Posted by Zoica on Friday, October 03, 2008 to Sustainable Fashion

Manufacturers And Retailers Join Forces For The Environment

Americans’ increasing sensitivity to the environment is putting sustainable fabric and apparel manufacturing into sharp focus. It’s not just a fashionable trend, either, but a vital change in how business’ role in preserving the environment is viewed.

As a consumer, Lyss Stern, mother of two small boys and founder of Divalysscious Moms, an event planning company, insists she has become increasingly eco-sensitive. “As a business owner, I am pleased to see apparel firms also care. We’re partners in this effort to preserve the earth we share.”

 Sarah Severn, a corporate responsibility executive at Nike, adds, “With an increasing population, we’ve got to be really careful about how we treat the environment and how we relate to society.”

As Dr. Sam Winchester, Professor Emeritus at North Carolina State University’s College of Textiles, says, “This is not a fad and not something that will go away. It is here with us and has great, great impact on the future of the planet.”

For any apparel firm seeking to achieve sustainability, regardless of its size, three things must be done. “Sustainability means that you do something good for the environment. It also means you do something good for the people affected by your activities. And you should make a profit at the same time. If one of the three is not there, it’s not sustainable.” Novozymes is a Danish manufacturer of bio-industrial products that replace less ecofriendly chemicals in fabric finishing.

That consumers are clearly paying attention to the products and services they buy can be seen in a Cotton Incorporated Lifestyle Monitor™ survey from the beginning of 2008, which revealed that 50 percent of respondents cited environmental friendliness as an important factor in their apparel shopping decisions, up from 45 percent making the same claim a year earlier.

[ This first appeared on CottonInc ]

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