VITAMIN SHOT: Sustainable swimwear brand Vitamin A launched its first collection with ReLux, a new fabric derived from ghost fishing nets. It’s a new chapter for the California-based label launched in 2000 by Amahlia Stevens.
ReLux is made from 100 percent post-consumer nylon from the nets, woven with 100 percent recycled spandex. ReLux remits 73 percent fewer CO2 emissions per ton and water consumption by 98 percent compared to traditional nylon swimwear, according to independent Life Cylce Assessments (LCA).
Vitamin A was the first swimwear brand to use recycled fabric in its collections. It’s taking the next step with marine waste.
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“We wanted to support the development of this new material and we thought that the Vitamin A customer would be most likely to understand why it was important,” said Swim USA vice president of product innovation Mark Sunderland. Swim USA is the parent company of Vitamin A. “Our customers want to know that their swimwear is not harming the planet — and with our ReLux line, we’re offering them a product that actively improves the health of our oceans.”
“This innovation reinforces Vitamin A’s dedication to ethical production while expanding their repertoire of environmentally conscious materials. By retrieving and reusing these nets, Vitamin A is helping remove waste from the ocean, protect precious marine life, and eliminate the use of raw materials — cutting water use, fossil fuels, and CO2 emissions,” the company added.
ReLux was created by South Korean conglomerate Hyosung and Hung Yen Knitting & Dyeing using Mipan recycled ocean nylon and Creora recycled spandex. Hyosung and Hung Yen introduced the textile at the Interfilière swimwear and lingerie trade fare Paris last September.
The seven-piece collection ranges in price from $76 to $164.
DILIGENCE OVERDUE: The scheduled European Council vote on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) has been rescheduled, after originally being slated for Feb. 9. A vote anticipated for Tuesday was also delayed.
The postponement of the vote suggests that the legislation was not expected to reach the threshold needed to pass. Germany indicated that it would abstain due to a conflict with its own internal laws, even though individual politicians have supported the policy. Italy also would have abstained, leaving the CSDDD short of the necessary majority of 15 countries representing at least 65 percent of the EU population.
CSDDD is a cornerstone of the EU’s overarching sustainability strategy, and would require the fashion industry to provide greater transparency and traceability in its supply chains. Large retailers and brands would be required to implement transition plans.
The textile industry had been identified as a “high-risk sector.”
The directive would mandate sustainability reporting on key issues such as greenhouse gas emissions at the supplier level, as well as human rights and labor practices, for companies with more than 250 employees headquartered in the EU market with more than 40 million euros in annual turnover. Non-European companies with more than 500 employees and 150 million euro turnover worldwide would also be subject to the directive.
The CSDDD had already passed other legislative hurdles, and final adoption had been expected by the end of 2023.
A STAND AGAINST LULULEMON: Stand.earth has filed an anti-competition complaint with Canadian regulators accusing Lululemon of misleading consumers about its environmental impact.
“Lululemon is one of Canada‘s most influential companies and one of the world’s biggest fashion brands through its ‘Be Planet’ campaign,” Tzeporah Berman, the environmental nonprofit’s international program director, said at a press conference on Monday afternoon. “Although Lululemon has taken some actions and set some targets to reduce the harmful impact of its business operations and products, Stand.earth’s position in its complaint is that Lululemon’s business is inconsistent with its public claims to be an environmentally responsive company.”
Berman alleged Lululemon’s oft-cited mantra sounds a lot more like “Be Profit.”
Lululemon’s numbers don’t pan out, Stand.earth claims. Despite committing to a science-based target of 60 percent emissions reduction per unit of revenue for 2030 for Scope 3, the section of the value chain where 99.7 percent of its impact lies, those same emissions surged by 128.6 percent between 2018 and 2022, according to the company’s most recent impact report.
“Like many Vancouverites, I felt a lot of pride in Lululemon, our hometown hero, a staple of the fashion industry and an international beacon of wellness culture,” Berman said. “So imagine my dismay in finding out that our homegrown start-up has an atrocious record on climate change; that my leggings were made in factories that drive air pollution in the global South and contribute to climate change worldwide; that Lululemon’s annual emissions are equivalent to adding half a million cars to the road every year.”
Lululemon said it is committed to its decarbonization plan, which includes making “tangible investments” to meet its 2030 climate goals “on the path” to being a net-zero company by 2050.
“We recognize that the majority of impact comes from emissions within the broader supply chain,” a spokesperson told WWD sister publication Sourcing Journal. “In 2022, we measured and reported a limited intensity reduction in our Scope 3 greenhouse emissions and are working to accelerate this progress. Like others in the industry, we are working to advance calculation methodologies to support and obtain independent verification of Scope 3 emissions.”
Lululemon is “proud” to have reached its goals of 100 percent renewable electricity and a 60 percent absolute reduction of greenhouse emissions in its owned and operated facilities, the representative added. — Jasmin Malik Chua