The world is asking businesses to take responsibility for the products they source. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as well as the outcomes of the Paris Climate Agreement are setting global targets to meet. To that purpose, companies need information and a means to take action: visibility into their supply chains, transparency into the impacts, tools to capture data and measure effect and change, and collaboration to link the efforts of the many players together. Technology is playing an increasingly strong role in enabling industry to deliver meaningful change at the scale it is needed. During the video interview, Liesl Truscott talks about the sustainability challenges we are facing, the solutions being developed, and the role of technology to bring them to scale:
Liels Truscott. European Materials and Strategy Director
Founded as Organic Exchange in 2002, Textile Exchange is a global non-profit organization that works closely with all sectors of the textile supply network. Textile Exchange identifies and shares best practices regarding farming, materials, processing, traceability, and product end-of-life in order to create positive impacts on water, soil, air, animals, and the human population created around the world by the textile industry. Members include 210 companies and organizations from more than 25 countries.
Textile Exchange provides the knowledge and tools the industry needs to make significant improvements in three core areas: Fiber and Materials, Integrity and Standards, and Supply Network. We have developed several important industry standards, including the Organic Content Standard, the Responsible Down Standard, the Responsible Wool Standard, the Recycled Claim Standard, and the Global Recycled Standard.
Textile Exchange expanded from a focus solely on organic cotton in 2010 to include other sustainable fibers such as lyocell and recycled polyester to promote a portfolio approach for brands and retailers to adopt at a strategic level. While the organization name changed to reflect the expanded remit, Textile Exchange continues to have a strong focus on expanding the use of organic fibers as a market-driven solution to address poverty, bio-diversity and food-security.
Further info:
Interview: Jessica Ceotto
Filming and Editing: Andrea Monticelli.
