Coalitions, Collaborations and Learning
November 15, 2023
As promised from last week’s newsletter, here is a list of resources for sustainability + circularity professionals and companies looking for partnership and collaboration in this space.
In my experience, this industry is FULL of people who are happy to help and point others in a good direction. Don’t underestimate the simple act of asking for help.
I tried to break my list up into ‘for individuals’ and ‘for companies’ although many are designed for both.
For Individuals:
The Change Hub is a membership community for sustainability professionals, change agents, regenerative leaders and radical optimists (like me!).
The Conscious Fashion Collective is a community for individuals transitioning into the sustainability space (of which there seem to be many).
Eleven Radius is a collaboration platform for sustainability and circularity focused individuals, circular fashion brands and service providers.
Fashion Revolution is “the world’s largest fashion activism movement, mobilising citizens, brands and policymakers through research, education and advocacy.”
re/make “builds global networks of citizens, legislators and labor organizations to connect the clothing industry’s biggest problems with effective solutions”.
If you have some peers in similar positions, create a regular group meeting to set goals, compare strategies and support each other.
For Companies:
Accelerating Circularity is working towards circular systems for fiber-to-fiber recycling and has multiple working groups.
CFDA supports brands with all kinds of resources (great example: Mara Hoffman’s Guide to Becoming a Sustainable Fashion Brand).
The Footwear Collective provides circular solutions for footwear in a pre-competitive coalition of brands.
GreenBiz hosts multiple sustainability conferences a year (including my favorite, Circularity) and produces various newsletters for learning.
NRF The National Retail Federation is a membership organization that supports retailers and also recently acquired the Reverse Logistics Association.
NYSAR3 is the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling which “provides statewide leadership on waste reduction, reuse and recycling issues and practices to improve the environment.”
REMADE “brings together industry innovators, academic researchers, trade organizations, and national labs to accelerate the U.S.’s transition to a Circular Economy”.
Sourcing Journal hosts multiple apparel-related conferences a year and is a powerhouse of apparel-related journalism.
SMART is the Association of wiping materials, used clothing and fiber industries.
The Sustainable Apparel Coalition is “a membership organization that brings together expertise from across the globe to develop sustainable solutions that redefine the industry.”
Textile Exchange an large membership body who “guides and supports a growing community of over 800 brands, manufacturers, farmers, retailers, and others committed to climate action towards more purposeful production from the very start of the supply chain.”
Two Molte Volte Offerings:
I am in process of setting up a discussion for brands about their post-consumer products and how they want to interact with them. If you are interested in joining, let me know.
My next Fashion Circular Landscape 101 Class is Dec 7 if you want to learn the basics of how to create a resale, repair, recycling or design for circularity offering in your business.
Podcast Update
For Season 2 (to launch in early 2024) The Untangling Circularity Podcast will be entirely focused on REPAIR. We will interview and feature repair experts across 9 different industries in order to learn best practices from each. We will also be releasing a Season 2 Report highlighting key learnings, findings, and our analysis on how these takeaways can be applied to textiles and fashion. It’s going to be a ton of fun and lots of learning. We are currently looking for sponsors, so if your business is looking for more exposure to sustainability + circularity audiences, this is a great opportunity. Please email me if you want to learn more: cynthia@moltevolte.com.
Until next week,
Cynthia
