Supporting Material Innovation to Accelerate Impact with Christine Goulay
WORDS: Christine Goulay
Image: Reyad ABEDIN, BIODEGRADABLE JUTE FABRIC FROM THE SERIES ‘SONALI BAG’
For over 20 years, Christine Goulay has been working at the intersection of sustainability, innovation, entrepreneurship, and fashion. Whether leading initiatives for Kering and PANGAIA or working as a corporate lawyer, her work has kept a steady focus on fast-tracking market-based solutions.
Here, Christine provides personal, practical guidance on how to take action to help accelerate material science solutions, highlighting the role that everyone can play – regardless of decision-making leverage or technical expertise.
In many ways, we live in an age of paradox. On the one hand, we are anxiously aware of the impacts of the climate crisis already being felt, as we complete a record-breaking hot summer. On the other hand, we are witnessing the creation of some incredibly innovative solutions to address these impacts, providing hope and awe at the power of human ingenuity. And although today’s situation is uniquely unprecedented, I can’t help but recall a line from Charles Dickens’ 1859 book, A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
I feel fortunate that my work within the fashion, textile, and apparel industry brings me into contact with a growing amount of exciting material innovators. This dynamic ecosystem has witnessed a rapid increase in recent years. The Material Innovation Initiative’s State of the Industry report on Next Generation Materials shows that the number of startups operating in the space has grown from 42 in 2014 to 95 in 2021, a 126% increase. These innovators promise to reduce our dependence on finite resources such as petroleum, land, and water; to minimize human rights and animal welfare risks; and to enable more circular ways of production.
This dynamic ecosystem has witnessed a rapid increase in recent years, with startups operating in the space growing from 42 in 2014 to 95 in 2021, a 126% increase.
Innovations like this are going to be essential if we are to meet reduction targets on time, staying within a 1.5°C temperature rise scenario. In the report “Unlocking the Trillion-Dollar Fashion Decarbonisation Opportunity” by the Apparel Impact Institute and Fashion For Good, it is estimated that 39% of the emissions reductions needed will come from scaling innovative solutions – with materials likely to play a large role. Likewise, Textile Exchange’s Climate+ modeling accounts for an “innovation gap” that needs to be closed in order to meet its 45% reduction target for the industry.
So how can we support these new materials innovators to increase adoption and drive scale? Maybe you don’t think you can move the needle within your company to say yes to an innovator. Or that you don’t have the technical expertise to understand a particular solution. But the truth is that we can all support in our own capacity. Here are some practical ways that you can help to accelerate the new materials revolution.
It is estimated that 39% of the emissions reductions needed will come from scaling innovative solutions – with materials likely to play a large role.
1. Connect
It can mean so much to a startup to speak with them, give feedback, and connect them with others who you think could help. Saying yes to a promising innovator could lead to an open door for them. Have you ever heard that when you are looking for a job, you should ask for three introductions that could be relevant? When you are speaking with innovators, try to think of three people to connect them with, and pay it forward.
2. Be a champion
Commit to being an internal champion within your organization when you meet an innovator in whom you really believe. It is very difficult for startups to navigate complex organizations with several departments, priorities, and budgets. It requires accompaniment, patience, transformation, changing minds and hearts, reaching out to colleagues, following up, and pushing projects ahead when people lose steam. Commit to being a champion, and you will be able to look back – as will the startup – and identify how you were an instrumental catalyst in driving the adoption of a promising impactful solution.
It requires accompaniment, patience, transformation, changing minds and hearts, reaching out to colleagues, following up, and pushing projects ahead when people lose steam.
3. Share information
One of the most difficult things for material innovators is understanding how to direct their R&D to achieve product/market fit. For example, which iterations and functionalities should be prioritized in the R&D roadmap? What does the market really want? What test results are needed to prove performance? And what hurdles might suppliers run into during implementation? Try to overshare with innovators. Do not assume that they know what you know. Be explicit about the testing you require, any specifications that you can give, and more. This is priceless information for startups.
4. Avoid “long maybes”
Innovators often don’t have many resources, and they put an overwhelming amount of them into finding the right partners. I once heard someone say that “long maybes” kill startups. If you like a startup and technology but know that your company will not use them, it might be better to give a quick no than a long maybe so that small teams can move on and focus elsewhere. This doesn’t mean that the door is closed forever. It very well could open a year or two later when the time is right (something I have seen happen many times).
Be explicit about the testing you require, any specifications that you can give, and more. This is priceless information for startups.
5. Form three-party partnerships among brands, innovators, and suppliers
This is a big one that cannot be underestimated. To accelerate and optimize R&D roadmaps for material innovators, to ensure that the solution will work in today’s supply chains, and to help de-risk upstream solutions for brand partners, we need to involve key suppliers early. Historically, brands and partners work together, driving innovations back upstream. However, suppliers are vital to success and scale. We need to continue to create three-party partnerships among innovators, brands, and suppliers to move quickly.
6. Track impact-related Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
The need for quality, current, reliable data is crucial, especially in light of the current regulatory framework. This means that we all need to be very disciplined in collecting primary data when working with innovators to confirm hypotheses related to impact. Many material innovators are too early stage to do full Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs). By defining outcomes and KPIs together at the start, you can work together to ensure that the solution is indeed producing results in terms of impact. This data will also allow teams to adjust and pivot if necessary. Let’s make the collection of impact data part of our daily work.
By defining outcomes and KPIs together at the start, you can work together to ensure that the solution is indeed producing results in terms of impact.
7. Break down budget silos
If we really want to get beyond small capsules to scale, we need to stop linking the price premium that comes with sourcing innovative materials to increased material procurement costs. Instead, we should be looking at the cost of the lifecycle of the product. Let’s get creative. Can we price the new material the same and ask the brands to pay a royalty on sales, as they reap huge benefits from marketing new materials to consumers? Can we look at the cost of achieving net zero and see how switching to better materials will reduce the carbon reduction budget? Can we look at costs related to non-compliance with incoming legislation and supply chain risks and factor these into the equation? What are the solutions that we can put in place here? Find allies in legal, merchandising, finance, and marketing departments. Go to lunch together, brainstorm about this, and see how you could come up with creative solutions.
8. Keep communicating
Often brands want to do this anyway, but good, accurate marketing is massively helpful to new material innovators. Not only do they raise awareness about startups and their technologies, but they also serve as proof points in the market, demonstrating to others that there is a way forward. Of course, communicating sustainability claims in today’s context is more difficult due to new regulations and uncertainty on what and how to communicate, leading to the greenwashing / greenhushing debate. Let’s try to tell these stories with accuracy and evidence.
If we really want to get beyond small capsules to scale, we need to stop linking the price premium that comes with sourcing innovative materials to increased material procurement costs.
9. Signal demand
When fundraising, material innovators need to show investors that there is market demand for their solution. One of the most powerful ways of doing so is through signing offtake agreements. An offtake agreement is a purchase commitment by a brand for a new material over a set period of time for a certain price and quantity. These agreements are often one of the first things that an investor will look for. They are also beneficial to brands as they allow them to secure supply of the material and be first to market. Risk is reduced for the brand as it is customary to ensure that the material achieves certain performance requirements in order to trigger the purchasing commitments. Offtakes are not the only way to signal demand; although they are not legally binding, letters of intent (LOIs) and demonstrating projected volume needs also help build the case for innovators.
10. Don’t give up
Innovating in material science is difficult. We need to work together and collaborate to make a lower-impact apparel sector a reality. It’s time to get beyond concept products, prototypes, and capsules, and we can only do this by supporting innovators, each other, and working toward achieving economies of scale to get new technologies on par in terms of cost, performance, and more.
To read more about Christine’s perspective on managing sustainable innovation, see her chapter in the upcoming volume, Accelerating Sustainability in Fashion, Clothing and Textiles, edited by Martin Charter, Bernice Pan and Sandy Black, published by Routledge.
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