Why Manufacturers Need to Be a Part of Fashion’s Sustainability Solution

Fashion, I love you, but you are not serious people. I love “Succession.” I love the dark humor, the brutal language and the sheer audacity of business mogul Logan Roy. As I reflect on my first six weeks as chief executive officer of Cascale, I keep coming back to his quote from season four. After questionable decision-making on their part, he told his kids: “I love you, but you are not serious people.” The industry’s approach to sustainability is not working. We are already seeing brands step back from their committed science-based targets. It was also reported recently by McKinsey that two-thirds of fashion brands are lagging on meeting their decarbonization targets. Furthermore, 40 percent of these brands have actually seen an increase in emissions. These targets, set with the best of intentions, quickly fall apart when confronted by the scale and complexity of the challenge. So, it’s complicated. We know that more than 70 percent of the carbon footprint of our industry resides in manufacturing. Manufacturers work with multiple brands. Brands have their own sustainability goals, targets and pet projects, but they share factories, so it’s common for manufacturers to have multiple and even contradictory projects in flight. Brands are frustrated, manufacturers

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