The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has released seven annexes to its Sustainability and Circularity in the Textile Value Chain: A Global Roadmap report that was published earlier this year.
- The Roadmap report had outlined a path ahead for the entire textiles sector to transform to circularity, and these annexes further strengthen this roadmap with stakeholder-specific guidance.
- It had laid the premise: “Several initiatives have set ambitious goals to shift towards a sustainable and circular textile value chain, although progress on their delivery is often slow due to the scale of the challenge, the complexity of the value chain, the lack of system-level policy, technical and financial barriers and the fragmentation of stakeholders beyond a small number of sustainability-minded multinational brands.”
- The report had identified the three priorities: 1) shifting consumption patterns; 2) improved practices; and 3) infrastructure investment.
- These three priorities depend on each other and will require significant work. Therefore, the Roadmap breaks this work down into nine building blocks that each stakeholder can focus on, with priority actions for each stakeholder group.
- The report built on research and consultations with over 140 textile value chain stakeholders, whom UNEP thanks for helping define a common agenda of transformation towards sustainability and circularity.
THE ANNEXES: Each annex contains specific advice, key actions, and priorities that stakeholders can adopt to advance the textile sector towards circularity. There are annexes for:
- Brands and retailers,
- Communicators,
- Financial Institutions,
- Innovators and recyclers,
- NGOs,
- Policymakers, and
- Raw materials producers.
BEYOND THE PLAYBOOK: Earlier in June, UNEP and the UN Climate-Change-convened Fashion Charter had launched the Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook, a guide for consumer-facing communicators in the global fashion industry to align efforts to sustainability targets.
- It demonstrated how fashion marketers, brand managers, imagemakers, media, influencers and beyond can take action through: 1) countering misinformation, 2) reducing messages perpetuating overconsumption, 3) redirecting aspiration to more sustainable lifestyles, and 4) empowering consumers to demand greater action from businesses and policymakers.
