Textile Exchange

We are looking for organizations based in Portugal that would like to host an educational field trip on October 17, 2025, following the Textile Exchange Conference 2025. Field trips offer a practical opportunity to learn on the ground, providing an inside look at the supply chains and innovations driving sustainability in the textile industry. These experiences allow attendees to connect with the people and processes behind different materials, creating space for deeper learning and collaboration. Register your interest in hosting a field trip https://bit.ly/4iRbMse

Fashion starts with raw materials, and so does its impact on nature. While virgin fossil-based synthetics have well-documented negative outcomes, natural land-based materials can either harm or help the ecosystems around them — depending on how they are managed. By setting science-based targets for nature, brands and retailers can assess and reduce their impact on biodiversity, land, freshwater, and oceans. This is a key step toward addressing fashion’s ecological footprint, supporting conservation efforts, and regenerating natural systems. Read our guidance paper for brands and retailers on setting science-based targets for nature: https://bit.ly/4hS0ofP

At Textile Exchange, we are encouraging brands to invest in direct, long-term commitments with farmers and material producers, working to increase awareness of impacts on the ground, and helping to manage the financial risks that come with switching to more sustainable practices. That’s why we are supporting the Deforestation-Free Leather Fund, a new industry initiative designed to improve the sustainability of leather supply chains.   Led by WWF, this fund is an opportunity for industry leaders to share resources and unite around a common goal of advancing responsible leather sourcing practices.   Initial efforts will focus on Brazil and through collaboration with Brazilian partners, the fund will implement proven and cost-effective solutions to improve traceability and ranching practices, as well as restore degraded natural areas.   To learn more, visit: https://lnkd.in/eqtSkE-E

Textile Exchange is proud to be a partner of Circularity by Trellis Group, a gathering of professionals working to build a circular economy that is just, resilient, and operates within planetary boundaries. This year, Circularity is taking place from April 29 to May 1, 2025, in Denver, Colorado. Through thought-provoking sessions and opportunities to connect with other attendees, the event aims to empower participants to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Register by March 28 to access Circularity's discounted ticket rate and use the code C25TE to receive an additional 10% off the Final Rate for All-Access Pass.   Register for Circularity https://buff.ly/41XXmS4 → #Circularity

Science-based targets for nature provide a framework to help companies assess risks, set measurable goals, and take action to protect biodiversity, land, freshwater, and oceans. These seven questions can help the fashion, textile, and apparel industry start to understand its impacts and dependencies on nature. To dive deeper, visit our new guidance on setting science-based targets for nature: https://bit.ly/3QEDjRM 📷 Alejandra Orosco and Danilo Arenas

Our latest publication aims to help companies in the fashion, apparel, and textile industry set science-based targets for nature. With its release, we urge brands and retailers to go beyond greenhouse gas emissions and establish more holistic impact goals, unlocking the critical progress toward more sustainable raw material production that can come from this approach. The textile industry’s reliance on both fossil and land-based raw materials directly impacts natural ecosystems. Alongside the overwhelmingly negative impacts of virgin fossil-based synthetics, common land-based materials can either disrupt or restore nature, depending on how they are managed. It is a key opportunity for the industry, with fibers and materials including cotton and leather now listed on the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN)’s list of High-Impact Commodities — which considers their potential worst-case scenario pressures on areas like climate, land, water, and soil. In contrast, these can all form part of regenerative systems that restore nature and biodiversity, giving the industry significant leverage on its impact just by changing how its materials are produced. The formal introduction of science-based targets for nature by the SBTN in 2024 gave brands a common methodology to address these areas. However, setting effective nature targets requires granular, location-specific data and heightened supply chain visibility, resulting in complex processes that demand industry-specific guidance and support. Our Guidance on Science-Based Targets for Nature helps translate these methods, supporting the uptake of nature-related targets. The publication is designed to help brands and retailers implement primarily Step 3 of the science-based targets for nature framework as it relates to raw material production. It provides users with practical steps and general considerations to get started, along with specific tips to navigate the two most relevant target-setting areas for the industry: freshwater and land. Effectively addressing these areas can help the industry address its ecological footprint, contribute to biodiversity conservation, and support the regeneration of natural systems. This aligns with Textile Exchange’s Climate+ strategy, which states that nature-related impact areas such as biodiversity, freshwater, and soil health should always be considered alongside greenhouse gas emissions reduction. Read the full publication https://lnkd.in/g5TDM_G5   📷 Alejandra Orosco

Thank you for the incredible reaction to our short film, Now We Live in Paradise 💚 Our last excerpt looks at a final, important question: How are fashion and food interconnected? Let’s take João Félix de Souza’s land as an example. Here, fruits, vegetables, and cotton are interspersed, each growing alongside each other on the same soil. “In my field, there are corn, beans, cotton, angelim, watermelon, cucumber, pumpkin, and grass,” he smiles. “I have other crops planted as well. I have peanuts, rice, and more. There are many things, like green onions, lemons, oranges, coconuts, star fruit…” But there is plenty of logic behind this eclectic mix — with each crop offering different properties to benefit the whole. “Some crops deplete the soil of everything it has, while others, like beans and legumes, replenish some of the nutrients that the soil needs,” he explains. Watch the full film on our website to learn more about how crops like cotton can be integrated into agricultural systems that restore the surrounding biodiversity: https://bit.ly/416CuGd Film Director: Sabrina Duarte DOP: Danilo Arenas Photographers: Danilo Arenas and Sabrina Duarte 16mm Cameraman: Nestor Grun 1nd AC/ Logger: Giovanny Oliveira Audio: Lauro Lopes and Pedro Emílio Sá Production company: Taurina Productions Executive Production: Arabi Mesquita Producer: Alice Zampieri Film Editor: Nathalia Kamura Soundtrack, SFX and mixing: Giovanna Ferreira Designer: Júlia Capanema Color: Ronnie Outtch Post-production superviser: Miguel Lima Special thanks to the Solidaridad team and Esplar’s Samara Santos for their support on the ground, as well as Valdemiro Broech, Edilson José Pedro, Maria Alcy Perreira dos Santos, João Félix de Souza, and Vanusa Inácio de Carvalho who kindly shared their stories.

Textile Exchange is pleased to serve as a nominator for Apparel Impact Institute’s (Aii’s) Climate Solutions Portfolio (CSP), a registry of proven and promising initiatives advancing decarbonization in the textile and apparel industry. We are seeking innovations, programs, and technologies to join this dynamic ecosystem driving industry-wide change.   CSP benefits include: - Independent validation - Amplified exposure across the industry  - Connections to leading brands, facilities, and investors  - Access to grants and blended capital financing Aii’s annual open call for grants will take place from March 3 to 31. Learn more about the application and grant opportunities https://lnkd.in/d-q4BBQu →

Where does our new film get its name? 🎥 In this short excerpt, the five farmers featured in Now We Live in Paradise speak about how they have been working to protect and restore nature on the land where they live and farm. Whether through safeguarding the forest within the perimeters of their land, rotating the plots on which their cattle graze, or choosing to interweave crops like corn and sesame with cotton, their stories show that material production can work in harmony with nature, rather than against it. The film gets its name from a reflection shared by one of the farmers, when asked about the changes he has obseved in his plot of land since he began growing using agroecological methods. “Hoje eu moro no paraíso," he responded, meaning "Now, I live in paradise.” It hopes that the care they have over their land can serve as an example to others, in how we can protect this planet we all share as our common home. And how generously it gives back to us when we do. Watch the full film on our website: https://lnkd.in/ez-5cPrb Film Director: Sabrina Duarte DOP: Danilo Arenas Photographers: Danilo Arenas and Sabrina Duarte 16mm Cameraman: Nestor Grun 1nd AC/ Logger: Giovanny Oliveira Audio: Lauro Lopes and Pedro Emílio Sá Production company: Taurina Productions Executive Production: Arabi Mesquita Producer: Alice Zampieri Film Editor: Nathalia Kamura Soundtrack, SFX and mixing: Giovanna Ferreira Designer: Júlia Capanema Color: Ronnie Outtch Post-production superviser: Miguel Lima Special thanks to the Solidaridad team and Esplar’s Samara Santos for their support on the ground, as well as Valdemiro Broech, Edilson José Pedro, Maria Alcy Perreira dos Santos, João Félix de Souza, and Vanusa Inácio de Carvalho who kindly shared their stories.

💫 It’s launch day! Our short film is now live 🌿 Released today, Now We Live in Paradise follows the stories of five smallholder cotton or cattle farmers across two states of Brazil. They live on the land they farm and are committed to protecting and restoring the surrounding biodiversity through agroecological practices. Their experiences show how potentially high-impact commodities such as cotton and leather can be integrated into farming cycles that benefit, rather than harm, the surrounding ecosystem. Using practices such as intercropping and rotational grazing, these farmers are successfully safeguarding nature in the places they call home — and have gained invaluable wisdom along the way. Find the full film here https://lnkd.in/dt3kYJ4K A big thank you to the whole team who helped us bring this film to life, as well as the Solidaridad team and Esplar’s Samara Santos for their support on the ground. Most importantly, thank you to Valdemiro Broech, Edilson José Pedro, Maria Alcy Perreira dos Santos, João Félix de Souza, and Vanusa Inácio de Carvalho who kindly shared their stories. Film Director: Sabrina Duarte DOP: Danilo Arenas Photographers: Danilo Arenas and Sabrina Duarte 16mm Cameraman: Nestor Grun 1nd AC/ Logger: Giovanny Oliveira Audio: Lauro Lopes and Pedro Emílio Sá Production company: Taurina Productions Executive Production: Arabi Mesquita Producer: Alice Zampieri Film Editor: Nathalia Kamura Soundtrack, SFX and mixing: Giovanna Ferreira Designer: Júlia Capanema Color: Ronnie Outtch Post-production superviser: Miguel Lima