The Climate Pledge, Amazon, Stella McCartney and Canopy have convened more than 60 fashion brands, retailers, manufacturers and industry innovators to form the Climate Pledge Fashion Coalition.
The coalition, which is supported by the World Economic Forum, has committed to accelerating the development and adaptation of materials, technologies and supply-chain processes with lower environmental footprints, supporting industry players in their efforts to achieve net-zero carbon by 2040.
Signatories to the pledge include Anna Sui, Another Tomorrow, Bananatex, Biofluff, Brooks Running, Christopher Esber, Circ, Ciucani, Collina Strada, DL1961, E.L.V Denim, Faherty, Mother Denim, Pure.Tech, Selfridges, unspun, and Vestiaire Collective.
‘Industry-wide commitment’
“For over two decades, I’ve worked alongside innovators proving that fashion can be made differently,” commented Stella McCartney, founder and creative director, Stella McCartney.
“The solutions already exist. What’s been missing is the industry-wide commitment to help them scale. The Climate Pledge Fashion Coalition is about turning innovation into infrastructure, creating real demand for the next generation of materials and giving the pioneers a pathway from breakthrough to industry standard.”
According to the coalition, the materials and processes that could significantly reduce fashion’s environmental footprint are currently ‘too expensive, too scarce, or too fragmented’ to compete with conventional alternatives, a situation that signatories are eager to change.
Its work will cover the development and commercialisation of organic, recycled and next-generation fibres made from waste feedstocks, alongside manufacturing technologies designed to reduce water use, chemical inputs and emissions.
‘Rather than focusing solely on end-of-life solutions, it targets innovation earlier in the product lifecycle’, the coalition said in a press release. ‘The goal is to make these options the new standard across the industry, bringing more sustainable fashion choices to customers at every price point.’
Focus areas
The coalition will focus its efforts on three main areas: structuring financing to encourage investment through the development of blended financing mechanisms; the development of a Fashion Coalition Lever Library, covering more than 100 proven and emerging solutions and guidance on specific fibres and their usage; and the development of ‘real-world evidence’ that can inform smarter environmental policy.
“Making sustainable materials the default rather than the premium choice requires entire value chains to move together,” commented Clemence Schmid, head of circular economy transformation and director, Global Plastic Action Partnership, World Economic Forum.
“The Climate Pledge Fashion Coalition is designed to enable that alignment to ultimately increase the confidence that can unlock investment to scale. This is how we can accelerate adoption today, not a decade from now.”
The Climate Pledge was co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism in 2019 and now has more than 700 signatories across more than 60 industries, all of which have committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.
“Fashion has no shortage of ambition on sustainability,” added Kara Hurst, chief sustainability officer, Amazon. Read more here.
