United States hexagon flag icon (default)

US - Hover

United States hexagon flag icon (active/click)

US - Active

United States

__In what areas has the fashion industry made the biggest strides in sustainability in the last five years?__

“Planning: Talking publicly about the problems we are facing today and in the future.

Acting: Setting higher standards and acting on them.

Collaborating: Sharing knowledge and actions to solve the problems at hand faster.”


Limeloop Infographic 1/3

Limeloop_infographic_1_3

Limeloop Infographic 2/3

Limeloop_infographic_2_3

Limeloop Infographic 3/3

Limeloop_infographic_3_3

LimeLoop may have only launched last April, but the idea behind it has been 10 years in the making. It started with Ashley Etling, the California startup’s CEO and co-founder, who was looking for a better way to ship goods without swaddling them in layers of corrugated fiberboard, shrink wrap and bouncy air pillows. She made her first prototype envelope out of fabric, which she sent to her friend, the entrepreneur Viola Sutanto. “We both recognized this was the beginning of something significant,” Etling said.

Together with software engineer Chantal Emmanuel, they crafted the “full-circle packaging solution” that is LimeLoop today. In lieu of throwaway paper or plastic, LimeLoop deploys lightweight yet durable waterproof pouches, derived from recycled billboard vinyl, that can be used for as many as 200 “loops” between customers and brands. 

“Today we ship 65 billion packages annually and global e-commerce sales are expected to increase almost 250 percent by 2021, and yet our current packaging and recycling practices were developed with a brick-and-mortar retail economy in mind,” Etling said. “It's completely reliant on single-use cardboard and plastic poly bags, only a fraction of which are being recycled.”

Compared with conventional packaging, LimeLoop’s reusable mailers are estimated to save roughly 70 trees, 90 gallons of water and 200 gallons of oil for every 10,000 shipments. 

But the pouches are just one component of LimeLoop’s operations. The company has also developed an app for brands, fulfillment centers and even customers to track the life cycle of their mailers. 

“Given their extended life cycle and the data gathered throughout their travels, the shippers are a great conduit for gathering important information that can be used to enhance each of these stakeholder’s experiences,” Etling said. “They can use the app to track and purchase shippers, calculate environmental impact and connect with one another.”

This year, LimeLoop will incorporate sensors into its pouches to “provide even more data” about locations and open rates for its clients, which include brands such as Coyuchi, M. Patmos and Toad & Co.  

“We’re excited about what 2019 and beyond will bring for LimeLoop,” she added. “As we continue to develop strategic partnerships with our new and returning retailers, local and federal sustainability agencies and mail-delivery organizations like UPS, we’ll continue to have people reimagine the future of how goods are transported and deepen our commitment to improving our environment.”


LimeLoop

Logo for SV Supply Chain Company LimeLoop

Supply Chain LimeLoop

LimeLoop is creating a future where goods are transported—and tracked—in reusable packaging. 

__In what areas has the fashion industry made the biggest strides in sustainability in the last five years?__

“I have been doing sustainability in the apparel and fashion industry for 15 years and what has blown me away is how many brands have shifted from sustainability as a nice-to-have into sustainability as a must-have. Brands that I never thought would be serious about their impact have not only well-resourced sustainability teams, but are measuring and taking direct action to making change. The other area in which major strides have occurred is in the awareness and adoption of circular concepts.”


The Renewal Workshop Infographic 1/3

TheRenewalWorkshop_infographic_1_3

The Renewal Workshop Infographic 2/3

TheRenewalWorkshop_infographic_2_3

The Renewal Workshop Infographic 3/3

TheRenewalWorkshop_infographic_3_3

When inventory is damaged, everybody loses.  

The Renewal Workshop, an Oregon-based provider of circular solutions, is changing that equation by teaming with brands to help unsellable products reach their maximum value. Chief among the company’s goals: to shift the industry’s lopsided focus from discarding or recycling lightly flawed goods to repairing them for reuse. 

“The emphasis should be on ensuring a product has a long life before it is moved into a use where the value of the product is less valuable,” said Renewal Workshop co-founder Nicole Bassett, citing the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s circular economy “butterfly” diagram, where materials are in continuous flow, as a reference. “This is why repair and repurposing should be the [first recourse for] a product. Only then when a product cannot be used in its original intent should it be moved into a channel like recycling.”

The Renewal Workshop currently counts among its partners 20 apparel businesses, most of them outdoor-wear brands such as Icebreaker, Nau and The North Face. Its partnership last year with Mara Hoffman, a New York purveyor of women’s ready to wear and swimwear, marked The Renewal Workshop’s first foray into fashion with a capital F. 

“Our goal at The Renewal Workshop is to be of service to any apparel and textile brand, so starting our partnership with Mara Hoffman was a really exciting moment for our company,” Bassett said. “We are big fans of the sustainability work that the team at Mara Hoffman has been investing in under the leadership of Mara herself. So when we started talking about how it could execute on its circular strategy, we had the chance to bring our services outside of the outdoor brands and show that we can also serve fashion brands.” 

Although the company, which joined Fashion for Good’s Scaling Programme last November, envisions itself expanding into additional apparel segments, its primary focus is educating consumers and the industry on why the circular economy matters. While consumers are growing more accepting of purchasing repaired apparel, they still want to be assured they’re receiving high-quality products from their favorite brands, Bassett said.

Still, businesses carry their own set of misconceptions, and changing mindsets can be challenging. This is unsurprising, Bassett admitted, as apparel brands have been generating their revenue from one path—making and selling new products—and adding renewal services is, well, new. 

At the same time, there’s safety in numbers, and as more brands enter the renewal space and test circular business models such as clothing rental, other companies may be more amenable to experimentation. 

“The largest challenge for a brand is that the products today entering a renewed sales channel were never designed to be resold again, so information like product data, durability of the products and the financials are going to require a transition time to become more efficient,” said Bassett. “But that will come as companies start down the path of becoming circular.”


The Renewal Workshop

The Renewal Workshop gives lightly damaged garments a life beyond the landfill.

About Sustaining Voices

canada hex-01

Canada - Hover

Canada - Active

Canada

__In what areas has the fashion industry made the biggest strides in sustainability in the last five years?__

“The spotlight is on sustainability in the fashion industry in a way it hasn’t been before. Circularity, innovation and sustainability are well-resourced in most leading brands and retailers, and strategic raw material sourcing is one of the most important actions being taken. 

In just five years, brands and retailers tackling forests in fabric have gone from zero to 175, signaling that when an environmental issue is highlighted and a collaborative course is set out, the industry is ready to act. But until we have a more certain future in terms of dedicated conservations, the areas, species and carbon storehouses identified in ForestMapper are at risk. The fashion industry has the power to make these changes happen, and Canopy is here to support them.”



Canopy Infographic 1/3

Canopy_infographic_1_3

Canopy Infographic 2/3

Canopy_infographic_2_3

Canopy Infographic 3/3

Canopy_infographic_3_3

Canopy wants the fashion industry to see the forest for the trees. 

Though viscose production is responsible for the logging of 70 to 100 million trees every year, only a third of the global supply chain poses a verifiably low risk of coming from ancient and endangered forests, according to the Canadian forestry nonprofit. 

To help brands make better sourcing decisions, Canopy launched ForestMapper, a first-of-its-kind interactive map that pinpoints critical hotspots across the planet, from the boreal woodlands of the Great White North to the tropical rainforests of Indonesia. 

Members of Canopy’s fashion-centric CanopyStyle initiative, including C&A, Eileen Fisher, H&M, Inditex, Kering, Marks & Spencer and Stella McCartney, helped fund development of the tool, which combines geospatial data with ecological values such as the habitat ranges of key endangered species and concentrations of forest carbon stocks. 

ForestMapper will continue to evolve as new data sets become available, said Nicole Rycroft, Canopy’s founder and executive director. Primary forests weren’t included in this iteration, for instance, because “that data doesn’t exist at a global scale at the moment.” That is likely to change, however. “This is just version 1 of the tool,” Rycroft added. 

Canopy created ForestMapper to serve as a “one-stop shop” for any business that wants to assess and mitigate its supply-chain risks or take climate action. As a platform, it complements other tools brands have at their disposal, including Canopy’s “Hot Button” ranking of the world’s leading viscose producers according to sustainability performance and its own CanopyStyle audit—the first to home in on forest-based fabrics. 

“We developed ForestMapper to help brands have a better understanding of what’s actually happening on the ground and where they are sourcing,” Rycroft said. “It enables brands to make better decisions based on science, which helps them reach their sustainability goals as well as contribute to the global push to stem species decline and climate change.”


Canopy

Supply Chain Canopy

Canopy’s ForestMapper helps brands steer clear of ancient and endangered ecosystems. 

About Sustaining Voices

Overview

Deep Dive

Related SJ News Stories

About Sustaining Voices

Overview

Deep Dive

Related SJ News Stories

Finnish Label Makia Adopts Reusable Packaging for E-Commerce

Walmart Commits to New Plastic Packaging Waste Reduction

Inditex, Target Give ‘Biggest Ever’ Commitment to Using Recycled Plastics in Packaging