Road to sustainability is a long one, say textile experts
13/02/2013
A panel of six, including Peter Ackroyd from the International Wool Secretariat and Philippe Pasquet, chief executive of Premiere Vision, discussed how more sustainable methods could be incorporated into working practices.
“Products with less environmental impact should not be more expensive,” said Andrea Crespi, the CEO of Eurojersey. “They use less water and create less waste, so they should in theory be cheaper. However, companies need first to invest in people – the innovations – and machinery.”
The inspiration for the talk was The Beautiful and the Good, a new book which includes a series of essays from prominent commentators on the fashion industry in Italy.
The panel agreed that sustainable end products were not demanded by consumers at the moment, but “in a few decades it will be the new standard”. Marco Ricchetti, co-author of the book and a professor of design at the University of Milan Polytechnic, said that the textile industry uses a lot of resources, and so sustainability “will be a long journey, but one it must embark on”.
It was also suggested that there should be “one language” in terms of environmental certification – one international standard – which would make things clearer for buyers and consumers.
The discussion was chaired by WSA magazine’s technical editor, Sophie Bramel.
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