45 fashion brands commit to keeping forests standing

22 Jun '20

2 min read

Pic: Shutterstock

On World Rainforest Day today, 45 brands, including Walmart-owned ASDA/George, Ralph Lauren, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Bestseller, Ivy & Oak, Masai, Fiber X Finland, Nanushka, and Ted Baker—which together represent $100 billion in annual revenue—have launched CanopyStyle policies to transform the viscose supply chain and protect the world’s forests.

"Their commitments lend significant additional purchasing power to CanopyStyle and the collective effort to catalyse commercial production of Next Generation alternatives and eliminate the use of ancient and endangered forests in clothing," CanopyStyle said in a press release.

“George at ASDA is working to ensure we protect the world's forests and our collective climate through committing to only sourcing viscose fibres from sustainable sources for all our clothing and home textile products," said Melanie Wilson, senior director of Sustainable Sourcing and Quality at George. “We are thrilled to be part of the CanopyStyle initiative to help save the world’s ancient and endangered forests, and look forward to collaborating and scaling up the implementation of innovative solutions for textile sourcing.”

Keeping forests standing is crucial to minimising the likelihood of future pandemics, and meeting critical climate and biodiversity targets set by the world’s scientists. Today’s commitments will reduce the growing pressure on forests for viscose sourcing, and will speed the implementation of Next Generation Solutions, such as making viscose from recycled textiles or microbial cellulose grown on food waste. More than 150 million trees are cut down each year to produce popular textiles like rayon and viscose.

“What better way to celebrate World Rainforest Day than by announcing that CanopyStyle has a critical mass of 259 brands united to eliminate ancient and endangered forests from their supply chain,” said Nicole Rycroft, Canopy’s founder and executive director. “This is the transformation necessary to stabilise our climate, save wildlife, and bring innovative alternatives to market.”

The addition of the 45 companies shows great momentum for the CanopyStyle and Pack4Good initiatives, and the efforts to protect the world’s ancient and endangered forests. The CanopyStyle initiative now represents 259 brands worth over $370 billion in total revenue working together to create demand, shift supply chains, and implement more sustainable sourcing practices.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)

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