STYLE
Impact
The Next Generation of Materials From Waste Fashion for Good’s latest project transforms agricultural waste into fiber
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Fashion is stuck in a pattern of ‘take-make-waste’, which causes devastating environmental impacts, not to mention huge economic losses. On average, we buy 60% more clothing than we did 15 years ago — but we keep each item only half as long. Plus, it is estimated that nearly 60% of all clothing produced ends up being burned or in landfills within one year of being made.
It doesn’t need to be this way. The fashion industry can transform from the linear ‘take-make-waste’ model to a circular Good Fashion approach that is restorative and regenerative by design.
Good Economy: Growing, circular, shared and benefiting everyone
Fashion for Good is a global platform for innovation, made possible through industry-wide collaboration and a global movement of change-makers.
Good Water: Clean and available to all
At the core of Fashion for Good is their innovation platform. Based in Amsterdam with a satellite program in Asia, the global accelerator program gives promising start-up innovators the expertise and access to funding they need to grow. The platform also supports innovators through its scaling program and foundational projects, driving pilots and supply chain implementation with partner organizations. “We believe that good fashion is not only possible, it is within reach — what the industry lacks are the resources, tools and incentives to put it into relentless practice. Our mission at Fashion for Good is to bring together the entire fashion ecosystem through our Innovation Platform and as a convener for change.” As a convener for change, Fashion for Good houses the world’s first interactive museum dedicated to sustainable fashion and innovation, a Circular Apparel Community co-working space, and creates open-source resources and reports. Good fashion is not fashion that simply looks good or is mostly good. It is good in five important ways: Good Materials: Safe, healthy and designed for reuse and recycling
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GREEN LIVING
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greenlivingmag.com
Good Energy: Renewable and clean
Good Lives: Living and working conditions that are just, safe and dignified “The Five Goods represent an aspirational framework we can all use to work towards a world in which we do not simply take, make, waste, but rather take, make, renew, restore,” William McDonough, cofounder of Fashion for Good stated.
UNTAPPED AGRICULTURAL WASTE PROJECT On February 22, Fashion for Good launched the ‘Untapped Agricultural Waste Project’ to validate and scale technologies that can successfully transform agricultural waste into sustainable textile fibers. With catalytic funding provided by Laudes Foundation, Fashion for Good partners adidas, BESTSELLER, Vivobarefoot and Birla Cellulose, and six innovators. The consortium project will assess the technical feasibility of natural fibers created by the selected innovators using agricultural waste such as rice husks, hemp, wheat straw, banana and pineapple. “This ambitious project explores a new source of feedstock for the fashion industry that, if scaled, will help drive both the agriculture and textile industry towards net-zero. We see great potential for these various agriculture waste streams that would otherwise have few secondary uses. By applying innovative technologies to develop natural fibers, we can diminish the pressure on existing natural fibers and shift
