“Unfortunately, I think it’s pretty compelling to buy a $7 pair of jeans if you’re not rich,” Ken Pucker, professor of practice at the Fletcher School at Tufts University and the former chief operating officer of Timberland, told me last year. “To a consumer, there’s no real functional benefit of sustainable fashion. Just perhaps a psychic benefit that they’re helping the planet.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/30/opinion/forever-21-bankrupt-fast-fashion.html
In this interview we take a look at the fashion industry from Pucker’s unique perspective and history as a fashion executive, university professor, writer, business advisor and counselor on fashion legislation. We examine the fashion industry’s system structure, reporting, and regulations. Today, like the fairy tale The Emperor’s New Clothes, we are in many ways being fooled about our own clothing. We are told what to believe, and we believe what we think everyone else believes. But, just like the child in the fairy tale, it’s the voices that soar above the accepting crowd that tell us the truth we need to hear.
A backlash against complex and costly new rules is threatening Europe’s pioneering efforts to make the industry operate more responsibly. Failure to address valid criticisms risks undermining the whole endeavour, argues Kenneth P. Pucker.
https://www.businessoffashion.com/opinions/sustainability/europe-regulation-simplification-fashion-sustainability-threat-omnibus/
Reformation’s executives call themselves a walking contradiction by combining rapid creations with an industry-leading phaseout of virgin synthetics.
https://trellis.net/article/take-a-factory-tour-of-the-350-million-fast-fashion-brand-making-surprising-sustainability-gains/
Fast fashion has taken over the fashion industry, but is less expensive, trendy clothing really worth the purchase? Those who say to “stop” argue fast fashion harms the environment in many ways and exploits workers in countries with lax regulations. Those who say “keep shopping” argue it’s up to shoppers to choose, as fast fashion offers affordable options, supports jobs, and boosts local economies. Now we debate: Fast Fashion: Shop or Stop?
Arguing Stop: Kenneth Pucker, Former COO of Timberland; Professor at The Fletcher School at Tufts University
Arguing Shop: Katherine Mangu-Ward, Editor-in-Chief at Reason
Emmy award-winning journalist John Donvan moderates
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-to-debate/id216713308?i=1000678619812
Climate issues are near the bottom of the list of apparel execs’ concerns for the year ahead, according to McKinsey’s 2025 State of Fashion report. Here’s how sustainability teams can push ahead.
https://trellis.net/article/sustainability-plummets-as-priority-in-2025-for-fashion-brands/?mkt_tok=MjExLU5KWS0xNjUAAAGXAmGp0G2GPbEnU0HyUwfGxh-bgvsnqPEt_exhawr2gKtx1wVMls7RfKdbQOmsW4KsbmMzeQyyVzKOC-uu5UtKGNYecmf3Lgod6v2Ne7UIrA
Brands that make products with little concern for environmental and social impact are benefitting from a ‘brown discount,’ undercutting industry efforts to operate more responsibly
https://www.businessoffashion.com/opinions/sustainability/fashion-brown-discount-green-premium-shein/?utm_source=newsletter_dailydigest&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily_Digest_051124&utm_term=K2KYSC5OSVDMDPYV5ZCG5C3B4U&utm_content=top_story_2_title
As brands and sustainability leaders descend on New York for Climate Week, we take stock of where commitments lie and what needs to happen for progress to pull ahead.
https://www.voguebusiness.com/story/sustainability/fashions-carbon-footprint-is-outpacing-its-climate-progress?uID=c079429c4c8bcfad965db9e40456b31002c73fcb7dd8cecdc470e0fcfbdde17d&utm_campaign=VB_NEWS_MEMBER_SustainabilityEdit_4_190924&utm_source=newsletter&utm_brand=vb&utm_mailing=VB_NEWS_MEMBER_SustainabilityEdit_4_190924&utm_medium=email&utm_term=VB_PaidSustainability
The most remarkable thing about Shein might be how opaque it remains even as it dominates U.S. retail. Its origins in China—where most Shein items are made—should, in theory, subject the company to extra scrutiny in the United States. Yet much about Shein is still unknown. How did it so quickly take over American retail? Who runs it, and how does it offer so many products so cheaply? Over the past year, I sought answers to these questions, and what I learned was hardly reassuring.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2024/09/shein-ceo-chris-xu-fast-fashion/679709/?utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20240906&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=The+Atlantic+Daily
Financial and political volatility are having a chilling effect on the industry’s environmental efforts. But failure to act now will bring bigger risks in the future