Sharing Strategies and Approaches to Sustainability | Faherty, Material Exchange | PI Apparel

Hi everyone, my name's Andrea Kennedy. Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here on sharing strategies and approaches on sustainability with Tara Morris from Coach and Lisa Diegel from Faure du Brand. I'm from Material Exchange. I'm the VP of Sustainability there, where my mission is to help with product features that will drive sustainability and impact reduction. Across materials when you source them, as well as the other half of my job is about education for sustainability for the industry and for all of our stakeholders. So first, why don't you both introduce yourself? So Tara, do you want to tell everyone what you do?

I will.

Thank you. Nice to see everyone. Thank you for inviting me. So my name is Tara Morris. I work as a designer, a design strategist, and an educator. The spaces that I primarily work in are working with brands, particularly design teams to shift from linear supply chains, linear ways of thinking into circular ways of thinking. And I really spend a lot of my time at the mindset shift part of the conversation. How do we really shift the way we think to redesign these processes that are quite embedded in everybody's day-to-day work? And then the other part of what I do is I am an educator and I work with the next generation of future fashion business professionals.

Thanks, Tara. Lisa, tell us about you.

Hi everyone, my name is Lisa Diegel. I'm currently the Director of Global Sustainability at Faeriebrand. There I am building on their current sustainability strategy and working on their initiatives to meet their sustainability targets. I have a background in design production in and textiles before moving into sustainability and worked for VF Corporation and LVMH in my past roles. So I'm happy to be here.

Amazing. Thank you so much. And if we can move to the next slides, please. Or do you have our slides up? In the meantime, the objective of this panel— without the slides, I'm going to have to wing it. The objective of this panel is really how to make a more sustainable product. I sit through so many of these conferences and always learn so much, but a lot of what we hear presented is very high level. And I have myself produced many sustainable fashion conferences, and afterwards most people said, that's great. That we need to reduce carbon, but how do we do it? So we're focused today on how we do things and how things are actually being implemented. But before we do that, I do have one high-level question, right? Because if the objective is a sustainable product, then one of the ways to meet that objective is with sustainable design, right? So how do you each approach design differently towards a more sustainable product? Lisa, let's start with you on that one.

Sure, so at Faheyerty Brand, does everyone know Faheyerty Brand? It's a, yeah. I'll just give a quick description of the brand. It was started about 10 years ago by twin brothers, Alex and Mike Faheyerty, and they wanted to build a brand of casual, elevated, high-quality clothing, and they wanted to do it with sustainability sustainability in mind from the beginning. So really the brand started out thinking of sustainability in all of their processes and all departments from the beginning. So I think that it's just been embedded in the DNA of the brand, and it is important to every division of the brand, starting with design, where the designers are conscious of all of the materials and processes that they're using.

Amazing. Thank you.

Tara.

So let me tack on to that. Thinking just about design, if you think about the global design cohort out there, people who are working in the industry today and people who are in, particularly people who are in leadership roles and are able to decision make, 90% of them, 95% of them have not received any education, formal education in sustainability, circularity, material sourcing, right? It is not, it is just now starting to be something that's taught at— in an academic way, in a design way, in design schools, and really, you know, throughout the industry, right? So you have people doing their jobs every day who may not have the benefit of really having had a formal education. So where I work, you know, and this is where mindset is really important, and I'm really lucky to work with design teams where the design leadership is incredibly committed to making this shift happen as people are working. So it means you're shifting people's practices while they're actually doing their job. Really hard thing to do. I focus a lot on looking for kind of two things. First, don't think about the way you've been taught, but start to think backwards. So think at the end of the product. This thing is now out there in the world, it's been sold to somebody. Now work your way backwards and start asking yourself like every single decision point along the way, have you designed it knowing what's gonna happen to it at its end of life? And then, To implement, we look for prototypes. We look for small places that we can test or try something new. Prototypes become larger initiatives.

Amazing. Small steps, right? I am gonna ask, and I so apologize, are slides coming? I just saw that. Okay, I will wing it. So now we're gonna move into the strategies. So the first strategy is design for detoxification. So design for detoxification, if you start at the designing in the source, sourcing part, really sourcing healthy materials that are safe for all beings. And when I say all beings, that means every blade of grass, every tree, every microorganism in the soil or in the water or in the air, as well as all people and all communities. So it's really— first you have to understand what it is. But let's see how it's being practiced. Lisa, how are you designing for detoxification at Faerdi Group?

Uh, so, so at Faraday, we are Blue Sign partners. So this is an organization that is helping us create processes and, and management systems that will reduce any hazardous chemicals that are in our, our products. We do test, and we do work with blue— other Blue Sign partners as much as possible to ensure that our fabrics and materials are hazard-free.

Amazing. So really working to phase out those hazardous substances. Okay, the next strategy is designing for repair. So designing for repair is really offering a repair program. But something that's key about when you're designing that repair program is that it has to be easy for people to understand, for people to to send it back for it to be repaired, and that's not so easy, right? But you're doing it pretty well. So let's hear how you're doing that at Coach, Tara.

So we are— and I'm going to say that in this conversation, I get to speak from a place of we, thankfully, at Coach, have had a repair center as part of our standard operating business for more than 40 years at this point, so since the '80s. Here in North America, there's a repair center out in New Jersey that is really like a small factory. So if you buy a bag in the United States, you have the ability to send that bag in and it can be repaired. And it doesn't matter, it doesn't have to be a current bag. We fix historical bags. You know, we get a lot of, you know, well-loved briefcases from people from the '70s and '80s. So the repair center has been in operation. What was interesting a couple years, if I go back a couple of years, is that really it was a part of the business that the design team and many merchandisers, people operating the business, didn't really fully understand our ability to do this, right? So we had the repair center, the customers knew it, it was customer-facing, but it was not internally-facing. And so part of the shifts that we've been creating, and the example I'll use is we are in year 2 of a program called Re:LOVED, where we take things back and we have the ability ability to repair them, redesign them, and send them back out to a second customer. We'll talk more about that in a second. But what was interesting was just first that shift of even getting people in our New York corporate offices to realize that we had this valuable resource that was part of our business that was sitting just over the water. Once we started working— once we started kind of connecting those dots, then you start to get to the next phase. And actually, the designer for that program is sitting front row, and we are actually working on phase 2 of this program where we're taking the learnings from now looking at product that's been out in the wild for 5, 10, 15, 20 years, and we can actually study it and say like, ah, we know what hardware fails, we know what leather does well over time, we know what constructions do well over time, and if we can start taking that information and giving it back to the design team so that they can start redesigning and rethinking how they're making product, it enables us to repair more efficiently, more easily over time. And I would say also like our ability to communicate with a customer, to know that there is a repair option, that is really key, right? If we repair and our repairs are amazing, but the customer doesn't know that they have that option, that's really a failure. You have to really, in circularity, you have to engage the customer and know that they know that this is a loop and the product can come back to us.

Thank you so much. I love that you're tracking those repairs, right? We track what color sells best. We track, you know, what pant length does, but are we always tracking, you know, what materials are best to be repaired? Another way to design for repair is also to, when you're designing, to make sure you're designing elements that can be upgraded, that can be transformed, again, in an easy manner in terms of just assembling them. So the next strategy we're going to chat about is design for dematerialization. So designing for dematerialization is really about minimizing material and resource inputs. So all three of us are going to respond to that. But Lisa, how about if you start, please?

Sure. I think at Faerdi, we— The aesthetic of the brand is actually very minimal and clean. It has a very natural sort of feeling to it. So it's just by nature, it's not using a lot of screen printing. We don't use a lot of embroidery and dyeing. And so naturally we have a lot less materials. We are also just really looking at the trims and the packaging that we are attaching to those materials. So if we have 100% organic top, like the one I'm wearing today, and then we go and add a bunch of buttons and labels and, you know, paper hang tags on it, that's sort of defeating the purpose. So we're really trying to pay attention to that and also use more monofibers. So 100% organic cotton or 100% recycled polyester, which can be very difficult to do when you're trying to make very comfortable lifestyle wear. So it's a challenge, but we're working at that progressively.

I love that. And really that monofiber is a really great example of designing for dematerialization because then it can be broken down and become something new. It then becomes recyclable as well. Tara, how about how you're working for designing for dematerialization, please?

Okay.

So So put yourself in the position of a designer working in 2020. You know, design teams work in Europe, in North America, and for the most part, products are made overseas. So a designer is responsible mainly for, at least in the Coach example that I'm gonna give you, responsible for the silhouette, the aesthetic, the shape, the size, the proportion, and then that sketch will go away, and a factory, and a skilled factory, assemble that bag. To assemble that bag, there are usually many internals, fillers, padding, structural support that give the bag its character. Those are the things that the designer will not see and doesn't necessarily— is not a part of their process, at least today. What we're doing is we're shifting that process so that we're starting to really allow the designers to be a part of that decision-making process where where we're thinking about all of the materials. Think about, you know, a sneaker, a bag. If you cut them in half, there would be many things lurking inside of there that I think you probably wouldn't realize from the outside. So all of those invisibles have to become visible at the design phase.

Love that. And when you start counting them, there's so many, right?

There's a lot.

Yes. Like in this shirt you're wearing, I've done this, in a workshop once, and there were 27 inputs. So if you can even reduce that by 10%, you're already working towards dematerialization. And then, you know, eliminating wasteful processes is just another way to work for dematerialization. So at Material Exchange, of course, we're trying to— we aren't trying, we do with our digital material showrooms work towards not sending swatches overseas in airplanes, in FedEx envelopes, and digitizing those processes. But we're also working once you've placed that order on consolidation. So consolidation is a great way to dematerialize in terms of fuel use, packaging use, and whatnot, and all of the, the natural resources, trees, tape, boxes, transport, and whatnot. So there are a lot of ways to achieve dematerialization and save resource consumption. And the next one is a little bit less about— well, it's a lot less, although it's all connected, right— about the physical product and the environmental impacts, and more about the social impacts, but designing to honor cultures. So, Lisa, how at Faheyardi Brand are you working towards this strategy, please?

Yeah, I really love this strategy because I am actually of First Nations heritage. I'm from Canada, and I'm part I'm part of the Nisga'a Nation in British Columbia. So I love that Faerie brand has, you know, part of their aesthetic has been Native American prints, motifs, and designs. And I think traditionally brands, many brands have appropriated those designs and motifs. And at Faerie, they really wanted to make a positive change about that. So we started working with Native, designers, and we have made it part of our mission to, you know, partner with them. They're the designers, they're creating the motifs, and we have a mutually beneficial partnership with them. And this is important because Native motifs and designs or Indigenous designs often have deeper meaning than just a cool design that goes on a blanket or a shirt. They often tell stories. Of family, culture, and our ancestors. So we really wanted to, you know, make this part of the brand that was very authentic and meaningful and be thoughtful and respectful about that side of the business. And it's been very successful. We've had partnerships with many Native and Indigenous partners. We also have Native and Indigenous interns that come to work with us. We have a board member, and we partner with artists to do murals on some of our stores and locations. So we are very committed to this side of the business and hope that it makes a positive impact. And it does for both sides.

Wow, that's beautiful. That is so beautiful. More than I even knew. Like, I didn't know about the interns and the murals and whatnot, but you're really working to enhance the lives of the Indigenous peoples. And I think that that's so beautiful. Thank you for sharing all of that. So another strategy that we're going to do is reutilization, also known as reuse, which, bless you, is also part of circularity. But really, how can you recover products and reprocess materials and create new product? That's what reutilization is about, and doing it again and again. But what's happening here at COSE is very innovative, so let's hear about that, Tara, please.

Thank you. So, you know, again, when you're thinking about circularity and you're thinking about all of these strategies, every product category is going to kind of come in at a different level. And again, handbags are made of leather that is a high-quality, high-durability, long-lasting material, right? So already this idea of reuse longevity plays well already with the products that we make. The things that we're doing to expand this, we've— when we launched Re:LOVED, we also launched a take-back program. So we have to get things back, and we have to now start that relationship with the customer where they really know that things are meant to come back into the brand. When they come back to us, they are assessed. So we'll look at them and kind of break them down into category. There are kind of 3 streams that things can go into. If they are in great shape and can maybe with a little bit of cleanup and polish and, you know, fix a stitch here or there, they can be resold. If they are— if there's maybe a bit of damage that is visible, not easily, you know, repaired, those things then move on to Rose and those become reloved. And those bags become one-of-a-kind, one-of-a-kind pieces. They can be hand-painted, they can be embellished, they can be Taken apart with new, you know, new handles or straps or flaps added to them. They can be sometimes combined with other bags, and they really are kind of both works of art, but interestingly enough, a year in, Rose is getting so good at knowing, at developing different pathways. We know that there can be, you know, studs applied to things. We know that something can get a new strap, right? Like, there's a strategy now to ramp this up at scale, 'cause that's the goal. We have to get this stuff, it has to be the biggest part of the business, right? right, in a future world. And then finally, if things have really— they're at the end of their life, what we do is we disassemble those bags, we save the panels, we save the hardware, and those move to our partner factories where we can make things like our dinosaur puzzles or bookmarks and other great amazing things that are coming down the pipeline that are really interesting. And what we've— what another kind of interesting thing that we've learned in that is if we release a little bit of the control on the side and allow our partners to have some design parameters that they can work within, it means that those disassembled bags, the materials for them can gather and kind of as they— once they get to a point where they have enough material, then the factory themselves can launch new product. And that's a different way of working. That's a different relationship than what we're used to in the business, right? We like place a purchase order, materials purchased, factory makes that thing. This is a different model, and we're so So far, so good. It is working out well by, you know, changing the relationship between the brand and the production facilities.

Amazing. I love that you're talking about the new model and changing the relationship, which leads us really well into our next strategy. But before I say— move that, I do love the bookmarks from the old handbags, right?

I do. It's really cool. And the puzzle, which I saw on the website.

The dinosaurs are amazing. And yeah, they're really— there's some amazing things. And when we think about You know, honoring culture. There are so many cultures to honor in this process. We have craftspeople in our workshop that have been with the brand for 20, 30, 40 years, people who have met their wives there, you know what I mean? There's also a culture of craft that I think, as we've moved into this fast fashion landscape of the last 20 years, we forget that fashion was, you know, an art form. And there are craftspeople embedded throughout the process.

Yes. Yeah, amazing. And I think it's really important also, getting back to the puzzle and the bookmark, is to realize that when you're designing for circularity, that it does not— the new product doesn't always have to look like the old product. We have to let ourself go that this denim jacket has to be recycled into a new denim jacket, right? And if you check out Feltloom, it was— and you may or may not know it, but it's amazing. It's an amazing machine developed by a bunch of women in a yarn store, basically, and they were all in their 70s, I think. But they laid a whole bunch of scraps of fabric on this felt loom that they now own the patent for and has been purchased by Eileen Fisher and many other brands that have been using it for a few years. And it creates a new fabric that looks like a home furnishing weight or a pillow weight or a coating weight. It doesn't look anymore like pieces of gauze and pieces of, you know, poly crepe or whatever went into it or denim. It's something new. And I think that's really important when we work towards circularity that, you know, the new world or the new piece is going to look different than the old. That's part of moving forward.

And part of the circular world is that things may move out of the fashion industry, right? We may also have to partner with different industries. Your jean may— that jean jacket may move to a completely different industry. So it doesn't all have to come back to the brand. It doesn't all have to come back to the fashion industry. It has to go back somewhere, and building those new networks is really the primary thing that has to happen over the next 10 years.

Right, and new networks and new partnerships and new ways of thinking, including systems thinking, is really all part of transformational sourcing, which is the last strategy, although there are many more, but the last one we're going to chat about today before we move to your questions. But transformational sourcing is really about sourcing completely different. So do you want to start this one, Tara, and then we'll go to—

I can. What I'm going to talk about is we've identified— we've identified in the brand for emerging projects that we're really going to be measuring against two primary KPIs. We're looking at CO2 emissions, and we're looking at landfill diversion, how much we are keeping out of landfill. Once you identify those two goals that you are working towards, that means that your sourcing starts to drive into those two pathways. Does that make sense? Like, there's so many things you could do. There's a million things you could do. You could do alternative materials and high-tech materials. Like, there's a million things that you could do, but by identifying those two primary KPIs, it really started to focus our sourcing in, into— it became quite clear, right? Because then all we're asking for new materials is, what are the CO2 implications? What are the emissions implications? And are we reducing over time? If we're trying to keep things out of landfill, that means we are only sourcing materials that are of recycled content. And I'm talking about this in kind of like prototype future projects that we're working on that we will expand. Things that are recycled and things that we know we can recycle at end of life. So identifying where you're going really changes your sourcing strategy and being clear about where you want to head.

Perfect. Amazing. Thank you so much. Lisa, how are you sourcing in a transformational way?

So we're working, as I said before, we're trying to really create some good supplier partnerships. So when we choose a supplier that we want to work with, we want to make sure that they are sustainably minded as we are, and that they offer something to us that is different than the conventional processes. So we want lower impact processes, we want lower impact materials, and we're also, just to take it back a little bit, we're really working on supplier transparency. So we really want, you know, our suppliers have to sign our code of conduct, they have to agree to our Blue Sign RSL, And then we want to know about all about their operations. We want to know where their facilities are and who they are, and we want to know who their subcontractors are. So that is a really important work, I guess, and maybe not transformational because a lot of brands do that, but I still think it's just important and the sort of base of good sourcing.

Agree. Those ethical codes of conduct and those environmental codes of conduct, you should be putting those on your purchase orders so that It is clear if you're going to do business with us, you must do it this way. In terms of those impact measurements at Material Exchange, we're really trying to simplify what is so complex by visualizing the good work that a supplier has at their facility or the certifications they have with what we call our sustainability stamps. But it could be that they're WRAP certified, or it could be that they have an on-site childcare facility, which is a facility feature, and they may may not have that certified. But then you can dig into how did they achieve this particular stamp, as well as really what are the impacts of each material so that when you're making those decisions, you can compare and contrast to all the other materials you're deciding on. Which one does have less kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per meter or per yard or per gross of buttons? You know, which one does have the best opportunity for circularity and being recycled and whatnot? So there is a lot to Transformation, insourcing, and one other thing I would want to add is really, even if you're a smaller, mid-sized company, as you talked about digging into that supply chain, asking the questions. You don't always need software to do everything, even though I work for a software company. But, you know, I've, as a consult— sustainability consultant for 15 years, worked with many small companies that we were able to really trace everything back and create the chain of custody just by asking questions. So you can ask those questions to all of your suppliers. So before we go to the Q&A portion, of which we have about 8 minutes to do so, I just wanted to tell you about a few things, please, that if you could scan this QR code and take this sourcing survey, it's all about sustainability and digitization in sourcing. And we're going to— all your responses are anonymous, but if you want, we can send you the full report. We won't know which one. Responses you gave, but we do want all types of stakeholders to take it, and then we'll be sharing with the industry what we've learned, you know, what are your most important features in terms of sustainability, etc. As well, if you know any students or if you are also an adjunct professor, because I feel like a lot of people in the industry often teach a course, we have a great academic scholarship at the moment, so if you scan that, share it with any students you know, There's 3 sentences, 3 questions that they can answer, and it's just in 400 to 500 words. The winner gets an academic scholarship as well as is featured on the Material Exchange site. And every scholarship, every survey response ups our scholarship amount. And with that, we will now take your questions. So thank you so much for listening on our strategies and approaches to sustainability. So there are a bunch of questions, and we will start with Ryan, who seems to have a question for Lisa. Respectfully, indigenous and culture design, is there more importance put on physical items to bring meaning to the style where you don't want to go digital? Hmm, I'm uncertain. What about you, of the meaning of this?

Yes, I'm not clear. Importance on the physical items.

If Ryan's in the room and you want to really kind of quickly within 10 seconds or 20 seconds, because I know we don't have a lot of time and we have 4 questions, explain that. We would love to dig into it.

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] slide, and she had her beads, right?

Right.

I would, again, respectfully, I would think that in the digital styles, designing for particular cultures, there's a certain level of respect that you want to give to that design, respect that you want to give to those materials.

Yep.

Would you want to, in that instance, everything's going digital, everything's being streamlined, in those particular instances, would you want to pay extra attention and say, this was done in an this was done in a hands-on way in an effort to bring more meaning to those particular styles, those particular materials.

I think that's definitely in the future and something I've been asked about before that we've discussed and sort of, you know, in future plans to be more digital. We're not there yet, but I agree. I think if we have the material that is, you know, responsible and then the material, the design is authentic, that's kind of the next step. So I think it's something that we're discussing.

Thanks, Ryan. Thank you, Lisa, for that great answer. I'm gonna stick it with— stay with you because the next question also deals with the Indigenous ways of thinking that you're really kind of so beautifully working on at Faheyerty Brand. But are the Native designers Employees, or are they contractors? Good question. How are you educating the consumer and telling that story? And what are the risks of cultural appropriation by the consumer once they purchase it from you?

Right. So, yes, we do have contracts with them. They're not— but they are long-term partnerships. So, there are a few— if you go to our website, there are a few specific designers that we've been working with over the last in the last few years who have worked out very well, and we work together well. So, we have those partnerships with them. Also, on our website, there's a whole section on our Native initiatives, and we're really trying to teach our consumer about why this is important to us, and why in the past it was not addressed by so many brands, and still isn't. And then, what are the risks of cultural appropriation with the country? I think that now that we're more aware of these things, it's really important to ask brands how they are designing, if they are honoring the culture. It's something that probably a lot of people didn't think about for so many years. But now that everyone is more aware, I think it's great to ask the question, who designed this? Product that looks like it's been appropriated from another culture.

Great, thanks so much, Lisa. These questions are being added faster than I can keep up, but I'm gonna go with, how is Coach— this one's for Tara— working to decarbonize their leather sourcing? Are you working on regenerative leather or chrome-free tanning, or are you part of maybe the LWG, Leather Working Group, etc.? Are you using leather alternatives?

Yes, I can speak to this.

I mean, I know you love leather at Coach, right?

So I mean, we are a leather house. Leather— let me answer the question directly. Yes, we work with a leather working group. So the leather working group, I want to say that in retail, something like 90% of our leathers come from gold- and silver-rated tanneries. To be a member of the leather working group, that means that your tannery has to meet very high standards in in terms of eutrophication, water contamination, water discharging, water recycling, energy use overall, so the carbon outputs of the tannery and their processes, and then obviously chemical use, chemical discharge, chemical recycling, chemical waste. All of those things are highly monitored. To be a member of the Leather Working Group, the criteria gets harder and harder every year. So the bar is constantly moving forward. If you are a gold-rated tannery today, doesn't assure you being a gold-rated tannery next year. So we have a very— we are very committed to those relationships. In terms of regenerative, yes, we are working on regenerative leather, and we have been for about the past year delivering regenerative leather through the collection. We've developed— you have to develop these supply chains. 0.1% of regenerative leather out there in the world. There is not a lot. So we are very committed to building relationships with cattle ranchers to expand and grow those capacities. We announced last year that we are a member of the Savory Institute. So we partner with them on development of those relationships, those partnerships around the globe, so that again, that this is a place where our size and scale actually works to our benefit to help and assist to shift to regenerative practices. We do look at leather alternatives because we have to be aware of that, right? It is a space. We have not found, if you think about leather in terms of the way that I'm talking about it, that circularity is the goal, so that means longevity, ability to repair, ability to take it back, do something with it and send it on to a second customer. We have not found an alternative that meets those criteria. So we are studying them, we are sampling with them, and we are constant, you know, we are gonna be open to that space, Waste.

But you, I mean, you, and you are using the leather from the bags that couldn't be sold or whatnot for other things or to create new bags.

Yeah, I mean, leather is a high-value material, so it is to our benefit to use every scrap of it.

So, you know, that also becomes our part of our waste diversion strategy, that we really look for new opportunities to make sure that every single bit of leather is being So we just got the time up, and I know there are more questions, but we'd be happy to stand out front for a few minutes and perhaps answer if you have any more questions for either Lisa Diegel from Faheyerty Brand, and thank you so much for sharing the wonderful work that you do, Tara Morris from R&D of Circularity at Coach, and thank you so much for the important work you do, or myself, Andrea Kennedy from Material Exchange, but Thank you all for listening and being such an engaged audience with so many questions, and thank you both for sharing your time and knowledge and passion and work on sustainability. And thanks, PAI Apparel, and we'll see you at the next— see you out in the hall. All right, bye.

Thanks, everyone.