Sourcing Journal

Click here to read the full article. Carbios, a developer of enzymatic solutions dedicated to the end-of-life of plastic and textile polymers, has signed an agreement with On, Patagonia, Puma and Salomon to develop solutions that will enhance the recyclability and circularity of their products. An important element of the two-year deal will be to speed up the introduction of Carbios’ biorecycling technology. Carbios and the four companies will also research how products can be recycled, develop solutions to take-back worn polyester items, including sorting and dismantling technologies, and gather data on fiber-to-fiber recycling and circularity models. Carbios noted that the challenge...

Click here to read the full article. On-demand manufacturing has been held up as both an ideal business model and an idealistic pipe dream in the apparel industry. Making garments to order cuts down on waste and inventory liability, allowing designers to quickly move through creative concepts and hit on emerging trends. But it’s also tough to develop individualized products at the pace modern consumers expect—especially at scale. Sarah Chessis began her career in apparel after two decades in UK finance, noting the inefficiencies and waste-making ways of a sector plagued by overproduction. She believed that clothes should only be made...

Click here to read the full article. An additive manufacturing startup from Maria Intscher-Owrang, a 20-plus-year fashion veteran whose past credits include Vera Wang and Calvin Klein, closed on a $3.5 million seed funding round, it announced Wednesday. At One Ventures led Simplifyber’s initial funding round, with participation from Techstars, Heritage Group Ventures, The Helm, W Fund, Jetstream Ventures, Plug & Play Ventures, REFASHIOND Ventures, CapitalX Ventures, Keeler Investments Group and others. Simplifyber bills itself as “the creator of the world’s first fully-molded garment and shoe uppers made directly from a cellulose-based liquid.” The company’s “novel approach” to clothing and accessory manufacturing...

Click here to read the full article. Authentic Brands Group (ABG) has settled its lawsuit with Bolt out of court, with the Forever 21 and Reebok parent emerging as the checkout technology provider’s newest shareholder. The brand management firm agreed to dismiss the lawsuit, with both parties indicating they would continue to partner up to offer “one-click” checkout capabilities to ABG’s Forever 21 and Lucky Brand labels. Additionally, ABG is evaluating the possibility of expanding Bolt’s technology to more portfolio brands in the coming months. In the suit, initially filed in February, ABG claimed that Bolt cost Forever 21 as much as...

Click here to read the full article. In the controversy surrounding the Higg Materials Sustainability Index (MSI), Kim Van Der Weerd, intelligence director at the Transformers Foundation, believes many are missing the point. In a post on the Transformers Foundation website, Van Der Weerd penned an op-ed, “The Higg Data Debate: No Room for Context, Imagination or Co-Creation,” questioning whether the data debate is really the most important one the industry should be having when it comes to the material used in manufacturing textiles and apparel. She noted that the MSI, a consumer-facing product labeling tool, has come under fire for alleged...

Click here to read the full article. Lululemon is expanding its physical and digital footprint with new overseas ventures. On Tuesday, the Vancouver-based activewear giant announced plans to open two new stores in Spain in September. The move is part of the company’s “Power of Three ×2” growth plan to quadruple its global 2021 revenue to $12.5 billion by the end of 2026. With more than 550 stores in North America, Asia, Australia, the U.K. and Europe, the openings represent Lululemon’s first move into a new European market in two years. The stores will be located in Madrid’s Calle Serrano and Barcelona’s...

Click here to read the full article. Denim Tears, Barriers Worldwide and Museum of Peace and Quiet top The Next 20, a biannual report identifying 10 key emerging brands and 10 individuals reshaping youth culture compiled by Highsnobiety and Lyst. The report—intended to reflect fashion’s present and future vision and where the industry is heading—combines the global shopping platform’s quantitative data analysis with qualitative input from the Highsnobiety community, including an advisory board. The 10 emerging brands are Barriers Worldwide, Corteiz, Denim Tears, (di)vision, Kusikohc, Luar, Martine Ali, Museum of Peace and Quiet, paria/Farzaneh and Theophilio. Though life is returning to a semblance...

Click here to read the full article. DHL eCommerce Solutions announced plans to invest 560 million pounds ($575 million) across its U.K. e-commerce operation, DHL Parcel U.K. The investment comes following a 40 percent volume uplift since the start of 2020 and soaring demand for its e-commerce and B2B services, the company said Tuesday. The expansion project is designed to deliver the necessary infrastructure to facilitate growth, as well as put the business at the forefront of sustainable and digital logistics. “The Covid pandemic has not only driven digitalization, but also significantly changed consumer behavior, rapidly accelerating the growth of e-commerce and...

Click here to read the full article. Port infrastructure, goods movement training, clean trucks and other supply chain-related spending are set to see capital injections with California Gov. Gavin Newsom signing off on the state’s budget. The approved spending is a boon for the state’s supply chain infrastructure, amounting to some $2.3 billion in programs earmarked for the ports or related initiatives. “Continual investment in port infrastructure, sustainable technologies and jobs creation is essential to maintaining our competitiveness now and in the future,” Port of Los Angeles executive director Gene Seroka said of the new budget. The supply chain spending is part of...

Azgard9 took home three accolades from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity last month for its oxygen-producing CO2AT garment. The Pakistani vertical denim factory was awarded a Gold Lion in Design for “Promotional Item Design” and two bronze awards for design in “Lifestyle, Fashion, Leisure, Sport & Outdoor” and creative in “Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility.” The garment was also shortlisted in the competition’s Creative B2B category.

Click here to read the full article. Birkenstock is telling consumers its shoes are “ugly for a reason.” The German footwear company debuted a global campaign laying out the benefits of comfort and support over trendy style. The three-part video series raises awareness about the importance of foot health, as well as the role that footwear plays in maintaining it. “Most people are born with healthy feet and develop painful foot issues because the shoes we’re wearing are often too small, too narrow or have heels that are too high,” CEO Oliver Reichert said. Birkenstock wants to draw attention to the pitfalls...

For many students, college coursework is the first step toward building a career in their chosen field. Exemplifying this, a number of graduates from the Fashion Institute of Technology’s denim class have gone on to work in the industry. Carved in Blue is catching up with students from the course to see where their post-graduate lives have taken them.

Click here to read the full article. Eileen Fisher spends a great deal of time thinking about textile waste: where it comes from, where it ends up, and most important, what to do about it. “I could go all the way back to my mother saving every scrap of fabric and making quilts and things like that,” the designer told Sourcing Journal. Her eponymous brand was one of the first to establish a clothing take-back program in 2009. Garments in great condition are fixed up, cleaned and resold. Those that are not are transformed into pillowcases, acoustic panels and one-of-a-kind art installations. But...

Click here to read the full article. Stahl, a manufacturer of coatings for footwear, clothing and home furnishings, said it was submitting a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction target aligned with the most recent guidance provided by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The new target marks a key milestone on the company’s journey toward carbon neutrality. Stahl’s SBTi submission includes a specific commitment regarding the company’s Scope 3 upstream emissions, which Stahl aims to reduce by at least 25 percent over the next 10 years compared with the base year 2021. This reduction would primarily be achieved by Stahl replacing its...

Click here to read the full article. With a history in China dating back to 1987, Advance Denim Limited has fully committed to continuously improving its manufacturing business, setting a goal to be the world’s most innovative and sustainable denim mill.  This commitment has been the foundation of Advance Denim in Shunde, China and will be the focus of Advance Denim’s newest mill, Advance Sico, in Nha Trang, Vietnam. The Vietnam facility is already paying dividends. Advance Sico is responding to the huge demand in the country by increasing its production capacity 25 percent by the end of 2022. As the company...

Click here to read the full article. The response to reports of forced Uyghur labor “cannot be limited” to companies based in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), a recent report from the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS) claims. The report, which suggests brands like Esprit and Tesco have sourced materials from corporations linked to Xinjiang, arrived little more than a week after the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act went into effect. Signed into law in December, the bill prohibits any product made in whole or in part in Xinjiang from entering the United States unless importers provide “clear and...

Click here to read the full article. Always known for its data-collecting capabilities, Amazon now wants to give deeper product insights to third-party brands that sell in its physical stores. The e-commerce giant has launched Store Analytics, a service designed to provide brands with aggregated and anonymized insights about the performance of their products, promotions and ad campaigns across Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations. Amazon collects these data points via two of its recent physical retail technology developments that both use computer vision to capture shopper movements in real time. One is the “Just Walk Out” cashierless checkout technology, a network...

Click here to read the full article. Re/Done is hitting the road with Ford Motor Company this summer in what the duo bills as a first-of-its-kind popup paying homage to an eco-meets-Americana ethos. The Los Angeles upcycling label and Detroit auto giant came together to create a fashion capsule celebrating the launch of the latter’s new electric F-150 Lightning truck, an eco-friendly upgrade on America’s best-selling truck, according to Ford, that can “power up an entire home for three days if needed.” The collaborators said their partnership focuses on “mindful consumption” and promoting a “better, more sustainable world.” The Re/Done x Ford...

Click here to read the full article. Just hours after home goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond announced a 25 percent decline in quarterly sales and ousted its CEO last week, RH downgraded its fiscal outlook for the remainder of 2022. CEO Gary Friedman said the company expected a revenue decline of between 2 and 5 percent, down from previous projections of revenue growth between flat and up 2 percent. The company’s estimate of a second-quarter revenue decline of 1 to 3 percent did not change due to faster backlog relief offsetting lower demand. Friedman pointed to interest rate increases and softening...

Click here to read the full article. As part of its commitment to go totally carbon neutral in 2022, direct-to-consumer furniture brand Floyd launches a sustainable sectional sofa, made from upcycled fast-fashion waste. Floyd partnered with Recover—a company that recycles textiles into new fibers—and performance fabric maker Crypton, which turned those fibers into boucle upholstery fabric for the sectional. Floyd says the upcycled fabric contributes to preventing some of the 85 percent of textiles that end up in landfills each year. “Recover is a family owned business based in Spain and are pioneers of this process, although they are mainly focused in...