Textile Exchange

How can a new Green Economy model save our seed? ... and what does this mean for the textile industry? [read more]

Is ‘sustainability’ happening fast enough to protect our precious resources: our climate, our water, our soils, and indeed protect ourselves..?  As we reel from one economic crisis to another, more ‘natural’ disasters and political unrest, and feel the force of a volatile commodity market and rising food prices... we simultaneously attempt to ‘manage sustainability’.  These days there is a focus on ‘upscaling’ and how we can change a little in the right direction to maximise reach.

As we count down to our conference and Round Table in Hong Kong next month I wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on the excitement and enthusiasm I sense brewing in anticipation. Requests and fresh ideas are already coming in from many different camps. As you can imagine, these early conversations are helping us shape and set the tone of the meeting – and most importantly help us understand what exactly people want. (read more)

In Hong Kong next month we will hold the first meeting of the Organic Cotton Round Table. I’m delighted to see such interest and enthusiasm coming from so many corners of the industry. I’ll even go as far as claiming that this will be the beginning of a new era for organic cotton (read on).

The mission of Textile Exchange is to inspire and equip people to accelerate sustainable practices in the textile value chain. Inspiration can come from looking ahead to a brighter future. We envision a textile industry that restores and protects the environment and enhances lives. Our work day in and day out is towards that vision. But inspiration can also come from taking the time to look back at how far you have come, and all the work it took to get you here. [Read More]

Last week, we introduced you to our new Round Table on Organic Cotton live via webinar. Discussion will continue through the Farm Blog. Our first blog comes from Dr.

In this guest blog, Jeff Wilson of Quiksilver explains how a holistic approach underlines all that they do – in parallel with organic’s philosophy. In their search for the best solution, Quiksilver takes all the evidence into account and maintains that all-important holistic view. (read more)

Our guest blogger, Laurence Smith, Sustainability Researcher at the Organic Research Centre in the UK explains some of the complexities and potential shortfalls of Life Cycle Analysis, while acknowledging it’s the best we have for now. Laurence point out that there is scope for improvement to ensure LCA is an effective tool for identifying and measuring impacts within an industry (read more)

Land Use Intensity, is arguably at odds with other elements of sustainability, yet is undeniably a necessary consideration for the textile industry due to the massive need the industry currently has for raw materials. [Read more]

Welcome back! In this blog we will explore the advantage of organic through the biodiversity lens. For most environmental impact areas – or lenses - we want to be able to drill right down to quantifiable data based on a common measurement (KPI) - for biodiversity it is the same. However, first steps are sometimes to review any conservation or biodiversity management practices... [continue reading]