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
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