Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:23

Sustainability is the rapidly becoming one of the most important challenges facing the corporate wear industry. The Corporate Clothes Show recently announced that its conference next April will feature sustainability as its core theme. Speakers from various corporate companies, such as Virgin Atlantic, will attend Birmingham's NEC to discuss how firms producing long sleeve shirts and ladies suits can inject greater sustainability into their business practice. In the face of ongoing economic difficulties, it seems that the corporate wear industry is gearing itself up for a more sustainable future. During London Fashion Week in February 2009, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will unveil the Sustainable Clothing Roadmap. This new policy plan was laid out at a meeting in March where key stakeholders debated how to encourage more sustainable production in the corporate wear industry. According to Lets Recycle, during a pre-launch briefing held this week, Defra minister Lord Hunt said: "We've been working hard with a lot of people in the clothing sector, we've had a lot of encouragement from people in the clothing sector." "We think there's a lot the clothing industry can do to make itself more sustainable," he explained. "I'm very hopeful the launch in February will give it a great fillip." According to figures released by Defra, the amount of ladies suits and long sleeve shirts being recycled has increased from 59,000 tonnes in 2003/04 to 113,000 tonnes in 2007/08. However, Dr Dorothy Maxwell, head of the Defra Sustainable Clothing Roadmap project, told delegates at the briefing that it is important for the textiles industry to improve levels of recycling and reuse. "We generate two million tonnes of waste clothing per year, 63 per cent goes to landfill, only 16 per cent is recycling, that's pretty poor, we'd like to increase that," she explained. Dr Maxwell said that recycling corporate wear, such as short sleeve shirts and men's blazers, will form a major part of the new strategy. The same will be true for the reuse of school uniforms and other related workwear. The new roadmap is also expected to launch a trial of a comingled collection of textiles scheme. This involves households putting forward comingled short sleeve shirts and ladies suits for recycling. Following the trial, Dr Maxwell said that studies will be conducted to gauge the feasibility "if you're going to ramp it up on a national scale".Various private and public orgnaisations have already started donating corporate wear to worthy causes in order to avoid the men's blazers and ladies suits being sent to landfill. Police on the Isle of Man recently donated 60 pairs of uniform trousers to a Save the Children charity shop. High street chain Marks & Spencer also works with Oxfam on a clothes exchange project where donated short sleeve v-necks and long sleeve blouses raise money for good causes. Whether it is to help the environment or people in need, the corporate wear industry looks prepared to assist in the creation of a sustainable future for everyone.