30 March 2017

AMSTERDAM– Fashion for Good is making an industry-wide call for collaboration to transform the apparel industry at a gathering of innovators, fashion and sustainability thought leaders today in Amsterdam.

As a holistic and inclusive open-source initiative, Fashion for Good invites the global fashion industry to reimagine how fashion is designed, made, worn and reused.

Fashion for Good aims to promote the five “Goods” of a new, transformed fashion industry: Good Materials, Good Economy, Good Energy, Good Water, and Good Lives. In pursuit of this goal, Fashion for Good enables the fashion industry to embrace innovation, change its business models and adopt a totally new mindset.

“The Five Goods represent an aspirational framework we can all use to work towards a world in which we do not take, make, dispose, but rather take, make, remake,” said William McDonough of McDonough Innovation. “Fashion for Good is about transforming the industry from serving one generation to serving many generations.”

Leslie Johnston of C&A Foundation said: “Open and inclusive, Fashion for Good will share all knowledge and lessons learned from its activities.  In doing so, we want to inspire all stakeholders in the fashion industry to work toward a future in which everyone – farmers, workers, customers, and communities – can flourish.”

Fashion for Good is changing the apparel industry through innovation and new business models. Its innovation platform scouts for, nurtures and funds early-stage ideas and it scales proven technologies and business models for wider adoption by the industry. Its Apparel Acceleration Fund aims to catalyse access to finance and its open-source Good Fashion Guide shares knowledge to help the apparel industry transform. As a convenor for change, Fashion for Good enables conversation and collaboration, bringing together co-locators at its first hub in Amsterdam, as well as visitors to the Fashion for Good Experience to learn more about Good Fashion.

With an initial grant from founding partner C&A Foundation, Fashion for Good inspires brands, producers, retailers, suppliers, non-profit organisations, innovators and funders all working towards a Good Fashion industry and invites industry to join and collaborate.

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For further information or interviews, please contact:

Fashion for Good Communications team:
communications@fashionforgood.com
Note to editors 

Fashion for Good has six complementary programmes:

1. Early-stage Innovation Accelerator: Fashion for Good works with Plug and Play, a leading Silicon Valley accelerator, to give promising start-up innovators the funding and expertise they need to grow.
2. Late-stage Innovation Programme: Fashion for Good finds innovations that have proof of concept and helps them scale by offering bespoke support and access to expertise, customers and capital.
3. Apparel Acceleration Fund: IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative, is scoping a fund that aims to catalyse access to finance where this is required to shift at scale to more sustainable production methods.
4. Good Fashion Guide: This open-source guide proves that Good Fashion is feasible today and shows brands how to embrace it. The online guide provides practical tips, a self-diagnostic tool and a step-by-step guide to production, based on lessons learned while creating the world’s first Cradle to Cradle Certified^TM GOLD cotton t-shirt produced in Asia, at scale, at a value retailer price point.
5. launchpad exhibition of the Fashion for Good Experience: Fashion for Good has opened three floors to the public in its historic building in a first step to build a community around the ambition to make all fashion Good. With vibrant displays, thought-provoking messaging, and a call to action, the launchpad will inform and inspire its visitors to be part of this larger movement of Only Good Fashion. In 2018, the launchpad exhibition will evolve into a permanent Experience Centre.
6. Circular Apparel Community: Fashion for Good has rented an historic building in the heart of Amsterdam (our first hub) in order to bring likeminded organisations and partners together, including the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) and Made-By. This community will embrace collaboration to create change and build a vibrant eco-system of entrepreneurs and innovators in the name of circular fashion.

About Fashion for Good

Fashion for Good is the global initiative that is here to make all fashion good.

Fashion for Good sparks and scales innovation by offering practical action in the form of support and funding, shares best practice and lessons learned in open-source roadmaps, and fosters sector-wide collaboration for the entire apparel industry to change.

Fashion for Good invites brands, producers, retailers, suppliers, non-profit organisations, innovators and funders to jointly transform the industry.

Guests are invited to learn more about the industry at a newly opened Launchpad exhibition in Amsterdam. Fashion for Good was created with an initial grant from founding partner C&A Foundation, and other partners have joined to help build the foundation of Fashion for Good: C&A, the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, IDH the Sustainable Trade Initiative, Impact Hub Amsterdam, Kering, McDonough Innovation, Plug and Play, and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC).

www.fashionforgood.com

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The Cradle to Cradle Certified^TM is a certification mark licensed by the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute.

About the partners and quotes

About C&A

With nearly 2,000 stores in 21 countries worldwide and around 60,000 employees, C&A is a leading fashion retail business. C&A welcomes and provides millions of visitors each day with good quality fashion at affordable prices for their entire family. C&A is an enterprise of COFRA Holding AG with a presence in Europe, Brazil, Mexico and China. C&A is committed to leading an industry shift from the “take, make, waste” linear model to a circular one that allows us to keep resources in use for as long as possible. In cooperation with Fashion for Good, C&A developed the world’s first Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Gold garments. We are committed to supporting Fashion for Good in their efforts to scale technologies, processes and business models that have the potential to transform the industry. For more information, see www.canda.com

About C&A Foundation

As the corporate foundation of global retailer C&A, we are here to transform the fashion industry. We give our partners financial support, expertise and networks so they can make the fashion industry work better for every person it touches. We do this because we believe that despite the vast and complex challenges we face, we can work together to make fashion a force for good. www.candafoundation.org

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is a global thought leader on the circular economy, and has played an integral role in establishing the subject on the agenda of business, government and academic decision makers. The Foundation is pleased to partner with Fashion for Good to accelerate innovation towards a more circular system for textiles. For more information see: www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org | @circulareconomy

IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative 

IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative, is scoping a fund that catalyses access to finance where this is required to shift to more sustainable production methods at scale.

IDH pursues global public good impact at scale in areas of inclusive business models and farmers’ livelihoods, mitigation of deforestation, living wages and improved working conditions, responsible agrochemicals management, and gender. The objective is to improve the economic, social and environmental sustainability of production systems in developing countries through sector systemic change. IDH works together with a large variety of partners, including supply chain partners, governments and NGOs in 11 sectors and 11 landscapes in over 50 countries worldwide. We focus on improving public and private sector governance, improving field level sustainability for farmers, workers and the environment and changing business practices towards more sustainable production and sourcing methods. IDH is supported by multiple European governments, including our institutional donors: BUZA, DANIDA, NICFI and SECO.

“We need to join forces to have an impact at scale. By working as a sector initiative with a wide representation of the apparel sector and aligning with existing initiatives we can truly invest in implementing innovative technologies and practices at scale,” says Ted van der Put of IDH.

Impact Hub Amsterdam

Impact Hub is a unique global ecosystem of over 15,000+ changemakers in 80+ cities, impacting societal issues through entrepreneurial action. As a Fashion for Good partner, Impact Hub’s Amsterdam team brings its experience to activate and host a vibrant circular apparel co-working community at Rokin 102.

“To achieve systemic change in this industry we need to connect diverse players in new and meaningful ways,” shares Tatiana Glad, Impact Hub Amsterdam’s founder and director. “We are delighted to contribute by building a strong community around this shared purpose and support them to take sustained and collaborative action.”

About Kering

A global Luxury group, Kering develops an ensemble of luxury houses in fashion, leather goods, jewellery and watches: Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Brioni, Christopher Kane, McQ, Stella McCartney, Tomas Maier, Boucheron, Dodo, Girard-Perregaux, Pomellato, Qeelin and Ulysse Nardin. Kering is also developing the Sport & Lifestyle brands Puma, Volcom and Cobra. By ‘empowering imagination’, Kering encourages its brands to reach their potential, in the most sustainable manner. The Group generated revenue of €12.385 billion in 2016 and had more than 40,000 employees at year end. The Kering share is listed on Euronext Paris (FR 0000121485, KER.PA, KER.FP).

“The accelerator’s launch follows our recent announcement of a three-pillar sustainability strategy, including a focus on innovation via the ‘Create’ pillar,” said Marie-Claire Daveu, Chief Sustainability Officer and head of international institutional affairs of Kering.  “The future of luxury is dependent on innovation to help weave sustainability into every niche of our industry, from raw material sourcing to manufacturing processes to end of use, and beyond. Collaborations like the “Plug and Play – Fashion for Good” accelerator will allow the textile industry to move more rapidly to find essential solutions to the challenges we all face.”

About William McDonough/McDonough Innovation:

Winner of the National Design Award, William McDonough, FAIA, Int. FRIBA, is an internationally recognized architect, designer, sustainable growth pioneer, and business strategist. He works at scales from the global to the molecular. Time magazine recognized him in 1999 as “Hero for the Planet,” noting that “his utopianism is grounded in a unified philosophy that—in demonstrable and practical ways—is changing the design of the world.” For more than four decades, McDonough has defined the principles of the sustainability movement (through McDonough Innovation, William McDonough + Partners, and MBDC). He has created the movement’s seminal buildings, products, and writings. He was the inaugural chair of the World Economic Forum’s Meta-Council on the Circular Economy. McDonough is co-creator of the Cradle to Cradle® design framework. William McDonough Architects published The Hannover Principles: Design for Sustainability (1992) and McDonough co-authored, with Michael Braungart, the influential Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (2002) and The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability—Designing for Abundance (2013). McDonough received both the inaugural Presidential Award for Sustainable Development (under President Bill Clinton) and the inaugural U.S. EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award (under President George W. Bush). In 2009, William McDonough led the founding of the nonprofit Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute to donate the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program to the public realm. In 2012, the Stanford University Libraries invited McDonough to be the subject of their inaugural “living archive”; since then, Stanford has been collecting and archiving his work and communications in real time for future historians.

About Plug and Play

Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. We connect startups to corporations and invest in over 150 companies every year.  Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in 22 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 6,000 startups and 180 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. We provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and host more than 365 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over $5 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Lending Club, PayPal, SoundHound, and Zoosk. For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com

“In Plug and Play’s ten years of investing in startups, we have helped more than 7000 innovators build their dreams. Now, we want to build our dream: a world of innovators committed to improving our global community and environment. It will be an honor and a pleasure to work with major fashion brands like Kering to help build and grow that vision,” says Saeed Amidi, Founder and CEO of Plug and Play.

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is an industry-wide group of over 185 leading apparel, footwear and home textile, brands, retailers, suppliers, service providers, trade associations, nonprofits/NGOs, and academic institutions working to reduce the environmental and social impacts of products around the world. Through multi-stakeholder engagement, the SAC seeks to lead the industry toward a shared vision of sustainability built upon a common approach for measuring and evaluating apparel, footwear and home textile product sustainability performance that spotlights priorities for action and opportunities for technological innovation. The SAC was incorporated as a 501c(6) nonprofit organization and launched the groundbreaking Higg Index suite of tools in 2012. For more information, visit apparelcoalition.org.

“The Sustainable Apparel Coalition looks forward to its partnership with Fashion for Good to help scale the innovations that will bring about circularity and improve Higg Index scores (clothing and footwear’s main sustainability metric) across the industry,” says Jason Kibbey, CEO, The Sustainable Apparel Coalition.  

About MADE-BY 

Founded in 2004 with a multi–stakeholder board, MADE-BY is an award-winning impact-driven not-for-profit organisation with the mission to “make sustainable fashion common practice’. Through targeted consultancy, partnerships and stakeholder engagement MADE-BY works globally with brands, retailers and their supply chain partners on social and environmental issues throughout the apparel value chain.

Besides its work with companies to encourage and implement sustainability transformation and innovation, MADE-BY’s scope includes capacity building within the supply chain and implementation of multiple-stakeholder projects with governments and the European Commission. Its transparent and verified progress tracking tool, MODE Tracker, supports fashion brands and retailers in improving their sustainability performance through measuring and communicating year-on-year progress on a holistic range of topics.

MADE-BY has an international team based in Amsterdam (as co-locators of the Fashion For Good Center), London, Düsseldorf, Milan and an extensive expert network in the US and Asia.

For more information see http://www.made-by.org/