Transforming climate from foe to friend can be a golden opportunity for the fashion industry, say Julie Roche, Chief Financial Officer, Burberry.

As per the National News Report, Roche says, luxury brands can be in the vanguard of this transformation as their products are durable and supply chains are very well established".

To achieve this, the industry needs to set aside traditional rivalries and commercial instincts must be set aside, she adds.

According to Roche, Burberry aims to be a sustainable fashion bellwether and climate positive by 2040, making it the first luxury brand to set this goal.

Its really important just to start the measurement process, she said.

For Burberry, most improvements need to be made is in the 'scope 3' category, which accounts for more than 90 per cent of its emissions, Roche opines, the brand needs to firmly focus on sustainability,

She also scotches the notion that the interests of the environment and those of the economy are mutually incompatible. Making more thoughtful purchases can actually save customers money, she adds.

The second most export earner for Bangladesh, the leather sector is fast reemerging from the pandemic-induced downturn. In the first six months of the current fiscal, Bangladesh’s leather export earnings grew 56 per cent to $563.96 million. To sustain this growth momentum, the government has set a target of earning $12 billion from leather exports between 2021 and 2030.

Focus on product quality and design

To achieve this target, Bangladesh needs to improve the quality of leather exports, says The Financial Express. Government needs to step up investments in the sector besides gaining expertise in product design. It also needs to introduce training programs to create skilled manpower for the tannery sector besides obtaining the Leather Working Group (LWG)'s certification. The government also needs to address the existing bottlenecks in the tannery sector by ensuring that the central effluent treatment plant for the tannery units in Savar remains functional.

Create efficient supply chains and backward linkages

Another focus of the government needs to be on creating efficient supply chain and backward linkage management for the industry. This will help Bangladesh achieve its leather export targets by 2030. The growth of global footwear market from $1.0 billion per day currently to reach $530 billion annually by 2027 will also help strengthen its position in world leather market.

Besides, being a great export earner, leather sector also helps Bangladesh create new employment opportunities. The government therefore, needs to further expand the sector by making more investments in it. This will enable achieve its target of earning $12 billion from leather exports by 2030.

H & M has published its Annual and Sustainability Report for the financial year 2021 on the company’s website, hmgroup.com.

The report highlights, around 80 per cent of H&M’s materials are either recycled or sourced in a more sustainable way. The brand tripled the share of recycled materials used in its garments from 5.8 per cent to 17.9 per cent, keeping its goal in focus to reach 30 per cent by 2025.

H&M sharpened its climate goals, committing to achieving net-zero1 by 2040 and reducing absolute emissions by 56 per cent by 2030. It launched a new goal to double sales while at the same time halving our carbon footprint by 2030.

The group launched an innovative circular design tool “Circulator”, underlining its ambition to have all products designed for circularity by 2025. The tool aims to enable H&M Group’s own teams to create products fit for a circular economy and will in the long-term invite others to do the same.

In 2021, it reduced plastic packaging by 27.8 per cent, aiming to reduce the use of packaging throughout the value chain by 25 per cent by 2025.

H&M has introduced new circular business models to enable customers to enjoy fashion in a more sustainable way by expanding the secondhand platform Sellpy into 22 new European markets, amongst other examples.

Vishal Tolambia was announced as the winner of the Imagining Sustainable Fashion Award by GiusyBettoni, CEO of C.L.A.S.S. Eco Hub. Anna Detheridge, President of Connecting Cultures; DioKurazawa, Founding Partner, The Bear Scouts, Stefania Ricci, Director, Salvatore Ferragamo Museum were also present on the occasion.

Vishal Tolambia, 24, a graduate with an MA in Fashion Futures from the London College of Fashion and in Fashion Design from the National Institute of Fashion Technology India, is a Fashion Sustainability researcher and a multidisciplinary designer. In 2021, Tolambia founded the organization Humanity-centred designs (HCD) with the aim of transforming "human-centred design into humanity-centred designs through sustainable practices to foster the Fashion Industry."

In his communication project, , the "Fashion Affair" video proposes a speculative view of fashion dating - derived from dating apps - a tool to effectively evaluate brands and their products, in the form of augmented reality. The consumer is not only informed in real time about the brand and supply chain, but the app also becomes a platform for matching products based on individual sustainability goals and commitments. "Fashion Affair" also won the special social media contest open to the public among the finalists selected by the jury for being the most voted project by Instagram followers on CLASS profile.

ISKO has signed the Dutch Denim Deal for circular denim. The Denim Deal, a public-private initiative, was launched by the Dutch government following the EU Green Deal and the Circular Action Plan and includes agreements to make the denim textile chain more circular. In the deal, more than 40 parties, such as Scotch & Soda, PVH and Soorty, are working together to improve post-consumer textiles in the denim industry and make fiber recycling the new norm. The signatories cover a wide range of manufacturing companies, brands and stores, collectors, sorters, cutters, and weavers.

The main objective is to collectively produce a total of 3 million jeans with post-consumer recycled cotton (PCR) by the end of 2023. In addition, all parties have agreed that they will work together towards the standard of at least 5 per cent recycled textiles in all denim garments as quickly as possible. The Denim Deal is also an opportunity to set up a 'reverse supply chain' for recycled cotton and create a systemic change to close the denim cycle.

Canada’s premier forum hosted by Fashion Takes Action, the virtual WEAR conference will be held on May 10, 2022. This year’s theme for the event will be, Impact with Intention, It will recognize that it’s not enough to simply set a goal. Intention provides us with purpose, inspiration, and motivation to achieve measurable impact.

The conference will feature brand owners, retailers, academics, manufacturers, NGOs, innovators, and policymakers and accelerate their collective efforts toward progress and a more conscious fashion future.

It will focus on topics such as Fashion's Legislative Landscape; Circularity in the Denim Supply Chain; Transparency &Greenwashing; Optimizing Buyer-Supplier Relations; Carbon Measurement & Reporting; Circular Business Models andGarment Worker Voice & Traceability.

Dr Janpeter Horn, Managing Director, August Herzog Maschinenfabrik, has been appointed as the new Chairperson of the VDMA Textile Machinery.. Regina Brückner, Managing Associate, BrücknerTrockentechnik and VerenaThies, Managing Shareholder, ThiesTextilmaschinen, were elected as Vice Chairpersons.

Dr. Horn stated: BothBrückner and Thies have been serving on the Executive Board of the VDMA Textile Machinery as well as the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers Cematex for many years. With this team, the association is well prepared to effectively represent the interests of the industry at national and international level.

Based in Oldenburg, Northern Germany, Herzog is a company with a long tradition and at the same time the most innovative developer and manufacturer of braiding and winding machinery. Worldwide references in braiding and winding technique confirm the company’s technical and quality leadership.

Grasim India’s unit, Birla Cellulose, has entered into a long-term commercial collaboration with Swedish textile-to-textile recycling innovator Renewcell, for production of man-made cellulosic fibers. The collaboration aims at supplying high quality Liva Reviva textile fibers made using Circulose, Renewcell's 100 per cent recycled textile raw material, to global fashion brands and textile industry in the coming years.

As per the agreement facilitated by Ekman Group, Birla Cellulose will use Circulose as one of the feedstocks in the production of man-made cellulosic fibers under the brand Liva Reviva. The pulp and fibre business of the Aditya Birla Group, Birla Cellulose is a leading Man-Made Cellulosic Fibres (MMCF) producer. The company operates 12 sites for pulp and fibre manufacturing that apply environmentally efficient closed loop technologies including recycle materials and enhanced conservation of natural resources.

Grasim Industries is a leading global producer of viscose staple fibre (VSF) in India. Through its subsidiaries, UltraTech Cement and Aditya Birla Capital, the company is also India's largest cement producer and a leading diversified financial services player.

Esprit’s revenues rose to HK$8.3 billion (1billion) in 2021. As per a Fashion Network report, the brand’s net profit surged to $381 million during the year. Gross profit surged by 7 per cent to 48.6 per cent.

The brand’s revenues during the year were affected by lockdowns in major European markets in Q1 and further restrictions in Q4. However, it still managed to generate strong revenues across all three sales channels including e-commerce, wholesale, and owned retail stores). The brand also benefitted from selling fewer discounted products from the company’s retail business compared to 2020.

In the coming year it aims to become a truly omni-channel brand and enhance its product portfolio, says Pal William Eui Won, CEO and COO.

American denim and sportswear brand, True Religion has appointed Scott McCabe as its new Senior Vice President-Ecommerce. McCabe has over 25 years experience with some of the most renowned omnichannel retailers including Columbia Sportswear, Tailored Brands, Macy’s, GAP, and Banana Republic.

His most notable achievement was with Columbia Sportswear, where he helped the company triple its ecommerce business. He was also responsible for continuous double-digit year over year revenue and operating income growth of the company. Under his leadership, the company’s active loyalty memberships grew by 65 percent while revenues generated by Customer care as well through chatbot integration also increased.

McCabe’s focus on customers needs alongwith his broad expertise in performance marketing, customer acquisition, and loyalty will help True Religion triple online revenues and achieve 50 percent ecommerce sales penetration by 2025, says Michael Buckley, CEO, True Regilion.