Eco Age

The latest sustainable fashion industry good news: 🟢 Reformation has launched its first 100% recycled sweater collection, crafted from 95% recycled cashmere and 5% recycled wool. Supporting the brand's goal to become climate positive by reducing carbon-intensive fibres, the collection contains no virgin materials. 🟢GANNI has partnered with Vestiaire Collective to offer Ganni customers access to a dedicated resale service for pre-loved Ganni items that aims to ensure high-quality garments exist on the resale platform, strengthen brand loyalty and reinforce both companies’ commitment to circular fashion. 🟢Grace Wales Bonner has been appointed Creative Director of Menswear at Hermès, marking a powerful shift in luxury fashion’s creative director reshuffling. 🟢A study led by University of Maine scientists found that a barrier produced by edible fungus creates a liquid-proof and stain-proof coating on denim, polyester and other materials. This proof-of-concept represents the potential for a plastic-free alternative to synthetic coatings. 🟢Next month, the UK is expected to close the de minimis loophole that allows overseas ultra-fast fashion retailers , such as SHEIN and Temu, to send small packages to the UK without paying any customs duties. #news #goodnews #sustainablefashion #EcoAge #FashionForAFuture #sustainablefashionnews

Fast fashion giant Zara has just released a Halloween campaign shot by renowned fashion photographer Szilveszter Makó.   At first glance you would be hard-pushed to tell this campaign was by a fast fashion brand, with striking vintage twentieth-century portraiture visuals. Drawing on Szilveszter Makó’s inspiration from historic art movements it more closely resembles a luxury editorial.   But the vintage editorial look seems to gloss over the fact that Zara is a fast fashion giant, mass-producing low-quality clothing. Creating an illusion of quality ‘vintage’ looks with intentionally worn in and faded-effect garments. In reality, there is nothing vintage about Zara as the clothes are not designed with quality or longevity in mind.    Many pieces in the Halloween collection are made from fossil-fuel derived polyester - even in one case where the lower-impact material Lyocell has been used, it has been incorporated with a polyester blend.    The irony lies in Zara depicting themselves as a creator of enduring, vintage-quality pieces - a narrative fundamentally at odds with its business model of mass-producing disposable, synthetic-heavy clothing. Despite the attempt at a luxury exterior, the underlying product and business model remain rooted in fast fashion. Without substantive changes to quality and production practices, the brand risks a credibility gap that could erode long-term consumer trust.    What are your thoughts on Zara’s Halloween campaign? Let us know in the comments. #Zara #ZaraHalloween #FastFashion #LuxuryEditorial

Luxury French fashion house Hermès has appointed Grace Wales Bonner as the Creative Director of men’s ready-to-wear, succeeding French designer Véronique Nichanian after 37 years in the role. Long overdue, Grace Wales Bonner becomes the first Black woman to lead design at a major European luxury brand, a milestone that underscores the growing - though still limited - calls for greater diversity and representation at the top of fashion’s creative hierarchies. This stands out as a powerful shift in a year dominated by high-profile reshuffles across the luxury sector, the majority of which have seen white male designers disproportionately appointed to lead roles, including those previously held by women. The British-Jamaican designer - who launched her eponymous label Wales Bonner in 2014 after graduating from Central Saint Martins - has become known for her distinctive tailoring and sportswear. Her designs, grounded in historical research and storytelling, explore themes of culture, identity and heritage, drawing from the rich cultural narratives of the Black diaspora. Under the direction of Wales Bonner, could luxury fashion be redefined by placing culture and identity at its core? By creating garments rich with heritage, craftsmanship, and storytelling - the essence of true luxury - brands like Hermès may be leading a transformative shift in the industry. #GraceWalesBonner #Hermes #WalesBonner #LuxuryFashion

This week's sustainable fashion industry good news. 🟢 A new Vestiaire Collective and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report, ‘Resale’s Next Chapter: How Fashion and Luxury Brands Can Win in the Secondhand Market’ reveals the second-hand market is growing three times faster than new retail and is projected to reach almost $360 billion by 2030, up from $220 billion today. 🟢 The Textile Exchange conference highlighted the need for supply chain collaboration through interdependent partnerships and context-specific solutions, moving beyond transactional relationships and one-size-fits-all approaches. 🟢The British Fashion Council, in partnership with The Circular Fashion Innovation Network, and UK Fashion and Textile Association (UKFT) has released a new report revealing that sustainable fashion is attracting billions in investment. There are 650+ sustainable material innovations now available (400% since 2017) and next-generation materials have raised over $3 billion since 2014. 🟢 Twelve textile companies - forming the European Circular Textile Coalition- are urging the EU to match its regulatory ambition with investment in circular infrastructure to turn post-consumer textile waste into a driver of green jobs, innovation and competitiveness. 🟢For the first time, H&M Group will incorporate Circ®’s recycled fibres from polycotton textile waste into its garments. The first products debut in Fall 2025, with a womenswear v-neck fleece sweatshirt made with Circ® Polyester and expands in Spring 2026 with menswear denim crafted with TENCEL™ | Circ® with REFIBRA™ Technology. 🟢In Lisbon, Eco Age partnered with TextileGenesis, Haelixa, EON, and Bureau Veritas Group to host a networking event after Day Two of Textile Exchange Conference. Uniting leaders and innovators who each carry unique perspectives and expertise to drive our industry forward. #GoodNews #SustainableFashion #Secondhand #Innovation #EcoAge

Thank you to everyone who joined us last night at SUD Lisboa following the Textile Exchange Conference. As the sun set over the Tagus River, over a hundred professionals came together for an evening of meaningful connection and collaboration. At Eco Age, we believe progress happens when the right people come together. Our CEO John Higginson opened the evening by emphasising the power of uniting diverse knowledge and experience - bringing together leaders and innovators who each carry unique perspectives and expertise to drive our industry forward. We were proud to co-host the evening alongside TextileGenesis, Haelixa, EON, and Bureau Veritas Group - who are all instrumental in building trust and traceability across global fashion and textile supply chains. A highlight of the evening came from Christina Albrecht of @HUMAN TOUCH, who gave a live performance showcasing their distinctive paint-sewing technique. This powerful expression of fashion activism honoured the human labour at the heart of our industry, sparking reflection and conversation about the hands, skills, and stories behind every garment made. Events like this reinforce what we know to be true: real progress stems from shared knowledge, open dialogue and the collective action of changemakers committed to building a more responsible, transparent, and equitable fashion future. Photographs by Rose Richards. #EcoAge #TextileExchange #FashionForAFuture

Perhaps the future of the fashion industry doesn’t lie in lab innovation but in natural ecosystems. When it comes to the mammoth task of making fashion sustainable, focus tends to fall on what’s new and what’s next. However, the future of fashion may not come to us from the lab at all. It may be happening somewhere much less obvious: on the farm. From apples and bananas to hemp and wetland plants – farmed crops have become the forefront of positive change in the fashion industry. With a new cohort of next-generation materials looking directly to nature for their inspiration and their innovation, Eco Age spoke with leading voices in the space to find out why. Read the full story by Karl Smith here: https://lnkd.in/ekbR5329 Bananatex®Ponda 29acacia Papillon Bleu Limited Beyond Leather Materials ApS #FarmtoFashion #EcoAge #FashionForAFuture 

🟢 Sustainable Fashion Good News🟢 This week, Condé Nast, owner of Vogue, Glamour, Vanity Fair and GQ Magazine, announced it will no longer feature new fur in editorial content or advertising campaigns across its global publications. The decision marks a dramatic shift for publications like Vogue that have long championed the fur industry, particularly under former Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour. This follows a nine-month pressure campaign by Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade CAFT), which orchestrated over a hundred protests targeting Condé Nast executives and their associates. The new guidelines include defined exceptions for byproducts of subsistence and Indigenous practices. The fur industry poses both ethical and environmental crises. It is estimated that up to 95% of fur comes from factory-farmed animals, while toxic chemical treatments used in processing prevent the material from biodegrading, inflicting environmental harm. With Vogue's immense influence over fashion trends and consumer behaviour, this ban could signal a broader reckoning. The momentum is building. This year saw Australian Fashion Week's first wildlife-free edition, banning fur, feathers, and exotic leathers from runways. While London Fashion Week extended its fur ban to include exotic animal skins. After decades of resistance, is the fashion industry finally confronting the ethical cost of animal-derived materials? #CondeNast #FurBan #EthicalFashion #EcoAge

Could our clothes purify the air around us? At Paris Fashion Week, Stella McCartney unveiled a groundbreaking innovation: air-purifying denim, created in collaboration with PURE.TECH. Using advanced material technology, PURE.TECH. integrates a textile treatment that captures and neutralises harmful pollutants like CO₂, VOCs, and NOx, actively absorbing them from the atmosphere and converting them into harmless compounds - all while you wear. Once applied to textiles, this PURE.TECH layer imbues the material with carbon-capturing capabilities, while maintaining the look, feel and performance of the original material. This latest innovation demonstrates how thoughtful design and cross-disciplinary collaboration can lead to a more responsible fashion industry. Creating fashion that works to mitigate the industry's environmental impact while shaping a more sustainable future. #EcoAge #FashionForaFuture #StellaMcCartney #PURETECH

Connect with us at Textile Exchange Conference 2025 in Lisbon on 13-17 October. At Eco Age we're all about building Fashion. For A Future - a responsible industry rooted in ethics. There's no better place to do this than at Textile Exchange, where leaders and experts from across the fashion, textile, and apparel industry join forces for three days of curated, collective learning, unpacking how place-based insights can support industry-level strategies and global frameworks. Our CEO John Higginson, Executive Director Marwa Zamaray and Non-Executive Director Paul Foulkes-Arellano will all be there, eager to learn more about the brands paving the way for a responsible fashion and textile future. We’re also hosting an exclusive event that brings together over 100 industry leaders from global brands and innovators in collaboration with TextileGenesis, Haelixa, EON and Bureau Veritas Group. Let us know if you'll be in Lisbon next week - we'd love to connect. #EcoAge #TextileExchange #FashionForAFuture

The recently launched Textile Exchange Materials Market 2025 report reveals that fibre production increased 125 million tonnes in 2023 to 132 million tonnes in 2024. This figure reflects total fibre use across apparel, home textiles, footwear, and other applications. This has more than doubled since 2000 and increased by approximately 34 million tonnes since the Paris Agreement in 2015 - despite widespread industry pledges to curb environmental impact. At the current pace, global fibre production is projected to hit 169 million tonnes by 2030 - a trajectory that starkly contradicts urgent climate goals. The most significant driver of this growth is fossil fuel-based synthetics, particularly polyester, which remains the dominant fibre, now making up 59% of total global fibre output. While recycled polyester is gaining attention, the vast majority of this came from plastic bottles. While less than 1% of textiles are recycled into new textiles. While the report highlights encouraging progress in the growth of certified production, the relentless surge in virgin synthetic fibres remains dominant - and entirely unsustainable. The industry doesn’t need more manufacturing; it demands bold innovation. True solutions lie in transforming what already exists: by innovating, repurposing, and reimagining how we produce, use, and recover materials. #MaterialsMarket #FibreProduction #Textiles #EcoAge #Sustainability