Fashiondex and La Textile Conference

Fashiondex and La Textile presented a sustainability fashion forum/ conference on Thursday, October 4^th from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm at The Fashion Theater at California Market Center located in Los Angeles, California. During this conference, multiple representatives presented their sustainability motives and how their company is making their difference within their community, environment and the fashion industry. One of the companies and representatives that presented were Elissa Foster (Senior Manager of Product Responsibility) and Sarah Hayes (Manager of Materials Innovation) of Patagonia. These women discussed the innovation of their raw/ organic materials, their company sustainability program, and several other topics. Patagonia was founded in 1973 and is a privately held company. This company specialized in the Direct, eCommerce and Wholesale distribution of their materials and products, the company also has over 100 stores located in 19 countries. Their mission statement is to build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.  Patagonia has been in the fight to protect the public lands for over 30 years.

With this program, they have made strides towards creating several national monuments. These monuments include Bears Ears National Monument in Utah and Basin and Range and Gold Butte National Monuments in Nevada. Climbers, hikers, hunters, and anglers all agree that public lands are a critical part of our national heritage and these lands belong to not only us but to future generations as well.  Patagonia is also part of the 1% for the planet organization. This is a global organization that connects dollars and doers to accelerate smart environmental giving.

Patagonia also has established a material research and innovation team. This team consists of 26 people and four key areas of focus. These four key areas of focus are seasonal development, advanced development, product responsibility and impact and color, and quality.  Due to this material research team, Patagonia has identified raw materials that have reduced environmental impacts. Some of these raw materials include organic cotton, recycled cotton/ polyester/ nylon/ cashmere, hemp, FSC natural rubber, and RWS & recycled wool.  Patagonia has been using organic cotton since 1996, organic cotton was 1% and has stayed the same percentage of global cotton production ever since. Due to this transition, they have researched the environmental benefits of organic materials, 46% has reduced global warming potential, 26% reduced soil erosion, and 91% reduced water consumption from groundwater or surface water. The social benefits of this would be reduced exposure to pesticides and chemicals, and the opportunity to improve market models and increase farmer revenue.

            Learning about the attributes and advancements that Patagonia has put forth their company and this environment makes me believe in the future of the environment. Hearing Elissa and Sarah speak so highly of their company proves to me what hard work can do. This motivation and determination give me the aspiration to think of if I had a company these would be the steps I would take towards bettering the environment and my company. I really enjoyed listening to the discussion about the environmental research and innovation team. I think this was one of the most knowledgeable facts of information I've heard about any brand. They are making a true effort to understand the organic raw material process and how using those materials will slowing put a positive environmental footprint of the world.