Sustainable Brand Tool Kit
WHERE TO START?
Shaping Sustainable Fashion by Alison Gwilt
”A must-have” guide for fashion and textile designers and students in the same area about material choices, design solutions and how to engage consumers in the slow fashion consumption.
The Sustainable Fashion Handbook by Sandy Black
Divided into five thematic chapters covering the topics from fashion cultures to the problems of wasteful industry, eventually sharing broad listing of companies and brands involved in certifying, campaign and promoting sustainability.
Slave to Fashion by Safia Minney
Slave to Fashion shares stories from men and women working in modern slavery and also shows designers and brands in the fashion industry that slave-free fashion is possible.
Mistra Future Fashion – Mistra Future Fashion
A range of interesting reports on circular fashion, usage of cotton and sustainable fashion consumptions for companies and individuals who want to learn more about making a difference.
Circle Lab Knowledge Hub – Circle Lab
An online platform for learning new strategies to tackle local and universal challenges when it comes to implementing circular business models.
Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Catalyst – Cradle to Cradle
A platform for engaging and supporting professionals to advance conversations around sustainability within their companies through learning, sharing and eventually putting everything in action. Relevant especially for individuals and companies within the design and manufacturing sector.
How to Start a Sustainable Fashion Business – University of the Arts London (UAL)
A useful resource with plenty of links on how to launch a new product, glossary of sustainability terms, sourcing materials and much more. Lots of knowledge shared from fashion pioneers Tina Sutradhar, Bolupe Adebiyi, Nichole De Carle, Dilys Williams & Paulette Colman on how one can get started.
MATERIALS
Sustainable Fibres for Fashion Industry vol. 1 + 2 by Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu
Unpacking a range of relevant fibres in the textile industry and discussing their importance in the context of sustainability.
Preferred Fiber & Materials Report 2019 – Textile Exchange
A report which measures the production of fibre and materials with improved social and environmental impacts, focusing on on the industry’s supply chain and analysing availability, production volumes and rising trends around finer.
Sustainable Cotton Ranking – Sustainable Cotton Ranking
What should your brand or company take in consideration when it comes to using cotton in your products? More information on committing to sustainable cotton practices and useful resources for brands and companies interested in sustainable cotton.
DESIGN
Slow Fashion: Aesthetics Meet Ethics by Safia Minney
Slow Fashion gives a glimpse into the innovative world of sustainable business – which doesn’t compromise people, livelihoods, or the environment. Full of pioneering ideas and projects to inspire creatives and entrepreneurs working within the fashion and textile industry.
Fashion and Sustainability: Design for Change by Kate Fletcher
Exploring ideas that are transforming fashion products, systems and the role of designers – Fashion and Sustainability examines how sustainability has the potential to transform both the fashion system and the innovators who work within it.
Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys by Kate Fletcher
This book brings understanding and practical information for fashion and textile practitioners on the impact of textile and fashion industry by discussing and challenging the current models and ideas.
Zero Waste Fashion Design by Timo Rissanen & Holly McQuillan
Zero Waste Fashion Design combines research and practical implementation, exploring the zero waste fashion design process.
Designers, Visionaries and Other Stories: A Collection of Sustainable Design Essays by Jonathan Chapman
This challenging book provides the reader with a rich resource of future visions, critical propositions, creative ideas and design strategies for working towards a sustainable tomorrow, today.
Circular Design Guide – Cradle to Cradle
From Redesign workshops to educational method videos and podcasts that help designers, entrepreneurs and innovators to take their first steps into the circularity of their products from the very beginning.
PRODUCTION
Handbook of Sustainable Fibre production by Marion Tobler-Rohr
This book is a compilation of economic, technical, and environmental data from the textile production chain.
Source My Garment: The Insider’s Guide to Responsible Offshore Manufacturing by Adila Cokar
The ultimate step-by-step guide to manufacturing your clothing designs while giving answers on how to prepare for production, lower your costs, avoid potential problems, design sustainably and more. For fashion entrepreneurs and start-ups who are eager to build sustainable and thriving design business.
Safer Chemistry Innovation in the Textile and Apparel Industry – Safer Made & Fashion for Good
This report provides an overview of the safer chemistry innovation opportunity in the textile and apparel sector. It describes key drivers, evaluates the role different chemicals of concern have in the production of textiles and apparel, identifies five key areas of innovation, and provides insights around how to accelerate the adoption of new technologies that reduce or eliminate the use of hazardous chemicals.
Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s Design for Recycled Content Guide
aims to support companies and brands wanting to include recycled content in packaging. It provides practical recommendations to inform strategy and decision making by outlining existing challenges, illuminating areas of opportunity, and dispelling myths about the use of recycled content.
CERTIFICATION & TOOLS
Start your C2C Certified™ Project – Fashion for Good
We have gathered a series of useful guides and a self-check test to help you to get started with your own C2C Certified Project.
Circular Design Toolkit – circular.fashion
20 state-of-the-art strategies, solutions and product briefings on how to design fashion for circularity from a material cyclability and longevity perspective.
Good on You
Good on You is a free mobile app that provides ethical ratings for over 1,000 fashion brands rated on their impact on people, the planet and animals. It is built on a robust brand rating system which aggregates standards, certifications and publicly available data sources into a simple, accessible 5-point score to promote transparency across the fashion industry and to allow customers to make conscious purchasing decisions. If your brand isn’t already rated by the app you can apply to be rated.
The Higg Index – Sustainable Apparel Coalition
A tool that helps brands, retailers and manufacturers to measure and score the sustainability performance of the company or the product itself.
Common Objective – Common Objective
A platform to help you get connected with resources and people to help you do sustainable business better – you are also able to be ranked on your companies level of sustainability.
Standards & Certifications – Future Fabric Expo
Future Fabric Expo has gathered a range of key certifications and standards in one handy PDF.
Wage Ladder – Fair Wear Foundation
A tool that helps brands, suppliers and workers within fashion industry to see how current wages compare to the living wages estimates and shares how to make the needed improvements.
GOTS Public Database – Global Organic Textile Standard
Database containing information on GOTS certified entities, their head quarter’s address, specifications of their certified products and their fields of operation.
UNDERSTANDING THE WIDER SUSTAINABLE FASHION LANDSCAPE
Naked Fashion: The New Sustainable Fashion by Safia Minney
From producers to consumers, this book gives interesting insights on fashion industry’s functioning and gives suggestions and inspirations for how to make fashion more sustainable.
The Responsible Company: What We’ve Learned From Patagonia’s First 40 Years by Yvon Chouinard & Vincent Stanley
Describing the current impact of manufacturing and giving practical tips how companies and brands could reduce their impact on the planet and the environmental footprint. Interesting story of Patagonia, how it earned its reputation and sharing elements of real responsible business.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation Learning Hub – Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Want to learn more about circularity and how to take its principles in use in your organisation? Ellen MacArthur’s Learning Hub takes you to the journey of circularity through interesting infographics and exercises.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation Case Studies – Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Explore and get inspired by these stories of others who are taking actions towards more circular economy.
Pulse of the Fashion Industry – Global Fashion Agenda
Among other interesting reports and toolboxes within sustainable fashion industry you can find ”Find Pulse 2019” and ”CEO Agenda 2019” that dives deeper into the most crucial sustainability priorities while giving directions where to focus your efforts and stressing climate change as the priority of all the actions.
Fashion Futures 2030 – Laudes Foundation, Centre for Sustainable Fashion and Forum for the Future
Fashion Futures 2030 was made to ”guide and inspire the fashion industry in its critical sustainability journey and help companies and educators navigate an uncertain future.” Explore the four scenarios for fashion industry in 2030.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation – A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future – Ellen MacArthur Foundation
This report outlines a vision for a system that works, delivering long-term benefits – a new textiles economy based on the principles of a circular economy. It offers a direction of travel on which the industry can agree and focus its efforts.
PODCASTS & WEBINARS
Sustainable Innovation Webinars Archive – Fashion for Good
WARDROBE CRISIS – Clare Press
Big Closets, Small Planet – Sustainable Fashion Academy
The BoF Podcasts – Business of Fashion
Ethical Fashion and building an ethical fashion brand with Hannah Parris – Low Tex Life
The Glossy Podcast – Glossy
The Ethical Agenda – Safia Minney
The Ethical Business – Fair Marketeers
Changing the world through fashion: Eva Kruse – TED Talk
Grow Your Own Clothes: Suzanne Lee – TED Talk
EVENTS
Looking for events to participate? Make sure to check out what’s happening at Fashion for Good from our event calendar.
