“What does it mean to be ‘eco’ or ‘green’ today? We need to redefine that. We need to modernize the fashion industry. This is where we need to be in the 21st century — all products need to be created with thought.”
This statement was made by actress, fashion icon and social entrepreneur Amber Valletta at the public launch for Fashion Positive in New York on November 14, 2014. The occasion was the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute’s Innovation Celebration and the audience was a room full of the next-generation thinkers of sustainability, fashion icons, industry leaders and vision makers.
The Fashion Positive Initiative addresses the need to modernize the fashion industry by following the principles of the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program to transform the way apparel and accessories are made. Fashion Positive will spur the creation of materials and products that are not merely “less bad,” but are “more good” — resulting in a regenerative impact on business, the environment and society.
Cradle to Cradle certification addresses the five attributes of Material Health, Material Reuse, Water Stewardship, Renewable Energy and Social Fairness. Applying Cradle to Cradle design methodology to the fashion industry is essential as we attempt to solve the problems of toxicity in our clothing, wasted materials and resources, improving social issues facing garment factory workers and fiber producers, and addressing the negative environmental impacts that currently plague the fashion industry.
In 2014, Fashion Positive announced brand partnerships with major fashion labels and manufacturers to implement the Cradle to Cradle standards across a variety of fashion market sectors — including the iconic Stella McCartney, luxury brand Maiyet, denim powerhouse G-Star RAW, fiber innovators Bionic Yarn, major retailer Belk, fashion sustainability veterans Loomstate and Under the Canopy, supply industry leaders Saitex and more to be announced later this year. Working with these “Leadership Brand Partners,” Fashion Positive aims to create an active circular economy of fashion, a challenge that can only be achieved with widespread industry collaboration. These collaborations include improving material qualities and using safe chemistry in fibers, dyes, treatments, facility improvements, and designing products for reuse intended for a circular economy.
Valletta describes Fashion Positive as the work of many and a challenge that we need to tackle together. She says, “Fashion Positive is a collaborative effort within the fashion community that starts solving problems at the earliest stage of design. It's indisputable that there are environmental problems in the current way we are designing and manufacturing fashion. Fashion Positive offers an opportunity to address some of those problems in a creative and innovative way, from the very basic level of raw materials to finishing.”
Fashion Positive recognizes that no one brand, designer, agency or initiative can address these huge challenges on their own. The goal is to leverage partnerships, such as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition and the NRDC’s Clean By Design, to demonstrate harmonization of various programs designed to optimize the fashion industry. The cost and challenge of changing systems and remaking the way we make things is difficult for many to approach. To offset the costs of innovating and improving fashion materials so they may meet Cradle to Cradle certification standards, the Institute has raised funds available to Leadership Brand Partners and their suppliers in the form of low interest-rate loans to optimize material and production across the five attributes of Cradle to Cradle design methodology.
To continuously generate financial support for the Fashion Positive Innovation Fund, the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute is raising funds on an ongoing basis. Fundraising strategies include a current Indiegogo campaign to generate wider financial backing for Cradle to Cradle certifications for fashion products. All donations to this campaign will be matched 1:1 by the Schmidt Family Foundation.
As a brand, designer, consumer and global citizen you can become part of the growing collaborative effort to create positive impacts in the fashion industry. Become #FashionPositive today and join the new movement in fashion for better, cleaner, safer fashion.