From the Sector

Stahl, an active proponent of responsible chemistry, has published its 2021 Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report. The report outlines the company’s sustainable development ambitions and its achievements over the year. It also features Stahl’s ambitious climate mitigation targets for 2030, such as the transition to more renewable feedstocks.

The 2021 Stahl ESG Report is a cornerstone of Stahl’s commitment to reporting transparently on its progress toward a more sustainable chemicals value chain. This acknowledges the important role that industry must play in tackling climate change while enabling a higher quality of life for more people. A key focal point of the new report is a progress update on Stahl’s ESG Roadmap. Introduced last year, this ten-year plan outlines the company’s ESG commitments and targets for 2023 and 2030.
 
Climate action
Stahl is focused on mitigating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from all activities over which it has influence. This includes investing in renewable energy and process efficiencies to lower the GHG emissions caused directly by Stahl’s own operations and the energy used to power them. On this point, progress was made toward the 2023 and 2030 targets in 2021, including a reduction in Scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions of 15%. Also covered are Stahl’s indirect value-chain impacts, for example, from the raw materials it buys. Looking beyond Stahl’s direct environmental impacts and fostering greater supply-chain transparency will be vital for tackling emissions on a wider scale.

Creating responsible chemistry, together
In 2021, advances were made regarding the company’s diversity and safety targets, which are areas of continuous improvement. Stahl is committed to ensuring a safe working environment, as well as nurturing a diverse and inclusive workplace to continuously improve employee skills.

EcoVadis Gold rating
Fostering ethical behavior through exemplary leadership and governance is key to Stahl’s ambitions. Achieving the EcoVadis Gold rating was an important milestone in this respect. This well-established award reflects the company’s ongoing commitment to supply chain transparency and working with partners to improve the sustainability of its products and operations.

ISKO did not miss the opportunity to be a driver for change as the community of fashion leaders gathered at the event “Drapers Sustainable Fashion 2022” on April 21st, in London. Specifically, ISKO’s presence at the event took place through a stand dedicated to the company’s commitment to the development of new processes for better industry practices, and through the participation of ISKO’s head of sustainability, Ebru Ozkucuk Guler, in the panel “Leading the way: exploring denim’s approach to responsible and sustainable manufacturing”.

The company’s technology R-TWO™50+ played a great role in showing how the innovative soul of the company matches its sustainable one. R-TWO™50+ is the driving force behind ISKO’s efforts to reduce the industry’s impact on the planet. The fabrics are made with a minimum of 50% pre- and post-consumer recycled blend that is entirely Global Recycled Standard (GRS) certified. This results in less use of natural resources and a reduced carbon and water footprint of up to 45% and 65% respectively.
Held at main Stage, the panel was a chance to delve into the great strides that the industry has taken to dramatically reduce its carbon footprint through ground-breaking technology, with the speakers stating that “sustainability strategies are essential for the health not only of the planet but also of the industry itself.”

This collaborative and educational project showcases the use of waste as a resource and prolonging the life of the garment through color. It came to life thanks to key brands who donated items that were then transformed by Officina39’s Recycrom™ applications into a renewed head-to-toe look that was then displayed as an art installation.

What’s the Recipe for change? For Officina39 and Adriana Galijasevic’s Cocircular Lab, this question gives shape to the collaborative and educational project Circular Explorations, specially presented at Amsterdam Denim Days Festival on April 22-23.

Sharing ground values and a common view on the fashion of tomorrow, Officina39, Italian based Chemistry plus Creativity company for the textile sector, joined hands with Adriana Galijasevic’s Cocircular Lab and influential brands to celebrate the importance of an ongoing commitment towards circularity.

Several donated items – overstock, second-grade production or damaged, unsold pieces – were updated with newly developed applications made with Officina39’s Recycrom™, the one-of-a-kind, patented dyestuffs range made from textile waste. This Circular Explorations capsule is displayed at Denim Days Festival as an art installation, not only to dress people but also to get them acquainted with circularity because they are an important player in closing the loop.

The Recipe for change that emerges from this color research is based on important values and keywords:

• Consciousness – awareness of oneself and one's surroundings
• Courage – the mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.
• Creativity – the power to imagine and produce new possibilities.
• Connection – a relationship in which a person or thing is linked or associated with something else, the act or state of connecting.
• Collaboration – the act of working together for a common goal.

Combined together, they produce CHANGE, which is a driving force for a better tomorrow.

This collaborative and innovative project that addresses circularity is also in direct support of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in particular number 12-Responsible Consumption and Production, number 9-Industry innovation & Infrastructure and number 17-Partnership for the Goals.

The winner of the IMAGINING SUSTAINABLE FASHION competition was announced during a webinar broadcast on March 30 at 4pm attended by Giusy Bettoni, CEO of C.L.A.S.S. Eco Hub, Anna Detheridge, President of Connecting Cultures, Dio Kurazawa, Founding Partner of The Bear Scouts, Stefania Ricci, Director of the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum.
 
Vishal Tolambia, 24, a graduate with an MA in Fashion Futures from the London College of Fashion and in Fashion Design from the National Institute of Fashion Technology India, is a Fashion Sustainability researcher and a multidisciplinary designer. In 2021, Vishal founded the organization Humanity-Centred Designs (HCD) with the aim of transforming "human-centred design into humanity-centred designs through sustainable practices to foster the Fashion Industry."
 
In his communication project, the "Fashion Affair" video proposes a speculative view of fashion dating - derived from dating apps - a tool to effectively evaluate brands and their products, in the form of augmented reality. The consumer is not only informed in real time about the brand and supply chain, but the app also becomes a platform for matching products based on individual sustainability goals and commitments. "Fashion Affair" also won the special social media contest open to the public among the finalists selected by the jury for being the most voted project by Instagram followers on C.L.A.S.S.' profile.
 
Vishal ranked first among the finalists selected by the international jury composed of:
- Anna Detheridge, Founder and President, Connecting Cultures
- Giusy Bettoni, CEO and Founder, C.L.A.S.S.
- Rita Airaghi, Director, Gianfranco Ferré Research Center            
- Paola Arosio, Head of New Brands & Sustainability Projects, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (The National Chamber for Italian Fashion)
- Jeanine Ballone, Managing Director, Fashion 4 Development
- Evie Evangelou, Founder and President, Fashion 4 Development
- Chiara Luisi, Sustainability Projects Coordinator, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (The National Chamber for Italian Fashion)
- Sara Kozlowski, Director of Education and Sustainable Strategies, Council of Fashion Designers of America
- Dio Kurazawa, Founding Partner, The Bear Scouts
- Renata Molho, journalist and fashion writer, former editor-in-chief of L'Uomo Vogue and editor-at-large of L'Uomo Vogue, Vogue Italia, Casa Vogue
- Stefania Ricci, Director, Salvatore Ferragamo Museum.

Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), the non-profit organisation that fosters collaboration on sustainability in fashion to drive impact, has forged a new alliance with UN Climate Change secretariat (UNFCCC) to accelerate the fashion industry’s climate action.
 
The Fashion On Climate report projects that if the fashion industry does not accelerate its response to climate change, by 2030 it will produce around twice the volume of greenhouse gas emissions required to align with the Paris Agreement global warming pathways by 2050. With the urgent need for industry transformation, the new alliance between GFA and UNFCCC will accelerate the impact of the UN Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action which aims to drive the fashion industry to net-zero emissions no later than 2050 in line with keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees.
 
The collaboration will be activated around the organisations’ prestigious forums including GFA’s Global Fashion Summit and UNFCCC’s annual Conference of Parties (COP). Through these forums, the organisations will collaborate to unite fashion leaders and core stakeholders to facilitate knowledge sharing, impactful partnerships, and the implementation of bold actions needed to meet the Fashion Charter targets.
 
Global Fashion Summit: Copenhagen Edition 2022, the leading international forum for sustainability in fashion, will take place on 7-8 June in the grand setting of the Royal Opera House, Copenhagen, Denmark. Under the theme ‘Alliances For a New Era’ - the Summit will endeavour to form previously inconceivable alliances within the fashion industry and also examine atypical cross-industry alliances, in a bid to accelerate the transition to a net positive reality.
 
UNFCCC will, through the Fashion Charter, contribute to the Summit content, where they will share insights on its progress and what further solutions are needed. UNFCCC will also hold its annual Fashion Charter meeting at the Summit, where the organisations will convene relevant experts to join resources and discuss tools that can enable the sector to achieve its climate targets laid out in the charter. The alliance will also continue for future editions Global Fashion Summit in other locations, in addition to Copenhagen.
 
Beyond the Summit, GFA and UNFCCC will continue to work together to elevate publications and reports, such as the Fashion CEO Agenda, and inform Fashion Charter meetings during COP27 to raise awareness among leaders on the most pressing issues and priorities and urging commitments from industry leaders to drive change within social, environmental and circular dimensions.
 
Federica Marchionni, CEO, Global Fashion Agenda, says: “GFA is striving to create impactful alliances that can accelerate the fashion industry’s transition to a net zero reality. We are therefore thrilled to be collaborating with UNFCCC as its Fashion Charter is an essential tool to mobilise the necessary industry transformation. Through our collaboration, we hope to bring together core fashion stakeholders, foster pre-competitive collaboration and provide even deeper insights and guidance to advance progress.”
 
Niclas Svenningsen, Climate Action manager, UNFCCC, says, “We are excited for this opportunity to reinforce our collaboration with the Global Fashion Agenda. The climate crisis is today the paramount issue for the fashion sector to address. While the Fashion Charter brings together a wide range of stakeholders to work collaboratively on solutions, the Global Fashion Agenda is an important venue for broader sustainability discussions in the fashion sector. We see many opportunities for further strengthening and highlighting both the sustainability and the climate work through this collaboration.”

• Sustainability and security combined:
• RF security labels from Checkpoint Systems can be fully recycled as part of kerbside paper-based recycling collections

To ensure that its retail customers are not negatively affecting the recyclability of product packaging by attaching security labels,Checkpoint Systems partnered with PTS – an organisation with over 70 years’experience researching the use of fibre-based solutions – to conduct a series oftechnical tests on its range of labels. The technical report concluded that consumers can safely dispose of a Checkpoint security label in a household recycling bin, without having to separate the label from the packaging, knowing that the entire pack will be recycled.

The Germany-based research consultancy PTS tested a range of Checkpoint labels. PTS analysed the labels, which were different sizes and materials, to ensure that following the standard kerbside recycling process, the recycled, fibre-based material would be of acceptable quality. Each label was applied to a piece of cartonboard to simulate a real-world scenario and the results show that all are classified as being recyclable in accordance with current regulations. All labels – including the 410 RF, 2928 RF and 4210 RF labels – achieved an excellent overall recyclability rate of over 94%.

Sustainability is essential

With brands making strong commitments to sustainability – including investing in more environmentally friendly forms of packaging like cartonboard – and consumers increasingly demonstrating their preferences for sustainable packaging it is pivotal that anything applied to an item – at any point along the supply chain or in-store – does not affect the recyclability of its packaging.

Security labels play a vital role in ensuring products remain available to purchase. Retailers have been using a diverse range of labels to protect their merchandise, working with suppliers to ‘tag’ items at source or relying on store associates to apply labels in-store. As one of the largest suppliers of RF-based Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) labels globally, Checkpoint’s labels are applied to millions of products, which are packaged in different materials. Typically, when recycled, packaging labels tend to end up in a combination of different rubbish and recycling streams, depending on the packaging material and the consumer commitment to recycling.

Until today, the recyclability of these labels has been relatively unknown. It means that retailers and consumers could inadvertently be contaminating the paper-based packaging recycling stream with millions of security labels – still attached to packaging which could have otherwise been recycled up to 25 times.

“Security labels play an important role in helping retailers protect their profits, but it is vital they don’t stop packaging from being recycled. We are delighted to have achieved this accreditation from PTS that shows our labels can be recycled through the existing kerbside collections. It means that brands and retailers can be assured they are not negatively affecting a country’s recycling rate, while also knowing their customers can conveniently dispose of the entire pack, packaging material and label, in the same household recycling bin. Our labels passed all of PTS’ stringent tests meaning they have little to no impact on the recyclability of a piece of cartonboard packaging." 

• Company underlines commitment to helping customers meet 2030 sustainability goals

Avgol® Industries 1953 Ltd, a global leader in the manufacture of high-performance nonwoven fabric solutions, will use this month’s IDEA22 to underline its commitment to helping customers meet their long-term sustainability objectives.

The company will highlight the latest work in biodegradation technology for polyolefin nonwoven fabrics at the Miami Beach event, showcasing its own range of component nonwoven fabric solutions. Together with its sister companies from Indorama Ventures Limited (‘IVL’) – who will be presenting biodegradation capable polyolefin and polyester fibers – Avgol will discuss with visitors how specific products can help businesses achieve their 2030 sustainability goals.

Global Fashion Summit, an international forum for sustainability in fashion, will convene core stakeholders across fashion, parallel industries, investment, policy and NGOs to forge alliances for a new era. The Summit is presented by Global Fashion Agenda, the non-profit organisation that fosters industry collaboration in fashion to drive impact, under the patronage of HRH The Crown Princess of Denmark. Global Fashion Summit: Copenhagen Edition 2022, will return in physical form on 7-8 June in the Royal Opera House, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Formerly known as Copenhagen Fashion Summit, the forum has been renamed to manifest the organisation’s global outlook and reach. Global Fashion Summit will build on the 13-year history of the renowned Copenhagen Fashion Summit by strengthening its representation and connections with diverse perspectives from across the world. Therefore, the Summit will be hosted in various key cities in the future, in addition to its flagship edition in Copenhagen.
 
Under the theme ‘Alliances for a New Era’, Global Fashion Summit: Copenhagen Edition 2022 will endeavour to form previously inconceivable alliances within the fashion industry and examine atypical cross-industry alliances, in a bid to accelerate the transition to a net positive reality.
 
The theme will underly all elements of the Summit. It will be represented on the Summit main stage during plenary sessions consisting of high-level keynote speeches and panels. These will bring together speakers that are often perceived as direct competitors to have transparent conversations about their mutual challenges and collaborate to discuss the actions needed to tackle the urgent issues. The programme will also include industries such as transportation, food and energy, to consider the challenges that are similarly experienced in other sectors and learn from successful solutions that are being demonstrated outside of fashion.
 
Going beyond the stage content, the Summit will apply the theme in practical terms by mobilising leaders to implement immediate actions through newly formed partnerships with solution providers and other industry players, setting long-term industry commitments, hosting leadership roundtables and creating binding industry agreements that will provoke progress based on its sustainability performance level.
The Innovation Forum will present a curated exhibition of sustainable solutions. Participating brands will be able to connect with exhibitors covering the entire value chain – from innovative materials to on-demand manufacturing. The forum’s Matchmaking service will offer small and large fashion businesses the opportunity to advance their sustainability journey by being matched directly with relevant solution providers.
There will be an in-depth assessment of the impact that the Summit and its resulting alliances have on the industry. This will be published in the aftermath of the event, examining the concrete outcomes from the Summit and providing a baseline for future forums.

Sistema Moda Italia confirms its Innovation Area for the 34th edition of Milano Unica, an area which responds to the growing demand for innovation in products, processes and services able to give specific performances or made with innovative and sustainable systems. And right here we find Sitip’s technical fabrics for clothing, with the COSMOPOLITAN Fashion-tech fabrics collection, modern and comfortable, dedicated to contemporary urbanwear/sportswear style and which perfectly meets the new needs required by the market and by the final consumer: performance and design.

COSMOPOLITAN Fashion-tech is declined into urbanwear through the sartorial technical fabrics that the company has defined Techno Sartorial: a tailoring that combines flawless cuts with exceptional fabric performance.

For the production of contemporary urbanwear, thought for the city, Sitip showcases the man’s suit made of jacket+trousers in warp-knit Cosmopolitan Citylife fabric: bi-stretch nylon with UV protection (UPF 50+), quick drying, easy care and skin comfort. Highly performing, breathable, comfortable, insulating and with an exceptional fit: incredible elegance and comfort that enhance the contemporary urbanwear style.

For women, Sitip presents COSMOPOLITAN Fashiontech fabrics dedicated to athleisure, with leggings made - for the summer version - in Cosmopolitan London, a bi-stretch circular knitted fabric, no seethrough, breathable, comfortable on the skin with UV protection (UPF 50+), with easy care and perfect shape retention, and - for the winter version - in Cosmopolitan Paris GZ, a circular knitted fabric raised on the reverse side, with the same properties as the previous one and thermoregulation characteristics.

The Instinct fabric is available in the recycled and raised version NATIVE INSTINCT GZ: a GRS certified thermal fabric made with pre-consumer recycled yarns, bi-stretch, breathable, resistant to pilling, easy care and high comfort, ideal for sporty knitwear and urbanwear part of the NATIVE SUSTAINABLE TEXTILES family, the Sitip fabric collection produced with GRS certified recycled yarns and low environmental impact chemicals with a lower consumption of natural resources , able to respect the environmental and social criteria extended to all the stages of the production chain, including the traceability of raw materials. Sitip also operates in line with international certifications such as OEKO-TEX®, BLUESIGN®, GRS and adheres to the ZDHC gateway, adding to these an ISO 14001 environmental management system, which certifies the company’s commitment to reducing pollution risks.

The Hygiene Division of Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL) is pleased to announce that two of its manufacturing sites have achieved International Sustainability Carbon Certification Plus Certification.

FiberVisions’ Varde site in Denmark, a polypropylene fiber producer, and Avgol’s Uzlovaya site in Russia, a spunlaid nonwovens producer, satisfied audits related to traceability and the reasonable use of biomaterials.

Shachar Rachim, CEO, IVL Hygiene Division, part of IVL’s Fibers business segment, said: “This accreditation underscores our commitment to support our customers to achieve their carbon dioxide reduction targets through using carbon neutral fibers. The certification is assurance that our nonwoven fabrics and fibers meet all the ISCC’s demanding standards for recycled-renewable materials. Our certified facilities can trace the product’s composition through the supply chain, without needing to requalify the materials.”

IVL expects that the ISCC Plus certification of these two sites will be followed by similar certifications at other manufacturing plants. A broad portfolio of technologies is being developed to address how component materials interact with the environment to improve recyclability, reduce raw material consumption, and minimize the impact of fugitive wastes.