TOP STORY

El Salvador's Secondhand Clothing Market Is a Blueprint for Affordable Reuse at Scale

In El Salvador, the secondhand clothing market has grown into a primary source of affordable apparel for millions of households navigating inflation, informal employment, and limited purchasing power. A just-released joint study by Garson & Shaw and Full Cycle Resource Consulting maps how US-collected surplus clothing moves through a commercially disciplined supply chain to reach Salvadoran consumers at prices calibrated to local demand.

Other Top Stories
 
CIRCULARITY / RECYCLING / SECONDS / WASTE

Recycled Activewear Reveals the Structural Limits of Fashion’s Sustainability Claims

Recycled polyester has become a default sustainability claim across activewear, swimwear and outerwear, but its supply chain is less circular than its labelling suggests. Most of the material still comes from PET drink bottles, not discarded textiles, raising difficult questions about whether fashion is solving waste or diverting it from better-functioning recycling systems globally instead.

 
FLASHPOINT: CLIMATE
Material Innovation / Bezos Fund

Breakthrough textile materials have received $34 million in new Bezos Earth Fund grants, backing research into bacterial fibres, spider-silk-inspired biodegradable materials, coloured cotton and cotton seedbank restoration. The funding targets materials that can match rayon, silk and cotton while improving cost, performance and environmental outcomes across fashion and textile supply chains.

Climate Action / Ethiopia Project

Climate resilience, productivity and workplace safety are being advanced across Ethiopia's leather, textile and garment sector through a new ILO-Japan joint initiative. The one-year programme targets 40 factories across five cities, integrating Japanese expertise, digitalised safety tools and a women's leadership development programme to drive sustainable and inclusive industrial growth.

 
 
 
FOCUS: COTTON

Tanzanian Organic Cotton Carries One of the Lowest Climate Footprints in Global Production, LCA Finds

Organic cotton grown by smallholders in Tanzania under the Cotton made in Africa Organic standard has recorded one of the lowest environmental footprints in global cotton production, new research has confirmed. The findings, drawn from a comprehensive lifecycle analysis, showed that the absence of synthetic pesticides, artificial fertilisers, and irrigation kept emissions well below industry norms.

 
 
 
SPOTLIGHT EDITIONS: SELECT 4
 

"Quote Unquote"

Mattias Wallander
Mattias Wallander
Chief Executive Officer
USAgain
The real hurdle isn't the map, but the fragmented municipal governance: complex, varying permit costs and restrictive zoning are barriers to expansion. If local governments can align on model ordinances and move away from restrictive industrial-only zoning, the 13% yearover- year growth seen in France may be possible in California.

"Quote Unquote"

Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh
Chief Marketing Officer
Birla Cellulose
By creating a consistent, uniform blend at the fibre stage rather than the fabric stage. This engineering ensures smooth processing and retains the softness, strength, and premium hand-feel of traditional MMCFs, even with up to 50% recycled content.
 
FOCUS: LEATHER

IILF 2026 Exposes Gap Between Boardroom Sustainability and Tannery Floor Reality

Chennai's IILF 2026 exposed contradictions shaping India's leather industry: innovative chemical systems alongside organisational failures, Trump tariffs suppressing demand yet prices holding firm, and sustainability frameworks that never reach tannery workers. The 'Leather Carnival' demonstrated both the sector's professionalisation and its struggle to reconcile traditional identity with market realities.