Tai Aracen Ⓢ’s Post

Exciting Yet Cautious Times in Sustainable Fashion: SHEIN's New €200 Million Textile Circularity Fund 🌍 In a bold move towards sustainability, SHEIN, the global fashion online retailer, has announced the launch of a €200 million Circularity Fund. This initiative is aimed at supporting startups across Europe and the UK that are developing textile-to-textile circularity solutions. 🔄 The fund is a response to the increasing pressure on the fast-fashion industry to mitigate its environmental impact. With the European Commission highlighting the urgent need for sustainable management of textile waste, SHEIN's fund will invest in early-stage startups working on innovative recycling technologies and form commercial partnerships with more mature startups. 🤔 However, as we applaud this step, it's crucial to remain vigilant. SHEIN, known for its fast-fashion model, has been criticized for its substantial environmental footprint. The company's latest ESG report reveals that more than 99% of its greenhouse gas emissions come from its extensive product supply chain, primarily under Scope 3 emissions. 💬 As stakeholders in the sustainable fashion movement, we must encourage and scrutinize SHEIN's efforts to ensure that this fund is not just a strategic move to enhance the brand image but a genuine step towards real change. It's essential to hold them accountable and push for transparency in how this fund is implemented and its impacts measured. 🌿 Let's keep the conversation going! What are your thoughts on this initiative? Can big polluters genuinely turn the tide towards sustainability? Share your views! 🔗 Read more about the fund here: https://lnkd.in/dV_D43PD #SustainableFashion #CircularEconomy #ESG #TextileRecycling #FashionIndustry #CorporateResponsibility #SHEIN #Sustainable #Sustainable #Fashion

Shein just started a €250M Circular Fund to invest in circular startups - this is why it’s problematic👇 The ultra-fast fashion giant has just launched a €200M Circular Fund (plus an additional €50M for ESG measures) for helping startups that make fashion more circular, particularly in textile-to-textile recycling but also companies working with unsold textiles. As a startup working to help brands find alternative solutions for their unsold inventory, FINDS would potentially be the type of startup the fund is looking for. However, working with Shein would go against our original goal of making the fashion industry more responisble. While investing 250M is a great initiative, the investments do not change the rate at which Shein itself produces low-quality clothing (up to 1 million unique styles per year), and encourages careless overconsumption through aggressive marketing. Not to mention the use of plastic, chemicals, and reportedly unacceptable conditions for its workers. With this in mind, the circular initiative feels bleak in comparison to the environmental damage the company incurs on our planet every year. Circularity starts from the design and business model. Recycling simply becomes a band-aid solution to the gaping wound of fast fashion if we keep producing and consuming clothes at the same rate as today. Investing in circularity is good, but let’s be honest: this is clearly a greenwashing attempt from Shein. #sustainablefashion #circularity #shein

Congratulations to SHEIN for launching the Circularity Fund with a remarkable €200 million investment! This initiative aims to support startups in Europe and the UK focused on innovative textile-to-textile circularity solutions. As the fashion industry faces growing pressure to mitigate its environmental impact, this fund comes at a crucial time. The European Commission's new rules emphasize sustainable management of textile waste, noting that only 22% of post-consumer textiles are recycled, with most ending up in landfills or incinerated. SHEIN's commitment will empower businesses to develop next-gen circularity technologies, helping to reduce the fashion sector's substantial contributions to climate change, water, and land use. #sustainabledevelopmenttechnology #inspireglobalventures https://lnkd.in/engT47CQ

SHEIN Launches €200 Million Textile Circularity Fund- Global fashion online retailer SHEIN announced the launch of a new Circularity Fund, with the company providing an initial investment of €200 million, aimed at supporting startups in Europe and the UK focused on textile-to-textile circularity solutions. The new fund comes as the fashion industry, and the fast-fashion sector in particular, face increasing pressure to address the climate impact of their businesses. The European Commission, for example, has proposed rules aimed at supporting the sustainable management of textile waste, and placing responsibility for the full lifecycle of textile products in the hands of producers, noting that only 22% of post-consumer textile waste is collected for re-use or recycling, with the remainder often landfilled or incinerated, and that consumption of textiles has the fourth highest impact on climate change and the environment, and is one of the top factors impacting water and land use as well as greenhouse gas emissions. #recycling #wastemanagement #textilerecycling #circulareconomy #circularity

I was in Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago, attending the Innovation Forum Sustainable Apparel and Textiles conference with Zalando. Here are a 3 of my personal takeaways: ♻ Textile sorting and recycling infrastructure remains significantly below capacity, and a funding gap remains: The EU produces 7.5 million tonnes of textile waste per year and yet, despite progress from recycling innovators such as Infinited Fiber Company and Circ® , capacity for textile-to-textile recycling in Europe remains at pilot stage. Ensuring innovators can scale will require huge further CAPEX investment - IFC alone will need an estimated 400 million euros to build their commercial facility in Finland. Brands, VCs, Private Equity and Institutional Investors must come together to provide financing at this scale to ensure recycling can be at sufficient scale to support circular fashion 🥕 Policy must provide more carrots to incentivise the shift circular business models, particularly resale: We are facing a huge volume of legislation in the EU, across CSRD, ESPR, EPR and more. All of these are helpful in ensuring companies raise the floor when it comes to sustainability and circular design. However, there is a distinct lack of positive incentives - carrots - that actually encourage brands to invest in innovation. To accelerate progress, we must push for VAT reductions for circular business models, virgin material taxes, combined with recycled material incentives to drive change at scale 📜 Offtake agreements - and how to do them successfully - remain a key challenge for the industry: as the fashion industry witnessed with the recent Renewcell bankruptcy, offtake agreements alone are not enough to ensure uptake of new innovative or recycled materials at scale. The same challenges exist, notably the additional costs of new materials, roles and responsibilities between innovator vs brand vs fiber producer and ensuring material quality. As an industry, we must engage other sectors where offtakes have been successful to define conditions for success for how to bring new materials to sufficient scale

Thread of Hope: SHEIN Invests in a Circular Fashion Future SHEIN, the iconic fast-fashion brand known for its trendy and affordable clothing, has recently Stitches #Sustainability into its #Fast-Fashion Model. The company has launched a €200 million Circularity Fund aimed at supporting startups and businesses in Europe and the UK focused on textile-to-textile circularity solutions. As a leading ESG rating company for over two decades, Inrate has observed the growing pressure on the fashion industry to address its environmental impact. This move by SHEIN is a welcome development, demonstrating a commitment to reducing its environmental footprint and promoting a more circular economy. The fashion industry, especially fast fashion, has long been criticized for its unsustainable practices, including excessive waste, resource depletion, and pollution. The Circularity Fund is a clear signal that SHEIN is taking these concerns seriously and actively seeking solutions to transition towards a more sustainable model. This initiative aligns with Inrate's mission to empower investors with data and insights to make informed decisions that are both responsible and rewarding. By supporting startups and businesses working on textile-to-textile recycling and other circularity solutions, SHEIN is investing in technologies and practices that have the potential to transform the fashion industry and create a more sustainable future. It's encouraging to see SHEIN taking a leadership role in driving positive change within the industry. This move not only benefits the environment but also resonates with the growing consumer demand for sustainable and ethical fashion. As more consumers prioritize sustainability in their purchasing decisions, brands like SHEIN that invest in circularity initiatives are likely to gain a competitive advantage. I applaud SHEIN's commitment to circularity and encourage other fashion brands to follow suit (so that I can feel less guilt 😂 ). By working together, we can create a more sustainable and equitable fashion industry that benefits both people and the planet. I learned about this exciting news from an article on ESG Today, which provides in-depth coverage of sustainability issues and trends. You can read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gjsrjvX3 Let's continue to support and invest in efforts that are both #Responsible and #Rewarding. Together, we can build a more sustainable future for the fashion industry and beyond. #sustainablefashion #circulareconomy #ESG #impactinvesting #fashionindustry #Inrate #SHEIN #textilerecycling #fastfashion #responsiblefashion

#SHEIN Global fashion online retailer SHEIN announced the launch of a new Circularity Fund, with the company providing an initial investment of €200 million, aimed at supporting startups in Europe and the UK focused on textile-to-textile circularity solutions. The new fund comes as the fashion industry, and the fast-fashion sector in particular, face increasing pressure to address the climate impact of their businesses. The European Commission, for example, has proposed rules aimed at supporting the sustainable management of textile waste, and placing responsibility for the full lifecycle of textile products in the hands of producers, noting that only 22% of post-consumer textile waste is collected for re-use or recycling, with the remainder often landfilled or incinerated, and that consumption of textiles has the fourth highest impact on climate change and the environment, and is one of the top factors impacting water and land use as well as greenhouse gas emissions. https://lnkd.in/d2zBPmpF

I was catching up with a client this week, and the topic of ‘Greenwashing’ came up. As I got back to my desk, I realised I’d never shared a list of ‘suspicious’ terms used by brands that are great at dressing up their sustainability claims… So, here’s me, hoping to help you spot the ‘thanks, but no thanks’ practices: Conscious Collection > @hm Join life > @zara Shein Cares > @sheinofficial Primary Cares > @primark eco-conscious: @freepeople Care FP > @freepeople Considered Collection > @topshop Boohoo Filter Free > @Booho  Purposeful Positive Change > @Booho  The Kind Society > @Riverisland Tree Planting Program > @Temu Sustainability meets sexy > @victoriassecret The jury’s out - let’s be real, we’re being fooled. It’s this simple: big brands including fast fashion companies can produce as many "organically grown," "recycled materials," made from unicorn tears and fairy dust as they want, but until they PRODUCE LESS, they will NEVER be sustainable. Full stop. The brands highlighted here - and their industry peers - are producing TOO MUCH, investing their time and resources to get you and me to spend even more on their so-called “sustainable” collections. I’m not buying it - pun intended… are you? #greenwashing

A very insightful summary on the status of circularity and innovation in the fashion industry. It's worth a good read! #sustainablefashion #circularity #innovation #fashion #reversesupplychain #wastehierarchy #waste #resources #sustainablematerials

Let's talk about sustainability in the fashion industry 🛍 Did you know that over 1.4 billion new items of clothing are manufactured and imported into Australia every year? Most of it is made from non-sustainable, non-durable materials, and 200,000 tonnes of the stuff ends up in landfill annually 😱 That's why we're such big fans of moves towards sustainability like Seamless | Australia's Clothing Stewardship Scheme 😍 Looking to transform how clothing is made, used, and circulated, the Australian Fashion Council (AFC) scheme aims for clothing circularity by 2030. These goals really resonate with the sustainability underpinning of the ecoPortal platform 🌏 🌱 We look forward to watching Seamless's journey, especially with Ainsley Simpson at the helm as the inaugural CEO from early March this year 👏 #Sustainability #HealthAndSafety