#Sustainability

2022-11-24

ZDHC transitions to Competence Centres structure

As ZDHC continues to drive the growth of its positive impact in the industry they have exciting news to share. Today, they will reveal our 2030 Impact Strategy to ZDHC Contributors at our ZDHC Annual Meeting in Lisbon. In light of this exciting new strategically driven phase of ZDHC, they are also evolving our functional structure to ensure an effective future fit approach for the continued delivery and implementation of our Roadmap to Zero Programme.

One important aim of the new structure is to enhance and improve engagement within their community. As ZDHC’s focus firmly remains on establishing a strong and effective basis for maximising and accelerating ZDHC's impact within the industry, it is then a natural consequence for ZDHC to place greater emphasis on key impact areas of sustainable chemical management in relation to life, land, air and water.

ZDHC will maintain its laser focus on the implementation of the ZDHC MRSL Sustainable Chemical Management (SCM) framework across the value chain of the textile, leather, apparel and footwear industry. However, given that the ZDHC MRSL SCM framework is well established and solidly grounded within the industry, it is also the time to increase awareness and empower other industry sectors to develop sustainability programmes in their own communities. Potential communities include the financial sector, academia, and civil society organisations. In due course, these sectors, amongst others, have great potential to empower other industries (e.g. automotive, cosmetics, home textiles, etc.), and ZDHC will find ways to share their knowledge and expertise with these industries to assist them in developing their own equivalents to the Roadmap to Zero Programme.

ZDHC's team has grown significantly and every single individual at ZDHC plays a critical role in delivering the Roadmap to Zero Programme. Given ZDHC’s historically successful and strong internal operational foundation, they will now move away from a singular Programme Team and streamline their approach towards programme delivery through four Competence Centres:

1. Sustainable Chemical Management

2. Water Stewardship

3. Air

4. Fibres, Materials and Products.

Adopting this streamlined approach towards delivering, developing and implementing the programme helps them to drive substantial improvements in generating impact across the already identified and related key impact areas: Water Stewardship; Greenhouse Gas Emissions; Biodiversity and Circularity. The new ZDHC Competence Centres will be rooted in scientific research, best practices, new innovations and feedback flow from the ZDHC community to continuously improve ZDHC Guidelines, Solutions and Platforms. This approach also enables us to embed significantly enhanced quality management, accountability, and transparency of their work and direct impact on the regional areas, as well as the world at large. Further, in the spirit of the apparel alliance, the ZDHC Competence Centers will drive the content alignment interface to like-minded organisations to jointly work on the harmonisation of their factory-based tools and create a holistic factory journey.

ZDHC has now initiated this transition towards the Competence Centres. During the initial incubation period, members of the ZDHC Management Team will be taking on important convening roles and they will be asking their community for active support as follows:

Prasad Pant, ZDHC’s South Asia Regional Director, will coordinate activities around subject matter expertise and delivery management.

Elisa Gavazza, ZDHC’s Southern Europe Regional Director, will be in charge of all quality management processes.

Nina Bendias, Senior Business and Resource Manager, will establish resources and processes for the new Roadmap to Zero Programme Delivery setup.

ZDHC is wholly committed to creating a sustainable future for fashion because the quality of our shared future and the planet depend on it. They are very excited to build out the structure of our organisation to accommodate the increasing needs in the new impact-focused era of ZDHC with a renewed sense of purpose and drive towards their vision, mission and goals.

ZDHC looks forward to sharing more insights in the coming weeks and will be reaching out with a call to action for the upcoming 2023 tasks.

Texprocess 2026: Automation, digitalisation and AI redefine textile processing

Making investment decisions in textile processing has become significantly more demanding. Increasing energy costs, a shortage of skilled labour and ongoing geopolitical uncertainties are compelling companies to focus on technologies that deliver clear gains in efficiency and process reliability. This applies equally to apparel manufacturing and to the processing of technical textiles and high-performance materials. As a result, modernisation initiatives are assessed more carefully – even as the need to upgrade production systems continues to intensify.

Techtextil 2026: Between innovation pressure & market reality

From 21 to 24 April 2026, Techtextil in Frankfurt am Main will once again become the central meeting point for the international technical textiles and nonwovens industry. Running in parallel, Texprocess will focus on the industrial implementation of textile processing technologies as the leading platform in this field. Together, the two trade fairs form a closely integrated presentation and working platform along the entire textile value chain – from material development to finished applications.

Between geopolitical pressure and industrial resilience

In this interview, Dr. Janpeter Horn (VDMA) discusses the current challenges facing textile machinery manufacturers, shaped by geopolitical tensions, regulatory developments and subdued investment. He also outlines why innovation strength, integrated solutions and strategic positioning remain key to global competitiveness.

A new standard to combat plastic waste in forests

With DIN SPEC 35808 “Tree Shelter for Forestry Applications,” the testing and research service provider Hohenstein, in collaboration with Rottenburg University of Forestry, as well as forestry authorities and industry partners, has established a clear framework for bio-based and fully biodegradable tree shelters. The pre-standard defines requirements and practical testing methods designed to reduce plastic waste in forests and strengthen the long-term protection of soil and the environment.

Denim moves towards sustainability

EIM (Environmental Impact Measurement), the global reference platform for measuring the environmental impact of garment finishing, presents the second edition of its annual report Denim Industry Progress & Insights 2025. The study analyses over 100,000 real denim finishing processes, providing an accurate and up-to-date view of the industry’s evolution towards more sustainable models.

Europe’s textile future at a turning point: New 2030 Circularity Blueprint aims to scale recycling and unlock investment opportunities

The EU textile system is at a critical crossroads. Today, less than 1% of discarded garments are recycled into new garments, despite EU-wide obligations for separate collection. In response, Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) is launching the 2030 Circularity Blueprint, in partnership with ReHubs. This ambitious initiative is designed to support the transformation of the EU textile ecosystem to advance textile-to-textile recycling and drive the transition to a circular economy.

STFI highlights textile circular economy and alternative fibres at INDEX™ 2026

From 19 to 22 May 2026, INDEX will invite visitors to Lake Geneva for the world's leading nonwovens trade fair. The Centre of Excellence in Nonwovens at the Sächsisches Textilforschung- sinstitut e.V. (STFI) will be in attendance to present the latest developments in nonwovens research. In the field of the textile circular economy, the STFI will present acoustically effective nonwovens made from chemical recycling residues. The range also includes innovations aimed at replacing conventional raw materials, such as the biobased and biodegradable polymer polybutylene succinate (PBS) and Kendyr as an alternative to cotton.

FET’s revolutionary gel spinning system wins Techtextil Innovation Award

FET has received the prestigious Techtextil Innovation Award 2026 in the New Production Technology category. The Techtextil Innovation Award honours outstanding ideas in textile technology, sustainability, AI and the creation of technical textiles, selected by an international jury of experts. Ranging from new materials to new production technologies, this award recognises progressive ideas that are driving forces for numerous industries, such as automotive, medical and construction.