The Innovative Business Practices and Economic Models in the Textile Value Chain (InTex) project of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is helping to improve resource efficiency and promote circularity in textiles in regions far from the glare of Big Media. The underlying idea is simple: empower local stakeholders.

Doing away with secondhand garments is easier said than done because people do need access to affordable clothing. Founder of Nairobi-headquartered Africa Collect Textiles (ACT), Elmar Stroomer, believes it is time to add a waste tax on imported items and the funds should be invested in high-end collection and recycling infrastructure.

A new Greenpeace report finds that the Global North has found a backdoor to get rid of its textile waste and is forcing countries from the Global South to deal with the consequences of fast fashion, even though they have no infrastructure to do so.

Nairobi-headquartered Africa Collect Textiles (ACT) is run by ordinary people with extraordinary ideas on how to divert textiles from landfills. No one believed recycling clothes would work in a country where a sizeable proportion of people wears secondhand clothes from abroad. Founder Elmar Stroomer tells us why and how it does.

Janpeter Horn took charge in April as Chairperson of the VDMA Textile Machinery Association, Germany — the most important voice of the mechanical/plant engineering industry with 130 member companies. Horn, who is Managing Director of August Herzog Maschinenfabrik, sees his role as that of a moderator who reconciles different interests and represents the industry's positions in international bodies.

Late last month, Fashion Council Germany published a report on the environmental impact of the German fashion industry titled German Fashion Footprint. The study was authored by Oxford Economics, UK. Rob Harbron, Associate Director with Oxford Economics, dwells at length on what went into the making of the report.

In January, Sorona launched its Preferred Mill Network, a global catalogue of mills offering the full collection of sub-branded fabrics—Agile, Aura, Luxe, Profile, and Revive. Global Brand & Communications Leader Alexa Raab and Global Marketing Representative Kiki Chen talk about ease of access to sustainable fabrics throughout the value chain.

Last week, Control Union, one of the world’s largest certifiers of organic cotton, announced that it would no more certify cotton, among others. The entire certification process apparently was too much of a balancing act, Control Union sources tell texfash.com.

Researchers' recommendations for people concerned about the fashion industry’s ballooning climate impact is simple: cutting down how many new clothes we buy by as much as 75%, buying clothes designed to last, and recycling clothes at the end of their lifetime.

Researchers have found that the higher people rate on style-consciousness, the more likely they are to shop second hand. In fact, style-consciousness was a bigger predictor of second-hand shopping than being frugal or ecologically-conscious. A look at the fascinating findings.