September 1, 2022

Mindful Fashion had the honour of partnering with Textile Exchange last week to bring Climate +, Stories from the Field to the local fashion and textiles industry in New Zealand. It was great to see a real cross section of industry in the room from high end designers to outdoor clothing brands, manufacturers and wool scourers to sustainability leaders and those just starting out all recognising this opportunity to learn and connect.

This event gave our members and the wider industry an opportunity to meet and hear from local and global textile experts as part of our work to increase uptake of better materials.

The Textile Exchange team explained their Climate+ strategy and shared how this plays out on the ground through different fibre programs, with Hanna Deans discussing Animal Fibres, Rui Fontana on Cotton Fibres, and Anna Heaton discussing impact measurement and policy. Textile Exchange is a global nonprofit supporting leaders in the industry to accelerate the adoption of lower impact materials. It works collectively with members and the global textiles industry to achieve climate reduction goals and takes a holistic view of impact through its work on regenerative agriculture and biodiversity to increase positive impacts across fibre and raw material production.

NZ Merino supplies some of the world's biggest names with high quality NZ grown fibre. It was inspiring to hear first hand from Dave Maslen about its ZQRX regenerative agriculture programme and the work it’s doing with wool growers across New Zealand, Australia and South Africa to enhance human health, animal health, environmental and biodiversity outcomes across these complex wool landscapes.

There is a lot of work happening globally to advance a more sustainable and regenerative industry. Partnering with international counterparts such as Textile Exchange to bring expert forums to NZ gives our members and the wider industry the opportunity to share learnings and discuss solutions that reduce the impact of raw materials as we collectively work towards a more responsible textiles sector. A big thank you to Valentina Zarew, Hanna Denes, Anna Heaton and Rui Fontoura from Textile Exchange, and Dave Maslen from NZ Merino for sharing their knowledge and global industry insights with our New Zealand businesses from across the country.