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The recent 2024 Textile Exchange conference, held Oct. 28 to 31 in Pasadena, California, highlighted the real-time process of industry transformation. Joining forces with Worldly, the most comprehensive sustainability data insights platform, representatives from Cascale's membership, business development, and communications teams participated. Attendees dove deep into supply chain resilience, sustainable practices, and the role of data-driven solutions like the Higg Index. Coming on the heels of Cascale's recent updates to the Higg Materials Sustainability index (MSI) and the Higg Facility Environment Module (FEM) 2024 update , and anticipating the policy-focused Brand & Retail Forum in Brussels in December, the discussions could not have been more timely.
Opening the conference, Claire Bergkamp, Textile Exchange's chief executive officer, issued an urgent call for collective action. "We are not afraid here, and neither should you, to air the elephants in the room, to tackle the hard things, because it's only in doing that that we can really come to true resolution and true solutions," she said. "In this room we have farmers, growers, producers, recyclers, brands, consultants, non profit and so many others. The diversity in this community is our strength."
An opening plenary moderated by Sarah Kent, chief sustainability correspondent at The Business of Fashion, brought together Liz Ricketts, from the Ghana-based Or Foundation, with Matt Dwyer of Patagonia, a founding Cascale member, to explore waste and circularity. "Ultimately, cheap commodities require cheap labor," Ricketts said. "Everyone is being squeezed along this value chain because we are not making clothing with enough value embedded into it." At the day's final plenary, Textile Exchange released its Materials Matter Standard, which the organization called "a new precedent for more sustainable materials production."
Presenters and speakers included Cascale members from the manufacturing, brand/retail, and affiliate sectors. Represented membership included CottonConnect, Laudes Foundation, GIZ, VF Corporation, Levi Strauss & Co, Patagonia, TAL Apparel Limited, H&M, U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol, GM Integrity Systems, New Zealand Merino Company, Puma, Apparel Impact Institute, Primark, Woolmark Company, Columbia Sportswear Company, Zalando SE, Reformation, Recover, lululemon Athletica Inc., adidas, ZDHC, and Eastman. Cascale Board members, VF's Sean Cady and TAL Apparel's Delman Lee, were also in attendance.
The critical nature of "The Case for Change," the event's theme, was echoed by Whitney Bauck, a climate journalist who was the event's host. "This is life or death work," Bauck said. "You may not feel that in your everyday, but there are communities that do."
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