Fashion for Good: five recent milestones

To transform the fashion industry, global fashion retailer C&A together with its corporate foundation, the C&A Foundation, launched the Fashion for Good Centre in Amsterdam two years ago, with the aim of transforming the fashion industry, driving its transition to a circular economy and bringing industry players together to "reimagine how fashion is designed, made, used and reused".

There are 'Five Goods' in particular that Fashion for Good wants to focus on and improve: materials, economy, energy, water and lives. “The Five Goods represent an aspirational framework we can all use to work towards a world in which we do not take, make, dispose, but rather take, make, remake,” explains William McDonough of McDonough Innovation, one of Fashion for Good’s innovation partners.

Fashionunited has put together five important developments that have taken place in different areas over the last year, thus boosting the Fashion for Good initiative.

1. Fashion for Good launched the world’s first toolkit on the product development of Cradle to Cradle (C2C) certified denim and materials in August 2018, which is available for download on the Fashion for Good website.
Fashion for Good launches toolkit on how to develop Cradle to Cradle denim

2. With the idea to create a space to showcase the visitors how clothes are made and help them discover innovations shaping a more sustainable future for fashion, Fashion for Good opened the doors to the world’s first museum for sustainable fashion in Amsterdam in October 2018
In pictures: world’s first museum for sustainable fashion opens in Amsterdam

3. Norwegian outdoor company Norrøna and Bestseller, the international fashion company with more than 20 brands in its portfolio including Vero Moda and Jack and Jones, partnered with Fashion for Good in February 2019 and December 2018, respectively, to help bring game-changing circular innovation to supply chains.
Norrøna joins Fashion for Good
Fashion for Good joins forces with Bestseller

4. Since its founding, Fashion for Good, together with startup accelerator Plug and Play and corporate partners, has been promoting startups from all over the world that are working towards changing the approach to water and energy use, waste, chemical usage and labour practices and focusing on innovations to develop biodegradable materials and organic alternatives to leather, fur, plastic, polyester. FashionUnited has put together all 59 extraordinary companies at a glance.
Fashion for Good and Plug & Play: 59 sustainable startups to know

5. Eight more startups were accepted into Fashion for Good’s scaling programme in May and November 2018, namely Ambercycle, Tyton Biosciences and Bext360 and Ecovative, Natural Fiber Welding, The Renewal Workshop, SeaChange Technologies, Inc. and Yerdle Recommerce. The first three are developing chemical technology to transform textile waste into conventional polymers, recycle cotton, poly-cotton, polyester, nylon and other fibres from discarded clothing to produce the building blocks of petroleum-and plant-based fabrics and improve transparency in the supply chain of goods, to ensure proof of origin at every node in the supply chain respectively. The latter develop alternate materials, reformat natural materials, repair second-hand clothing, develop a desalination system and offer resale channel.
Chemical recycling and traceability software companies backed by Fashion for Good
These startups want to make fashion sustainable and Fashion for Good will help them

The fashion industry has woken up to the tremendous toll on the environment that its supply chain takes, right from sourcing the raw materials to the production of fashion items, accessories and shoes. To address and combat this urgent issue, Fashion for Good was launched to bring industry players, innovators and corporate partners together to reimagine how fashion is designed, made, used and reused, and to bring about a global coalition of brands, manufacturers, retailers, suppliers, non-profit organisations, innovators and investors who are reaching milestones as the global initiative grows.

Photo: Fashion for Good/Presstigieux