The Best of BoF: Fashion’s Sustainability Reckoning

BoF is away for its annual break until 3rd January. In the meantime, we invite you to explore highlights of our news and analysis from the year.

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2022 The BoF Team is taking a well-deserved break. In the meantime, our reporters and editors have selected the best articles we published in 2022 across our core topic areas of expertise. Today, we focus on Sustainability. Look out for our agenda-setting analysis to return on January 3. Happy holidays! Dear BoF Community, Fashion has been talking about sustainability for years, but with the urgency of the climate crisis increasingly visible and workers continuing to bear the brunt of global economic uncertainty, 2022 exposed the gulf that still exists between talk and actual change. In fact, widespread inaction at the world's biggest fashion companies eclipses what progress has been made, BoF's second annual Sustainability Index found. There are pockets of movement, from the booming market for material innovation, to growing interest in services like resale and repair, which help keep clothes in circulation for longer. But this year has also tested their potential to really move the needle, as innovative new materials like plant-based leathers faced their own greenwashing reckoning and secondhand platforms became fast fashion's hottest new accessory. Perhaps the biggest shift of all this year has been a burgeoning regulatory crackdown on both sides of the Atlantic. European authorities have put big brands and retailers under the microscope for their green marketing claims, while California's statewide ban on toxic "forever chemicals" underscored just how many brands still use hazardous substances to make their clothes. With scrutiny of the industry continuing to grow, the push to regulate fashion promises to continue its momentum into 2023. — Sarah Kent, Chief Sustainability Correspondent and Rachel Deeley, Editorial Associate

TOP STORIES

SUSTAINABILITY 'How Can We Live?': For Garment Workers, It's Worse Than the Pandemic By Sarah Kent

Rising living costs and increasingly precarious work are trapping the low-wage workers who power the fashion industry in a crushing squeeze, Sarah Kent reports from Dhaka. READ MORE

SUSTAINABILITY Can Fashion Stop Greenwashing? By Sarah Kent

Big brands are changing the way they talk about sustainability following a regulatory crackdown in Europe. But exactly how companies should be required to substantiate their eco-marketing claims remains hotly debated. READ MORE

SUSTAINABILITY Widespread Inaction on Sustainability Eclipses Progress at Fashion's Biggest Companies By Sarah Kent

Efforts to transform the fashion industry in line with global ambitions to curb climate change and establish more responsible business practices by 2030 have yet to gain sufficient momentum, The BoF Sustainability Index 2022 finds. READ MORE

SUSTAINABILITY The Truth About 'Vegan Leather' By Sarah Kent Leather alternatives have been boosted as eco-innovation and dismissed as mere plastic, but the truth is more complicated than that and demands clearer marketing to avoid misleading consumers. READ MORE

SUSTAINABILITY Why Repair Services Are a Growing Business By Rachel Deeley Brands are stepping up in-store offerings and investors have bet millions on start-ups in the space as interest in sustainability and resale boosts demand to keep clothes in good condition for longer. READ MORE

SUSTAINABILITY Fashion's Race for New Materials — Download the Case Study By Rachel Deeley Brands are pursuing a raft of initiatives to adopt recycled textiles, regeneratively farmed cotton and mushroom-based leather, but giving fashion's major materials a sustainability makeover still requires billions of dollars worth of investments and deeper, longer-term commitments to scale. BoF breaks down some of the key innovations, the companies leading the charge and the barriers to change. READ MORE

SUSTAINABILITY What Are Fashion's Climate Risks? By Rachel Deeley Efforts to stave off catastrophic climate change are failing, reports from the UN's COP27 climate summit show. From cotton yields to forced labour, here's what that means for fashion. READ MORE

SUSTAINABILITY Why Fashion Still Uses Toxic 'Forever Chemicals' By Rachel Deeley Brands from Canada Goose to Patagonia still rely on PFAS for performance attributes like waterproofing. READ MORE

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