Key briefing Fashion’s sustainability conversation has moved on. The question at this year’s Innovation Forum conferences in Amsterdam and New York was not which technical solutions to back, but how to get them executed with real backing from the top.
That shift exposes some uncomfortable gaps. Finance teams still misjudge the return on sustainability investment, and delegates argued that framing action around the risk of inaction works better internally than a conventional business case. Suppliers, for their part, are shouldering a disproportionate share of compliance costs and sustainability demands, often without the financial support to meet them, and brand guidance frequently misses the realities suppliers face on the ground.
Climate pressure adds urgency. Extreme heat in manufacturing regions and El Niño-related disruption are forcing climate adaptation higher up the agenda, yet worker voices remain largely absent from the rooms where these decisions get discussed.
Regulation is another sticking point. The report tracks where CSRD, extended producer responsibility and digital product passports are gaining traction, and where confusion between compliance and genuine sustainability is slowing progress.
On circularity, the findings are candid. Textile-to-textile recycling infrastructure is still catching up, and delegates were clear that circularity cannot fix overproduction on its own — of the companies represented at the conferences, only one had set actual production reduction targets.
Drawing on roundtables covering labour justice, climate progress, materials and circularity, the full report sets out where implementation is stalling across the industry and what’s working instead. It’s a practical read for CFOs, supply chain leads and sustainability practitioners who want an honest picture rather than a technical checklist.
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Researcher and writer
Sustainable & Social
Co-founder and chair
Innovation Forum
Apparel and textiles portfolio lead
Innovation Forum
The biggest limitation to scale is not ambition, but the ability to build 'solid foundations' of reliable data.
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