Welcome to the Traceability Edit, TrusTrace's curated list of news to know from the month. In July, BoF explores the challenges facing new material innovators, a new book reveals the hidden chemicals in our clothing, and how fashion brands are hiding waste in their supply chains.
Why Mushroom Leather (and Other New Materials) Are Struggling to Scale by Ken Pucker for the Business of Fashion. Following the closure of Mylo, a leather alternative material by Bolt Threads, Pucker explores the challenges facing the new materials market and solution to prevent further set-backs.
Empowering Citizens For Garment Longevity by the British Fashion Council. This new report sets out to examine how emerging hardware technologies can help industry accelerate garment care and maintenance.
Are Your Clothes Making You Sick? The Opaque World Of Chemicals In Fashion by Alden Wicker for the Guardian. Clothes don't come with an ingredient list. Perhaps that's why toxic chemicals have hidden in plain sight for so long. Wicker shares more about her book, To Dye For.
Could Generative AI Solve Fashion's Excess Stock Problems? by Emily Sears for Vogue Business. Emerging Technology has the potential to transform the fashion supply chain by enabling real-time tracking of demand and inventory, writes Sears.
The Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook by the UNEP. This new report guides fashion communicators on how to align the way the industry covers sustainability in a standardized manner, to address rampant greenwashing.
‘A Tough Sell To CEOs’: Fashion Sustainability Is Taking A Hit In The Current Economy by Zofia Zwieglinska for Glossy. Cost-cutting measures are slowing fashion's adoption of more sustainable materials and processes.
Smart Supply Chains: Traceability Chatbots Are Closer Than Brands Realize by Madhava Venkatesh Raghavan for Forbes. TrusTrace CTO and co-founder explains how AI can unlock the power of supply chain data and create the elusive, cross-chain visibility among brands and suppliers that is crucial to real traceability.
Sustainability Is Dead. Long Live Circularity! by Karl Smith for FutureWorld. The term 'sustainability' has lost all meaning, argues Smith, and should be replaced with more easily definable terms like 'circularity.'
Fashion Brands ‘Hide’ Waste Despite Upcoming Legislation – Transparency Index by Laura Husband for Just Style. "Almost nine out of ten fashion brands do not disclose annual production volumes and 99% have not committed to reducing the number of new items they produce despite proposed EU legislation to charge brands for fashion waste."
