C&A Foundation: "Making Sustainable Fashion the New Normal"

London - "While we have achieved a lot, we still need to do much more to transform our industry," argues Leslie Johnston, Executive Director of the C&A Foundation in its 2016 Annual Report. Within its fourth annual report, which looks at the organization's sustainable achievements and targets, the C&A Foundation underlines its ambitious goals of transforming the fashion industry into a force for good.

Over the past year, C&A Foundation has supported 26 new initiatives across all its programs, ranging from Brazil to Bangladesh. These initiative include accelerating sustainable cotton, eradicating forced and child labor, improving working conditions, fostering a transition to a circular economy, and building resilience in vulnerable communities. For example, one initiative aided 75,000 cotton farmers, workers, and community members through the C&A Foundation's cotton, working conditions, and forced labor programs. Another leading initiative supported over 25,000 cotton farmers transiting from growing conventional to organic cotton.

C&A Foundation urges fashion industry to work together to make sustainability the new norm

But one of C&A Foundation most innovator initiatives is 'Fashion for Good', an NGO which brings together innovators, brands, producers, retailers, suppliers, non-profit organizations, and funders to enable the widespread adoption of responsible fashion practice. While the report highlights all the work the C&A Foundation has done in a relatively short period of time, it also stresses all the work which still needs to be done, while illustrating the power of a collaborative approach. "Our vision is a global apparel industry based on dignity, fairness and the preservation and enhancement of natural capital," continues Johnston.

"It’s not something we cannot do on our own. That’s why we support and strengthen partners and platforms to be better able to inspire all of us to play our part." The report also highlights the areas in which the C&A Foundation feel short of its targets. For example, the organization hoped that the fashion industry would use six mechanisms for transparency in 2016, as they believe transparency is an important aspect in implementing sustainable practices. However, in the end, only three mechanisms were used, opposed to the original six.

In addition to publishing the C&A Foundation annual report, C&A also released its 2016 Global Sustainability Report. The two reports aim to demonstrate how the C&A Foundation and the global fashion retailer C&A continue to work together to ensure sustainability becomes the new fashion norm. The two companies are linked by their common sustainability framework, which sees C&A focus on transforming its supply chain to develop fashion which has a positive impact and the C&A Foundation bringing key players together to bring systematic change.

"We need common standards, coherence throughout the value chain and measurable progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Individual approaches and solutions only diminish our collective influence," adds Johnston. "The challenges we all face are so vast that we simply can’t work in isolation. But together, we are greater than the sum of our parts."

Photo: C&A Foundation Website