabrics and trimmings. By working together with other PLUS members, we can also focus on the right materials at the right time, finding scalable solutions that will work for companies throughout our industry,” Strömblad-Brännsten said.
"Innovative approaches like circularity have endless possibilities and can truly change the industry as we know it today. Stella McCartney has already been involved in the Fashion Positive Initiative since its launch in 2014 and through the PLUS extension it is an exciting prospect to collaborate with other leaders in this area to augment Kering’s circular approach. I am already envisioning the new, sustainably certified materials that our Materials Innovation Lab will be able to offer to all our brands,” said Cecilia Takayama, director of the Materials Innovation Lab, Kering.
“We believe it is the right time to accelerate change in the fashion industry. Fashion Positive PLUS is a strong venue for collaborating with other brands on some of the deepest challenges our industry is facing. We hope this work will help drive global change in our systems and processes, beginning with the development of a suite of Cradle to Cradle Certified base materials,” said Inka Apter, designer for fabric research and development at Eileen Fisher.
Led by the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute as part of its Fashion Positive Initiative, Fashion Positive PLUS is funded by the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund for Strategic Innovation, Walmart Foundation, H&M Foundation and the DOEN Foundation of the Dutch Postcode Lottery.
The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute is dedicated to advancing the verification of positive materials for the circular economy across many sectors from building materials and interior design finishes to packaging, personal care, household products, textiles and apparel. (SV)
The five members include H&M, Kering, Loomstate, Zero + Maria Cornejo and Eileen Fisher. The members convened before the Copenhagen Fashion Summit to begin the process of identifying “building block” materials, such as fibres, yarns, finishings, trims, and dyes that the group will collaboratively work to optimise for material health, safety and circularity.
The process will eventually culminate in the assessment and verification of these materials using the Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard. The materials will also be added to the Fashion Positive Materials Collection, which currently lists 70 Cradle to Cradle Certified materials with apparel and fashion applications.
“The aim of Fashion Positive PLUS is to convene some of the biggest brands and brightest design innovators in the world to collaborate on accelerating the optimisation and availability of positive, circular building block materials for the fashion industry,” said Annie Gullingsrud, director of the textiles and apparel sector for the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute.
“Specifically, PLUS will focus on driving the improvement of commonly used materials with the highest potential to positively impact human and environmental health and, in the process, catalyse systemic change for the fashion industry,” Gullingsrud said.
“As a company, we see that we need a systemic change to the way that fashion is made and used, and we need to find ways to and scale circular materials. Fashion Positive PLUS is a good way to join forces with others who have the same ambitions,” said H&M Circular Lead Cecilia Strömblad-Brännsten.
“Through PLUS, we think we can achieve a whole range of circular materials that we can put into the market within a very short time, including yarns, fabrics and trimmings. By working together with other PLUS members, we can also focus on the right materials at the right time, finding scalable solutions that will work for companies throughout our industry,” Strömblad-Brännsten said.
"Innovative approaches like circularity have endless possibilities and can truly change the industry as we know it today. Stella McCartney has already been involved in the Fashion Positive Initiative since its launch in 2014 and through the PLUS extension it is an exciting prospect to collaborate with other leaders in this area to augment Kering’s circular approach. I am already envisioning the new, sustainably certified materials that our Materials Innovation Lab will be able to offer to all our brands,” said Cecilia Takayama, director of the Materials Innovation Lab, Kering.
“We believe it is the right time to accelerate change in the fashion industry. Fashion Positive PLUS is a strong venue for collaborating with other brands on some of the deepest challenges our industry is facing. We hope this work will help drive global change in our systems and processes, beginning with the development of a suite of Cradle to Cradle Certified base materials,” said Inka Apter, designer for fabric research and development at Eileen Fisher.
Led by the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute as part of its Fashion Positive Initiative, Fashion Positive PLUS is funded by the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund for Strategic Innovation, Walmart Foundation, H&M Foundation and the DOEN Foundation of the Dutch Postcode Lottery.
The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute is dedicated to advancing the verification of positive materials for the circular economy across many sectors from building materials and interior design finishes to packaging, personal care, household products, textiles and apparel. (SV)
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