Greenwashing Confuses Consumers, Creates Mistrust and Affects Brands Doing it Right

Your website quantifies some of the work. "2,500 + Number of global industry stakeholders we have worked with; 34,252 kg The amount of textile waste diverted through stewardship activities & events; 32,000 + Number of students reached with My Clothes, My World" Do you think these numbers adequately reflect the work that you have done? Or, do you think you could have done better?
I’m pretty proud of the impact we have had over the years for such a small non-profit. Considering that the entire organisation was run by volunteers (including myself) for the first 10 years of its existence, we have achieved a great deal. I would have liked to see more textile waste diverted, but this number was primarily through our youth education programme ‘My Clothes My World’ and when the pandemic hit, we were unable to continue educating them in the same way around clothing swaps and upcycling activities.

It's obvious FTA has been a lot into events. So, how have events helped or worked towards the work that FTA has been doing? Any particular event that you would remember that you believe best served its purpose?
Yes, we have done a ton of events and in the early years this was the number one way for us to deliver on our mission to raise awareness. We did a lot more consumer facing events at that time, because we realised that consumers were not buying into the idea of sustainable (or green) fashion, then it wasn’t supporting our members (we were a member-based organisation until 2017).

But the events were exhausting and really drained us from a resource perspective; so, we slowed them down before the pandemic. And as sustainability became more common, we started to see other events including marketplaces, runway shows and awards that overlapped with ours. So, we made the decision to stop producing and instead supporting them. This allowed us to focus our attention on our youth programme (which we launched in 2014), but which really expanded in 2017. At the same time, we ceased membership and part of our obligation to members was to host events to promote them.

The event that does stand out the most to me is our annual World Ethical Apparel Roundtable (WEAR) which is for the industry and brings global experts to Toronto to share best practices in an effort to motivate and inspire Canadian brands to take action.

On the consumer side of events, our ‘Design Forward’ award show was always fun (despite the stress of producing the event itself) as we loved shining a spotlight on Canada’s top sustainable fashion designers.

FTA was established as a non-profit. But 2007 wasn't 2022. It would have been relatively more difficult to raise funds / sell the idea. How did you raise funds at that time? How well funded are you now, and who remain your major donors?
You hit the nail on the head! Recall we were a volunteer organisation for the first 10 years. Our first significant grant was in 2017 and was for our youth education programme. Today we are supported by a mix of government grants, donations and sponsorships. But as we do not have charitable status (yet) we are not eligible for foundation grants or corporate donations. Each year our operating budget increases, but we continually seek out funding to continue doing the work and remain competitive from a salary perspective. There is nothing worse than finding good people and then having to let them go when they find a better paying job. Such is the case in many non-profits!

You have also been working with children since 2014. Could you tell us how you went about developing this programme? A kid who would have been 17 in 2014, would be a youthful 25 now. Do you stay in touch with them? And, do you have any mechanism of finding out how they are changing things now?
I was doing a lot of public speaking in the early days, either at our own events or being invited to speak at other events. The audience was mainly adult consumers. Sometimes I would also speak at colleges and universities. So, for us at that time, this was what we meant by “youth”. In 2013 my two daughters were aged 7 and 9, and when the Rana Plaza factory collapsed in Bangladesh, I was invited to give a presentation at their school (an alternative school that I helped found that had a focus on social justice and the environment).

This presentation opened my eyes to how engaged young people were to this topic, and how curious they were to learn more. Shortly after that I gave another presentation to a high school audience and was met with a similar reaction. From there we decided to play the long game when it came to public education, by reaching youth before they are consumers, out in the world buying “stuff”. And we also hoped that there would be a ripple effect by having them go home and share what they learned with their parents and siblings. And it did!

As we do not communicate directly with the students, but rather with the teachers, we have no way to follow up with them to see if anything has changed, or what kind of an impact we have had.

If I am not mistaken, FTA works primarily in Canada. But the WEAR event addresses the global industry. Could you please elaborate on this?
When we began to turn our attention to the bigger brands, I was frustrated that there was little interest in the topic, and even less interest in attending global conferences around sustainability in fashion. So, I decided to bring the global experts to Toronto instead so that the brands here would have no excuse but to show up! Fashion’s supply chain is global. We no longer manufacture clothing in Canada (or very little) and even less yarn and fabrics are produced here. This means we need to be looking to global supply chain partners, and experts to share insights and perspectives so that we can learn from one another and take collective action where possible.

Sometime last year you brought out the Textile Recycling Feasibility Report. You say on your website — “In total, we estimate that nearly 500,000 tonnes of textile waste is ending up in Canada’s waste streams each year. This does not include textiles from the Industrial, Commercial & Institutional sector (ICI), which means this number is even higher.” What is the goal and action plan towards achieving recyclability? How can FTA make a difference?
We plan to do research in 2023 on ICI waste to determine the volume, composition and flow of this material—mainly from institutions like hotels, prisons and hospitals.

But recycling is not the only focus. We set out with this as a focus simply because we wanted to see if we could prove the business case to keep the material here (and not send to the Global South) and make a product in Canada from that material. If we could demonstrate a higher value end-product, then perhaps there would be a demand for this feedstock and the exporters would feel less financial motivation to sell overseas.

But our biggest project in circularity is the launch in 2023 of the Canadian Circular Textiles Consortium (CCTC), which will bring all the stakeholders together from across Canada (cities, brands & retailers, charities & private collectors, sorters & graders, exporters, innovators, manufacturers, academics and NGOs) to connect and collaborate in an effort to avoid duplication of effort and resources, and to accelerate action. Several working groups will be formed as part of our five-year strategy, and stakeholders will be invited to participate in various projects that we plan to lead.

Our role is to convene and communicate, while at the same time removing barriers to sustainability and circularity. The CCTC will allow us to do this, and continue the multi-stakeholder work we have been leading for the past five years.

Does FTA have any events or programmes that are geared toward smaller fashion businesses and consumers.
Yes, in fact on 30 April we will be hosting our first public event in some time (since before the pandemic) that is called the Sustainable Style Show. It is for exactly that audience—eco-conscious and eco-curious consumers, small designers, fashion students, DIYers, crafters and swappers! The entire focus of the event is on reuse, with experts on stage giving talks, a number of DIY workshops, and a clothing swap to top it off!.

Since FTA was conceptualised—till date and the just concluded COP27—how much measurable action on ground zero by the fashion industry would be needed to emerge as a planet-friendly industry?
Measurable action is definitely a huge factor in turning things around in terms of our industry achieving net-zero. You can’t manage what you don’t measure! Brands need to really connect and build partnerships with their supply chain partners, beyond tier one. They need to invest in traceability and transparency because nothing will change if they don’t know what needs fixing.

Conferences, action plans, future-scanning and all those words that promise a lot, but as COP27 revealed the fashion industry has not yet been able to get its act together. In this disturbing context, what is FTA planning to do for 2023?
We are taking a new approach with WEAR in 2023 and it will be a roundtable series focused on climate, living wage and circularity. The format for the series will be structured in a way that it is outcomes based because we are hearing that this is what the industry in Canada now wants. Yay! So, it’s a departure from the typical format of many, many speakers and session after session of learning and engaging. Instead, it will be the industry coming together to determine a set of shared priorities and feasible and achievable action items that will ultimately have an impact.

Talking of events again, World Ethical Apparel Roundtable (WEAR) was a hybrid event this year. What were the key takeaways from this year's WEAR?
We are changing the format of WEAR moving forward, mainly due to the feedback and key takeaways from this year. First, we will not be hosting a hybrid event again as it really is a huge drain on our resources. And second, the brands and retailers here are ready to take action. While it was great that virtual events made it possible to expand our audience far beyond Canada, our strategy is to dial it back and focus on supporting the brands right here at home.