It's time for a new set of solutions
Back from retirement and so many tabs open I don't know where to start.
Hi! It’s been a while. But I’m back from a writing hiatus and excited to word vomit into the ether. Is there anyone there?
Recently, I’ve been deep in the world of “sustainable” textiles, working for an organization and trying to figure out how we collectively move the needle in the fashion industry towards, not just lower impact but maybe, even, possibly, positive impact? A recognition that no one company, organization or stakeholder group can meaningfully drive change. But also a realization that coordinating multistakeholder efforts in a complex, misaligned system requires a totally new set of solutions than what’s on the table.
I’m not sure exactly where my writing will take me but I’m trying to speak to a moment that I think a lot of us in the sustainability field find ourselves in: deflated and small. I keep on thinking I’m ready to dive into a new industry, a new field and take some of what I’ve learned in apparel and fashion to an industry that is open to trying new things. But I keep coming back to the same issues and broken systems1 that led me to start Public Habit in 2018. We have set up an exploitative system that benefits very few and creates a huge amount of environmental and social harm in the process. And there’s actually stuff we can do about it. But it’s hard and not free and requires a lot of coordination and guts. And different rules.
If I could summarize where I think the fashion sustainability movement is in June 2025, it’s this picture: deflated but still with a smile on its face. The deflation because of the combo of the whiplash of regulatory changes, watered down EU policies, Trump, Trump tariffs, Trump being Trump, sustainability agendas deprioritized. The smile because, there’s a lot of ego in this space and many are still painting a pretty picture of how significant their progress is (and some of it is) even though all that progress appears to amount to…more carbon emissions, more production and more waste than ever before.
There are a lot of naysayers in the sustainability field and I really don’t want to spend my energy contributing to a doom loop. Neither do you, I imagine. I want to write about what gives me hope and keeps me optimistic in this work. Hopefully that will resonate with some of you out there. So, for my (enormously loud) relaunch of this newsletter, here are a few things I am excited to explore here over the coming weeks and months. And, hopefully, I’ll get to speak to some of the innovators behind these movements.
Textile-to-textile recycling, finally getting some momentum. Thanks to all those VC dollars that hopefully don’t dry up before at least one of these players achieves some industrial scale. Recyclers to watch: Syre, Reju, Ambercycle and Circ.
Speaking of T2T recycling, I’m also excited to see how Fashion For Good’s Fiber Club concept could evolve to neutralize the key cost barriers for textile-to-textile recycling. “The ultimate goal of Fiber Club is to enable innovators to secure long-term offtake agreements.”
Cool innovators in the Ag sector like Avalo, Materra and textile innovators like Tomtex. I don’t understand the tech yet but I plan to…try.
Some open tabs this month
Business of Fashion on the launch of the Apparel and Textile Transformation Initiative. This feels like an important step for producers in the supply system to self-organize and is “geared towards giving manufacturers a bigger voice in fashion’s climate conversations”. Yes please.
Big Closets Small Planet podcast series. Such great conversations on really critical topics within the fashion supply chain from degrowth to legislation to social inequities.
Understanding the ‘Sufficiency approach’ and what that could mean for the textiles industry. I think I need to do some more thinking about what a post-growth fashion industry looks like. It still seems too otherworldly.
If there’s anything specific within supply chains, fashion and innovation that you are keen to explore, please let me know in the comments! Or anything you’ve read and/or listened to that this crew may be into as well. I plan to keep my newsletter free for now. This is more for me more than anyone else out there at this point. Please share and let’s have more, real conversations.
A bit more about me…
I’m a Taurus, ENFJ…hahahahahaha just kidding.
I have spent over 15 years in and around the fashion supply chain starting with quality control in a baby clothing factory in Qingdao, China. I’ve run buying teams, product management and sourcing teams at Fortune 100 companies and have launched a couple of small but interesting fashion companies that set out to flip the supply chain script. I’ve been featured in Vogue, Harpers’ Bazaar and Forbes and I hate that I love that.
I now run Mile One, a boutique supply chain consultancy focused on delivering impact strategies for resilient and equitable supply chains. I really love working with founders and early stage climate tech, fashion and manufacturing companies to help craft big-picture sourcing, supply chain and sustainability strategies. And then implement them. Hit me up if you want to talk!
I recognize that the fashion system is working exactly as intended so, I guess it’s not broken, it’s just severely corrupt.
So here with you, side by side .. and feeling similarly.. appreciate your coming back at the (re) connecting to us/we movers and shakers .. we, like you for whatever reason, just can’t abandon our beloved industry, no matter the obstacles and naysayers… I can’t anyway.. I am on a mission, in a full on burn the boats kind of way , here on out -to HELP, rescue and remedy and get in the huddle - with #peoplelikeus… to make an impact 💪🏽.. thank u @Sydney badger!
So glad yo are writing again.