It is known from surveys that labelling of alternatives, that incorporate the term leather, is misleading for consumers. For this reason, and others, several countries have introduced strict and clear legislation on the labelling of leather, that uses the same definition adopted by Textile Exchange.

Textile Exchange (TE) has accepted the official ISO 15115 definition of leather. This shows clearly that TE wants to promote transparency for the consumers by properly labelling the leather products and separating leather from the other materials that for now are called ‘Manmade non-fiber materials’. Hopefully this great example will be extended to other organisations, brands and institutions.

The term 'leather' has been abused in recent years by a large number of fashion brands and other companies seeking to confuse consumers about the true composition of materials used to make their goods. Many times, these brands are trying to hide the truly alarming amount of cheap plastics that are used in their products by using vague and ambiguous terms such as “vegan leather” that do not accurately describe the materials being used.

Our network is international, even though our physical campus is based in Berlin. Germany is an exciting market with clients interested in sustainability, large investments in R&D, hidden champions and a lot of potential for digital transformation, and Berlin is a melting pot for creatives and pioneers from all over the world to establish synergies in an exciting environment.

Production of natural indigo will always be more expensive than fossil fuel-derived synthetic when the externalities of production are not considered. However recent funding has allowed us to double down on investments in plant-breeding and process improvement implementations that will ultimately decrease the costs of our production and increase yields per acre.

The impact of the pandemic heavily affected the industry, but the flexibility of the local industry and the government support allowed the system to survive. Obviously, companies that were not financially strong suffered much more. The current energy crisis is a bit different because it is difficult to predict when and how it will evolve, and there aren’t solutions in the short run.

Building trust and understanding for each other was a necessary first step, the joint formulation of an industrial roadmap (and how supporting actors need to be involved) helped to visualise what needs to be done. The timings agreed upon in the roadmap also held (and keep holding) the pace high so the momentum can be retained.

After the opening of the Clothing Bank, we were expecting a large influx of requests for material aid, especially from individual applicants, but we really didn't expect what happened after the press conference. Within the first three days, hundreds of desperate people contacted us asking for help. Now the situation has stabilised at around 20 requests a day from individuals.

Yes, unfortunately there is still a lot of excess in the fashion industry and whilst many brands we work with are trying hard to change and adopt a more circular approach it will take time. The positive step is that the industry recognises this and instead of once sending their garments to landfill they want to protect the planet and support people.

We are very upbeat about the prospect of the Green Machine. Currently, we are planning to build a new set of machine in Hong Kong for local recycling and demonstration purposes. We are studying the possibility to upscale the capacity. Lots of things are moving forward. Most importantly, the beauty of the Green Machine is that it is easy to adopt. It does not require a high engineering level of machinery. The investment cost is competitive.

We are focused on only making leather that actively revives nature. To us—that means removing invasive species that are deteriorating ecosystems around them. Even of invasive species, we focus only on human-introduced, severe impact species. We rely on our partnerships and advisors from the conservation and biology communities to help us understand which species are best candidates.

We see it as a tool for brands by offering a sync for their efforts towards achieving sustainable goals. Obviously, this will also help us to place the Delight Group as a pioneer organisation producing climate-positive cotton in India. Our positioning will be strong, and we foresee tremendous potential and opportunity with our association with Good Earth Cotton.

Of course, setting up Good Earth Cotton in India has come with some challenges. The climate is completely different to what we have previously worked with, as this is the first time the programme is being taken to another continent. Moving beyond that, there are different processes involved that have meant we needed to adapt some of the measurement tools and data capture points to reflect this.

If humanity is going to make progress, then we need deeply informed technical discussions about what the correct problems to solve are. The reason the fashion industry is worse off today is because greenwashing that oversimplifies highly technical issues is pervasive. Moreover, oversimplification is exactly what has gotten Higg MSI and those that use Higg MSI into lawsuits.

The energy price rise is threatening the textiles industry by a possible reduction or even suspension of production, with some companies considering moving production outside of the EU with a loss of jobs. This is especially true for SMEs, which struggle with tight marginalities while being at the beginning of the supply chain.

The garment industry is complex and opaque as there are many steps involved with trading companies in between, as raw materials are difficult to authenticate, and as the industry is not technology-driven and some of the involved parties are small, with piece embroidery workers working from home.

What the physical fair offers cannot be replaced by digital tools. The hand-feel of the fabrics, and face-to-face communication, for example, form part of an essential and unique interactive experience. With that being said, digital formats will remain a key part of our physical events, and they can be easily adjusted to accommodate the needs of different industries and individual trade fairs.

Over-consumption and over-production will have no place in the new economy. The consumer can see this already now as many brands promote new models of buying or leasing clothes or even shoes: Buying with a repair/return option and renting within a certain time frame of the life cycle of the textile product. The main goal is again becoming circular and not contributing to the growing landfills.

The second-hand clothing sector is a killer for the African manufacturing industry and jobs. Africans understand that Western countries just trash their clothes in Africa... The African governments and also people see this as a way to use Africa as a continent where they can get rid of their trash. ASFW is against the second-hand clothing business and believe that every country should trash its clothes within that same country.

First of all, leather by definition, is skin from animal. All kind of faux leather can only be called as synthetic material. In some countries, the use of the name ‘leather’ can only be used on genuine animal skin by law. We are also working on putting this into law in Taiwan.