It started with talk about sustainable fashion and led to issues and opportunities for eco products and green purchasing. The sustainable development of supply chains and the work of the International Green Purchasing Network. This issue we present a glimpse at “Better Cotton for Better Lives”,  some fashionably sustainable stories, what’s up with Forum for the Future, Positive Impact and the Centre for Sustainable Fashion. And our plan to attend the 4th International Conference on Green Purchasing in Kuala Lumpur 18-20 September. Read More

International Conference on Green Purchasing

September 18 – 20 2013 at Subang Jaya, Malaysia

International Green Purchasing Network (IPGN) is supporting and participating in the forthcoming conference “4th International Conference on Green Purchasing” that will take place in Subang Jaya, Malaysia, from 18-20 September 2013.

The conference will bring together world renowned experts and practitioners with more than a decade of green purchasing and green productivity experiences. Experts will share the critical factors and conditions for the successful implementation of green purchasing and green productivity, and how to formulate a strategic approach to resource productivity in industry, agriculture, retail and service sectors.

UCLG ASPAC Secretary General, Dr. Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi, will take part as speaker in the conference. Her session will focus on “Towards a Safe and Green City” to be held on Day 3 (Friday, 20th September) at 4.30pm-5pm.

Source: www.uclg-aspac.org

For more on the International Green Purchasing Network go to: www.igpn.org

 

Better Cotton builds better lives for farmers

By Katherine Rowland  for Forum for the Future (5 August, 2013):

As international efforts are proving, sustainable cotton production doesn’t just benefit the environment – it also improves the lives of the farmers and their families. Katherine Rowland reports.

Cotton has a battered reputation as a thirsty crop, and one demanding high levels of pesticide and insecticide. But innovations in recent years reveal that these traits belong to agricultural practices, and are not inherent to the crop itself. Indeed, international efforts from the likes of the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) are steadily proving, not only that cotton production can be made more sustainable, but that decreasing the crop’s ecological toll can improve the lives and livelihoods of farmers.

Around 90% of the world’s 100 million cotton farmers live in developing countries, raising the crop on less than two hectares. These smallholders are especially vulnerable to market shifts and climate flux, and the performance of a single growing season can make or break a household. But global businesses are also tethered to the fate of these small plots. Smallholders comprise the basis of diversified and geographically dispersed supply chains, that offer greater resilience than relying on the performance of a single crop. To ensure future supply, several leading companies are intervening on the ground to safeguard the resources on which cotton cultivation depends.

The John Lewis Foundation, a charitable trust set up by the UK retailer, has invested in a three-year programme to train 1,500 farmers in Gujarat, India, in sustainable production techniques. Through a combination of field and classroom based sessions, the trainings address issues such as soil health and water conservation, pest management, reduced chemical use and decent labour standards.

The retailer is working with CottonConnect, a social purpose enterprise set up in 2009 by the Textile Exchange, C&A, and the Shell Foundation, which helps companies map sustainable strategies throughout the supply chain, from ground to garment. The organisation does not set standards for sustainability, but rather works with retailers to meet sourcing objectives, such as Fair Trade and Better Cotton. With the goal of cultivating one million acres of sustainable cotton by 2015, CottonConnect works with up to 80,000 farmers annually, predominantly in India and China.

According to Anna Karlsson, Sustainable Development Manager at CottonConnect: “Economic benefit will keep farmers interested in continuing the training and implementing the practices. Environmental gains are secondary for most farmers. In the short term, using fewer pesticides will save them money, and using them in the right way will have health benefits. In the long term, [better practice] improves the soil, reduces leaching of chemicals into water, and encourages biodiversity.”

While the economic gains come chiefly from spending less on inputs, which in some countries can make up 60% of cotton production costs, better land management strategies also play a prominent role. Techniques such as soil assessments, which let farmers know how much and what type of fertiliser to apply, manure composting, intercropping and crop rotations help to preserve soil health; rainwater harvesting saves on irrigation, and pheromone traps to catch insects reduce dependence on chemicals.

These approaches – already used in the US, Australia and Brazil – comprise part of a larger toolkit developed by the BCI, a non-profit multi-stakeholder initiative that aims to elevate sustainable cotton production around the world, and established the Better Cotton standard in 2009 to do so.

BCI seeks to counter the threats to the industry posed by soil erosion, water depletion, and unsafe working conditions, its principles are based on mainstreaming prudent agrochemical use, environmentally efficient production methods and improved labour conditions. Participating companies include H&M, Marks & Spencer, IKEA and adidas, alongside non-profit partners including WWF and Solidaridad. Collectively, they want 30% of the world’s cotton production to comply with BCI standards by 2020.

The 2010-11 growing seasons saw the first harvests of Better Cotton in India, Pakistan, Brazil and Mali, and Better Cotton is now grown in China, Turkey and Mozambique. Although the programme is in its infancy, it currently involves more than half a million farmers, and has had significant results.

In India, where BCI worked in nine states in 2011, the 35,000 Better Cotton farmers used 40% less commercial pesticides and 20% less water than conventional farmers, while at the same time having on average a 20% greater productivity and 50% higher profits. In Pakistan, 44,000 Better Cotton farmers similarly used 20% less water and 33% less commercial fertiliser than conventional cotton farmers while having on average a 8% greater productivity and 35% higher profits.

These efforts and advancements echo those of more developed cotton-growing countries. In the US, for example, national and local government organisations strictly regulate pesticide and irrigated water applications. Cotton growers and importers also contribute to a collective research and educational outreach program. Over the last three decades, this combination of oversight and outreach has enabled US cotton growers to reduce pesticide applications by 50% and irrigated water applications by 45%.

In addition to technical training, many of these international programmes also incorporate literacy training, women’s skill building, health and safety courses, and commitments to end child labour. Peter Salcedo, a trader for Plexus Cotton, the sixth largest cotton supplier in the world, says that retailers are responding to consumer interest in the welfare of producers, and are increasingly invested in issues like gender parity and community development. Consumers want to be able to trace where their goods are coming from, he says, and so brands need to be able to explain that their products have a “respectable provenance”.

In East Africa, Plexus Cotton sources its stock from BCI, and works with social business development organisations, such as Cotton made in Africa and the Competitive African Cotton Initiative, to offer supply chain traceability starting with raw materials and labour conditions.

Chimala Walusa, a farmer from the Balaka region of Malawi, is one of the 65,000 smallholders that Plexus is working with in the country. Walusa says, “My life style has changed since I became a lead farmer [in the training programme]. Before, I used to harvest less, like seven bales, but now I am harvesting more. This season I have harvested 60 bales of 90kg each. I managed to harvest all this because I followed the basic production techniques I was taught by extension agents [university employees who develop and deliver educational programmes].”

From last year’s sales, I built a good house and  bought four cattle and oxen

Increased yields result in direct gains for his wife and four children, Walsusa explains. “From last year’s sales, I managed to build a good house, and I bought four cattle and oxen. From this year’s [which totalled MK1,575 million / US$4,800], I am planning to buy a plot in town and build a house for rent.”

These gains resonate across the supply chain. For the US-based retailer Levi Strauss & Co., on-the-ground efforts to improve cotton production also serve to protect its business from some of the effects of climate change. Of the 100 countries in which cotton production takes place, many are already feeling the impact of weather shifts in the form of water scarcity and constraints to arable land. As a result, they also recognise the need to implement adaptation strategies, says Sarah Young, Levi’s Manager of Corporate Communications. For a company that depends on cotton for 95% of its products, addressing these challenges at the grower level is a necessary part of sustaining their business.

In the US, increasing weather variability, alongside growing demand, is similarly “cause for concern for cotton farmers and is generating strategies to adapt”, says Ed Barnes, Senior Director of agricultural and environmental research at Cotton Incorporated, a not-for-profit organisation whose work helps US cotton farmers manage input efficiencies and reduce environmental impact. In the past, he says, “if the field didn’t look like a clean construction site, you weren’t going to plant”. But now, 70% of US cotton farmers have adopted conservation tillage practices, a modern farming technique that allows the soil to hold more moisture and nutrients, thereby decreasing dependence on irrigation and fertilisers.

The beauty of these conservation techniques, says Barnes, is that farmers still reap the same, if not higher, financial benefits. With the price of fertiliser and water rising globally, “farmers are interested in using resources as efficiently as possible”, he says. “They are adopting more sustainable practices because they see the economic return, and that what’s good for the land is good for growers.”

Katherine Rowland is a freelance journalist specialising in health and the environment

Source: www.forumforthefuture.org

 

Forum of the Future

Forum for the Future – the sustainable  development charity – works in partnership  with leading businesses and public service providers, helping them devise more  sustainable strategies and deliver new  products and services which enhance people’s  lives and are better for the environment.

“We have been working with the fashion  industry for several years. In 2007 we published Fashioning Sustainability, which analyses  the social and environmental impacts of the  clothing industry.

The report identifies the  key issues that need to be tackled to make  sustainable clothing mainstream and highlights  what retailers, brands, designers, producers,  governments and consumers each need to  do to take action. Many of our retail partners have fashion ranges, and the sector has  continued to be a high priority for us.

Levi Strauss & Co. is one of the world’s  largest branded apparel companies and  the global leader in  its products in more than 110 countries  worldwide. The company designs and markets  jeans, casual wear and related accessories  for men, women and children under the  Levi’s®, Dockers® and Signature by Levi  Strauss & Co.TM brands.

Almost two decades ago, through the Terms of Engagement (TOE), Levi Strauss & Co.  was the first company to state that it would  only do business with suppliers who shared  its commitment to environment, labour, health  and safety standards. The company’s vision is to build sustainability into everything we  do so that our profitable growth helps restore  the environment.

Source: www.forumforthefuture.org

 

The Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London

Seeing, Knowing, Doing: Fashioning the Future Summer School

This year Centre for Sustainable Fashion and London College of Fashion are ran Fashioning the Future Summer School  from 1–19 July. The summer school is a unique opportunity for fashion students, tutors and practitioners to collaborate across traditional geographic, linguistic and disciplinary boundaries. Aiming to create an innovative, experimental learning environment for undergraduate fashion students , the summer school has brought together 30 students from 9 institutions across Europe: London College of Fashion, Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, Goldsmiths College, Robert Gordon University, Hogeschool Gent, Aalto University, KEA – Copenhagen School of Design & Technology, University of Ljubljana, and University of Boras.

This three-week programme has placed London as the creative focus to expand and deepen knowledge about sustainability while providing skills for addressing design challenges in a resource stricken world. The global move towards urbanisation and the need for innovative design for sustainability is ideally suited to this focus due to the diversity of London’s multicultural urban environment. By the end of this century over 80% of us will be living in cities, through out the summer school students will discover what our greatest challenges are and what new possibilities this brings for fashion design. Students have been asked to consider key city locations: London, New York, Shanghai, Paris and Rio de Janeiro, thinking about how each city has reacted to urban growth, environmental changes, social cohesion and declining resources. We will look at what life like in these cities now and from this imagine London in 2025. Through out this project we will reference the past, present and future to create fashion that is informed, inspired and visualises what the future might be.

In the week leading up to the start of the Summer School in east London, we asked the participating students to carry out a series of daily tasks in the environment of their home cities, which took them through a process of seeing, knowing and doing:

Seeing – observe their surroundings

Knowing – identify and analyse their surroundings

Doing – interact with their surroundings

Students were asked to photograph surfaces they came across during a journey they took; record the feelings of strangers around them; observe and record all the sounds they heard through out the day; do something out of the ordinary; and think about and leave behind the objects they rely on in their everyday life. The images and words posted to the blog over the past couple of weeks has created a unique map for each participant and the variety of work posted has given us incredible insights into each of the student’s own experience of ‘their city’.

Earlier this year, The Centre for Sustainable Fashion also worked with each team to collate a book bringing to life their journey and outlining the, inspiration, insights and innovation that typified each individual concept. One representative from each team was selected by Nike to attend Launch 2020 and their work formed the centrepiece of an exhibition that accompanied the summit. It was huge pleasure to see the interest and intrigue elicited by our work and it served as a fitting reminder of the significant role education has to play in equipping designers with both the skills and thought processes required to tackle the major challenges of the future.

It was truly amazing to be in a room where the voices of our recent graduates were given equal relevance and space as those of chemical company CEOs and Nike Vice Presidents. Some of the highlights of the summit included astronaut Ron Garran talking about the six months he spent orbiting the globe on a space station and sharing his unique physical and a metaphysical view of the world; what he has achieved in space and on earth is awe inspiring. Joan Benoit, the first woman to win gold in an Olympic marathon, was another hugely inspiring speaker, at 55 she still runs 70 miles a week and is an avid campaigner for environmental issues.

We all left with a determination to recognise and respect the finite resources of our planet but at the same time remembering that there is no limit to human ingenuity; when we work together we can apply our collective intelligence and intuition to make better and to live better.”

Source: www.sustainable-fashion.com

 

And Singapore, we learn of what the Australian-founded business of Positive Impact is up to now that its focus is on Asia Pacific:

Positive Impact has a comprehensive range of green merchandise. We strive to provide your business with smarter, more environmentally conscious options for corporate gifts and promotions. Our products have been selected based on ethical sourcing principles, Fair Trade and environmental credentials enabling you to make a better choice.

It’s a fact of life that we all need to consume, but we all need to think before we buy. It is our choices that will either contribute to or reduce Climate Change. We aim for businesses like yours to use its buying power to bring about the change we need, to make and create brands of the future.

With a keen interest in pursuing environmental endeavours and a desire to balance work and motherhood, Miki Massey developed the Positive Impact range to help bring about this change.

Positive Impact is passionate about the environment. We minimise our carbon footprint by buying recycled and recycling, running our office on green power and using energy efficient lighting and appliances. We have signed an emissions monitoring agreement with our carbon partner CRI which means that all our business activities will be calculated and then offset at the end of every year. We have purchased 10 tonnes of the Karnataka Carbon Credits in advance and this has entitled us to 100% LowCO2 certification! To find out more go to Carbon

Vision

Our vision is a world where all products are manufactured with a “cradle to cradle” approach. This means considering the environmental impact at every stage of the product lifecycle, from manufacture to disposal, with the intention to minimise the use of natural resources at every stage.

With technology advancement in recycled and recyclable material there is no reason why we have to choose items made from cheap virgin materials that can only be used once. Collectively this method will significantly reduce the amount of rainforests being destroyed, it can ensure people are treated kindly in their work and ultimately can educate the next generation to do better than we have.

Values

We value being different, we value making a change. We value our customers and believe in providing personalised service, with integrity and enthusiasm.

We value walking the talk, we value greening our supply chain. We value our suppliers and partners and always try to deal with likeminded organisations that are doing their bit too.

We value the environment.

Source: www.positiveimpact.net.au