Why Manufacturers Need to Be a Part of Fashion’s Sustainability Solution

Fashion, I love you, but you are not serious people.

I love “Succession.” I love the dark humor, the brutal language and the sheer audacity of business mogul Logan Roy. As I reflect on my first six weeks as chief executive officer of Cascale, I keep coming back to his quote from season four. After questionable decision-making on their part, he told his kids: “I love you, but you are not serious people.”

The industry’s approach to sustainability is not working. We are already seeing brands step back from their committed science-based targets. It was also reported recently by McKinsey that two-thirds of fashion brands are lagging on meeting their decarbonization targets. Furthermore, 40 percent of these brands have actually seen an increase in emissions. These targets, set with the best of intentions, quickly fall apart when confronted by the scale and complexity of the challenge.

So, it’s complicated. We know that more than 70 percent of the carbon footprint of our industry resides in manufacturing. Manufacturers work with multiple brands. Brands have their own sustainability goals, targets and pet projects, but they share factories, so it’s common for manufacturers to have multiple and even contradictory projects in flight. Brands are frustrated, manufacturers are paralyzed and progress is painfully slow. 

I understand the need for brands to demonstrate progress, and most have very dedicated teams committed to delivering against their targets and their own projects. But it falls apart when it meets the reality of a shared manufacturing plant. 

Ultimately, brands are going to have to forgo some of their own pet projects and build aligned plans in partnership with other brands and manufacturers. This comes with its own set of challenges, anti-trust being just one, but it will need to be addressed. 

To add further complexity, we have a plethora of well-meaning NGOs that have their own individual impact projects. These can vary in size, funding, knowledge and skill set, but if we aren’t careful, they can actually cause further fragmentation of efforts despite best intentions.

One of the most obvious outcomes of this mayhem is that we are not listening to the people best placed to help solve this: the manufacturers. This is partly due to the buyer/seller power dynamic; very few manufacturers are going to tell their customers that their ideas suck. I can completely understand why manufacturers “lay low.” I would do the same. We need to bring these voices to the table, so we have a fair fight for progress. 

At Cascale’s recent Manufacturer Forum in Shanghai, we gathered more than 200 attendees to share their insights and solutions. I’m also traveling to other parts of Asia to meet with manufacturers individually, as they are uniquely positioned to offer solutions. Their expertise is crucial, especially now that climate adaptation has become essential due to increasingly severe monsoons and heatwaves.

But there is hope. This industry’s support of the Higg Index tools gives us an unparalleled insight into what’s working and what’s not. I will use our Annual Meeting in Munich in September to share this data and propose a roadmap for the industry. 

The clock is ticking. If we are going to become serious people, we have to work together.

Colin Browne is the CEO of global nonprofit alliance Cascale, formerly the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, and was previously interim CEO and COO of Under Armour.