[pageLogInLogOut]

#Sustainability

Fashion for Good celebrates success of first year in South Asia

Katrin Ley –  Managing Director, Fashion for Good officially opening the Fashion for Good South Asia Innovation Programme in Mumbai  on January 28th 2020. Credit: Umed Jadeja
Today, Fashion for Good celebrates the progress achieved over the past year since launching their South Asia Innovation Programme during their annual end of year event. To round off an eventful year, Fashion for Good announces their newest regional partner, Birla Cellulose – part of the Aditya Birla Group, as well as the graduation of 9, first batch start-ups, many of whom have successfully engaged with leading manufactures to bring their solutions to market in a year filled with unprecedented challenges.

With more than 100 deal flows and 83% engagement in pilot projects, it’s encouraging to see the pace and momentum of transformation in the region, driven by the Fashion for Good South Asia Innovation Programme. We’re extremely proud to have brought together our partners, manufacturers, Arvind Limited, the Welspun Group and Birla Cellulose, and innovators to achieve so much, in such a short period, and under such adverse circumstances; we’re excited to be leading the change.” – Katrin Ley, Managing Director – Fashion for Good

SCALING ALONG THE GROWTH CURVE

Throughout the year, Fashion for Good, working closely with key supply chain players, has identified the critical challenges posed to the circular transformation in the region; the lack of knowledge around circular solutions, the lack of capacity to work with innovations, the lack of funds to invest in new technologies, and lastly, the limited engagement from major fashion brands. In a newly released report “The State of Circular Innovation in the Indian Fashion and Textile Industries”, Fashion for Good highlights these challenges as well as the opportunities for innovation and investment. Fashion for Good addresses these challenges through their programmes to accelerate and scale these technologies as well as through collaborative initiatives with key players in the industry.  

DRIVING INNOVATION AND COLLABORATION

Scouting over 300 innovators from the region, the programme launched early this year with its first selection of 9 innovators, graduating today, and welcoming an additional 9 into their second batch in July. Aiming to scale these technologies through initiating opportunities with industry players, the programme orchestrated over 16 pilots and tests over the past 12 months.

Projects of note include; a collaboration between plastic recycling innovator Lucro and Welspun Limited to close the loop on their packaging waste stream; KB cols, a technology that extracts natural colours from waste that can be applied to textiles, is testing their solution with three partners; Descatuk and Birla Cellulose co-developed eco yarns that incorporate Descatuk’s unique New Natural Fibres (NNF); and most recently, Textile Genesis, a traceability platform using blockchain, together with leading brands BESTSELLER and Kering, join a Fashion for Good led consortium project, the Viscose Traceability Project, to trace the viscose fibres used in 8 garment styles across their supply chains.

Find out more about what the Fashion for Good South Asia Innovation Programme has achieved here: https://fashionforgood.com/south-asia-programme/ 




REGIONAL PRESENCE AND NEW PARTNERSHIPS 

Concluding a successful year of establishing a footprint and successful partnerships in the region, the South Asia Innovation Programme welcomes Birla Cellulose (who earlier this year joined Fashion for Good’s consortium project, Full Circle Textiles Project) as a regional innovation partner alongside launch partners Welspun and Arvind Limited. Birla Cellulose is a global leader in the man made cellulosic fibre industry, pioneering sustainable practices such as sustainable forestry, climate change initiatives, water conservation, innovations in alternative raw materials, Higg FEM, traceability and several other areas. The addition of Birla Cellulose to Fashion for Good’s existing network of global brands and manufacturers further engages pivotal supply chain actors to accelerate industry transformation.

© 2020 Fashion for good
© 2020 Fashion for good


In addition, Fashion for Good is engaged with a number of small scale, regional manufacturers in order to test and implement innovations, and is working closely with investor and expert communities, as well as universities to generate deeper impact within the regional fashion and textile industry.

“Our partnership with Fashion for Good is aligned to our strategy of partnering for creating bigger and broader positive sustainability impacts. We believe that the transformational changes can not be achieved without ground breaking innovations. The future belongs to companies which can learn to collaborate and drive innovation for the benefit of people, planet and profit.” – Mr Dilip Gaur, Business Director, Birla Cellulose, Aditya Birla Group & Managing Director, Grasim Industries Limited


More News from Fashion for Good

#Raw Materials

Fashion for Good mobilises industry to adopt mass balance attribution and accelerate decarbonisation

Fashion for Good launches today the Mass Balance Demonstrator project, a collaborative industry initiative to implement and scale the mass balance attribution (MBA) chain-of-custody model for biomass-attributed PET in textile applications. The project represents a concrete step toward accelerating brand-driven decarbonisation across the apparel value chain.

#Recycled Fibers

Advancing the future of stretch: Fashion for Good launches new project to validate bio-based and recycled elastane

Launched today, Stretching Circularity is a collaborative project initiated by Fashion for Good dedicated to accelerating the adoption of lower-impact elastane alternatives that are compatible with circular textile systems. By validating bio-based and recycled elastane solutions through pilot-scale testing and demonstrator garments, the initiative aims to remove one of the most significant technical barriers to a circular textile economy.

#Recycling / Circular Economy

Fashion for Good releases open-source blueprint for near-net-zero textile manufacturing

Fashion for Good launches the first open-source blueprint for near-net-zero textile manufacturing, tackling one of fashion’s biggest emissions hotspots. Developed under the Future Forward Factory project, the blueprint offers Tier 2 manufacturers in India five practical, financially viable pathways to reduce carbon emissions by up to 93%.

#New Materials

From premiums to parity: How Fashion for Good is rewriting the economics of new materials

Fashion for Good launches Price Parity Toolkit: developed with support from Laudes Foundation, Canopy and Finance Earth, the framework introduces an innovative financing approach (premium decoupling) to remove price premiums from the supply chain and unlock faster adoption of lower-impact materials across the industry.

More News on Sustainability

#Natural Fibers

Global Standard gGmbH launches second public consultation for GRTS Draft 2 for the textile industry (1–30 April 2026)

Global Standard gGmbH is pleased to announce the release of Draft 2 of the Global Responsible Textile Standard (GRTS) for its second public consultation. The consultation will be open from 1 April 2026 to 30 April 2026, inviting stakeholders across the textile and apparel value chain to provide input and contribute to the further development of this new Standard.

#Sustainability

Practical toolkit to drive coordinated climate action launched

An open-access workshop toolkit enables brands, suppliers, policymakers and investors across the textile industry to apply the System Map in their own work, identifying leverage points to halve emissions and enable a just transition.

#Raw Materials

Textile Exchange publishes cotton Life Cycle Assessment study to strengthen impact data

Textile Exchange has published the first in a series of seven Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies designed to improve the quality and robustness of environmental impact data for raw material production across the fashion, textile, and apparel industry. The first LCA study focuses on cotton and addresses critical data gaps and methodology variability through new high-quality data across key producing countries. The study includes organic, regenerative, recycled, and country averages for conventional cotton production systems, providing a clearer picture of the associated environmental impact.

#Sustainability

Experts publish APAC policy priorities

Cascale today announced the publication of its APAC Policy Priorities Paper, developed by the Asia-Pacific (APAC) Policy Member Expert Team (MET) to identify key regional sustainability challenges and provide practical, aligned recommendations for policymakers and industry stakeholders across Asia-Pacific.

Latest News

#Raw Materials

New study shows low environmental impact by Cotton made in Africa Organic Cotton from Tanzania

Today, the Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) is announcing the results of a comprehensive life-cycle analysis (LCA) for cotton produced in Tanzania under the Cotton made in Africa Organic (CmiA Organic) standard. The study emphasises the small ecological footprint of CmiA Organic verified cotton. This can largely be traced back to the absence of synthetic pesticides, artificial fertilisers, and artificial irrigation. Consequently, CmiA Organic cotton can help the textile industry meet regulatory requirements as well as science-based targets. The results also show that the consequences of climate change threaten the livelihoods of these cotton farmers, even though the type of agriculture they practise barely contributes to climate change.

#Raw Materials

Better Cotton Initiative strengthens regenerative focus in standard update

The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) has strengthened the regenerative focus of its field-level standard with the launch of a new version of its Principles & Criteria (P&C), which marks the next step in the organisation’s journey to becoming a regenerative standards system.

#Man-Made Fibers

Selenis and Kintra Fibers partner to scale 100% bio-based synthetic fiber technology

Selenis, a leading global specialty polyester manufacturer, today announced a strategic manufacturing partnership with materials science company Kintra Fibers to scale Kintra’s patented fiber-grade PBS resin - a 100% bio-based and biodegradable material designed for textile applications.

#Functional Fabrics

PERFORMANCE DAYS proves its relevance as the industry’s key meeting point

Held on March 18–19, 2026, PERFORMANCE DAYS once again confirmed its position as a leading international platform for functional textiles. A total of 3.366 trade visitors and around 560 exhibitors gathered in Munich, with the event already kicking off successfully on DAY 0, which received highly positive feedback for its interactive format. Despite challenging conditions caused by the public transport strike in Munich, the event saw strong attendance and a consistently high level of activity across both exhibition days.

TOP