ABSTRACT
In fashion, sustainability initiatives have so far been led by industry, specifically by companies working together with their suppliers to improve sustainability performance in the supply chain. As a result, people in the technical areas and in corporate social responsibility (CSR) departments of these companies hold significantly more knowledge about the ecological and social impacts of garments than those working at more operational levels. Yet rarely is this deep knowledge communicated more broadly within the company. For the scientific and technical language of textile processing and standards is particular and not easy to explain or digest in the scope of a busy fashion industry workday. When it is communicated, what is discussed is always contextualised against the organisation’s corporate culture, its customer, its image and not least by its imperative to sell more products.
