Interviews

Knof is a Slovenian social enterprise with a focus on circularity and sustainability. Based in the town of Krško, it runs six Stara Šola reuse boutiques, using a market model that has positive effects on the environment, the local economy and the community. Director Mojca Žganec Metelko and Coordinator of Reuse Stores Nina Goriaeva in a conversation about the Stara Šola saga.

Solidaridad has just published a paper on the interplay between cotton and climate change, which shows that in the near future almost every cotton producing country will be negatively affected by climate change. The paper’s author, Tamar Hoek, Senior Policy Director (Sustainable Fashion), responds to questions related to the paper.

The Sewn Products Equipment & Suppliers of the Americas (SPESA) played host to the 38th World Fashion Convention of the International Apparel Federation (IAF). The President of the SPESA, Michael McDonald, takes time out to tell texfash.com how the event went by, and the context in which it was held in the US.

The just-concluded 38th World Fashion Convention at Philadelphia delved deep into issues plaguing the textile-apparel-fashion industry. Matthijs Crietee, Secretary-General, International Apparel Federation (IAF), sheds light on the roadmap chalked out to help industry achieve its Net Zero goals.

As one of the biggest events to be held in Latin America, PI Apparel Medellin this year is significant both for the region itself as well as the overall global context in which it is set to kick off on Wednesday. Two people in the thick and thin of things set the tone: Carmen Caballero, President of ProColombia, and Monica Afonso, Conference Producer at PI Apparel.

About a decade or so ago, Colombian textile giant Fabricato was fast receding into oblivion and irrelevance, and many doubted if the company could live to see its centenary in 2020. But Fabricato turned it all around. Sales Director Giorgio Lignarolo sheds sheds more light on how Fabricato did it.

In July, Zero Waste Europe highlighted the emissions gap that apparel industry giants will face if no urgent action is taken by governments to prevent overproduction. The EU is yet to set concrete measures on textile waste prevention, thereby cancelling out any progress towards sustainability. The report raised questions. Theresa Mörsen, Waste & Resources Policy Officer at Zero Waste Europe, throws light on the subject.

There has been somewhat of a deluge of sustainability legislations in the US, EU and UK, all of which have a bearing on manufacturing companies in the Global South. A recent report has attempted to provide valuable insights and guidance for companies operating in the apparel value chain. A riveting conversation with members of the organisations which were behind the report.

The Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia (KIAA) is calling out the emotive misinformation by animal activist groups harming the $200 million sector and also highlighting the need for greater awareness around the benefits of managing an overabundant species. texfash.com talks to its President, Ray Borda, to know more.

A Planet Tracker analysis—Following the Thread—recently underlined the significant disconnect between the location of the majority of the sales, profits and capital in the textiles industry and the location of the most significant negative environmental impacts. Richard Wielechowski, Senior Investment Analyst (Textiles) at Planet Tracker, tells texfash.com what this disconnect means.