Fashion companies to look at making business models more circular in a bid to reduce supply chain risks.

As fibre-to-fibre textile recycling commitments increase across Europe, as well as the amount of textile waste collected, the infrastructure required to drive the move towards circular systems requires significant investment to scale.

It’s common practice for apparel brands to hop from factory to factory in search of cost savings. This needs to change, but this requires the necessary funding. The Apparel Impact Institute and Fashion for Good estimate that it will take a trillion dollars in global investment to decarbonize the industry. Their new report calls it an investment “opportunity,” but brands are not exactly climbing over each other to get involved.

Amsterdam-based fashion and textile innovation platform Fashion For Good’s funding initiative to aid sustainable manufacturing, the Good Fashion Fund (GFF) has signed its first deal with Pratibha Syntex Limited (PSL). The Indian textile and apparel manufacturer receives a $4.5 million long-term loan as part of the deal. Initiated in 2019, GFF provides long-term funding to the textile and apparel industry in Asia to achieve the Five Goods — Good Energy, Good Water, Good Materials, Good Lives, and Good Economy.

Pratibha Syntex Limited, an Indian manufacturer, has struck an agreement with the Good Fashion Fund, a fund established by Fashion for Good to promote sustainable manufacturing practices. Pratibha Syntex’s anticipated capital expenditures for updating machinery and expanding sustainable equipment in several divisions will be supported by the $4.5 million long-term loans. The $4.5 million investment will be used to replace gear in the spinning, processing, and garmenting divisions, as well as to purchase new equipment to expand their operations and facilities.

When Fashion for Good first launched four years ago, it started with a handful of brands and retailers as its corporate partners. Now, it counts manufacturers among its collaborators too. “We realised how important it was to get those upstream suppliers at the same table,” said Brittany Burns, director of strategy and development at Fashion for Good. “We felt like it was really important to create these opportunities for a cross-pollination of ideas, but [also] co-development across the industry.”