Elsa Wenzel

2 weeks ago | trellis.net | Elsa Wenzel

In a fast-moving, high-volume industry, H&M offers a rare level of transparency about sustainability progress. The company’s circularity efforts are growing but remain marginal. Despite progress in reducing supplier emissions, the road ahead remains challenging. H&M Group has increasingly positioned its brand, for better or worse, around ambitions to reduce its burden on nature.

2 weeks ago | trellis.net | Elsa Wenzel

The pants stand out for their low price point and high percentage of recycled material. Brands, yarn and fabric makers, working with nonprofit Accelerating Circularity, collaborated to build a circular production system. The effort demonstrated that blending fiber from secondhand clothes with virgin cotton is technically feasible for denim at scale.

1 month ago | trellis.net | Elsa Wenzel

Waste was already baked into apparel business models long before social media influencers made styles lose their coolness on a weekly rather than a seasonal basis. But even as fast fashion drives unprecedented waste, many brands, retailers and startups are slowly advancing circular business models that keep garments in use. New software startups are rescuing less-than-perfect items, revealing details through artificial intelligence about how brands, retailers and consumers behave.

1 month ago | trellis.net | Elsa Wenzel

The White House’s tariff seesaw is disrupting global supply chains and planning for many businesses. However, it’s also benefiting companies that don’t manufacture overseas, or at all. Tariffs are poised to boost the market for secondhand apparel, which is booming for the second year in a row, according to ThredUp’s annual Resale Report.

1 month ago | trellis.net | Elsa Wenzel

Moth holes and merlot stains usually send shirts to the trash, but these imperfections are leading to new creations at Eileen Fisher. The company’s Mended collection of blatantly repaired, patched or merged clothes is launching on March 26, selling new white linen shirts concocted from pre-worn ones. These and other Mended items — which will only be produced by the tens and sold online — will make up a small fragment of Eileen Fisher’s robust repair and recycling efforts.