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JAAF Sustainability Newsletter
October Edition
Ramesh De Silva
October 30, 2025
Dear Reader,
Thank you for being a part of JAAF’s sustainability newsletter. This newsletter is a part of JAAF’s efforts to respond to and serve Sri Lanka Apparel’s evolving needs especially through bridging the knowledge gap that exists in the Environment, Social and Governance Space.
So Welcome! to the October JAAF Sustainability Newsletter, featuring a selection of the latest developments in the sustainability space as it relates to the apparel industry in Sri Lanka. Through this information bridge JAAF aims to curate and communicate the latest developments in sustainability from across the apparel and textile sectors.
We look forward to your ongoing support and encourage you to engage with us by sharing this newsletter with your colleagues and peers in Sri Lanka and afar. You can also subscribe to this newsletter directly by clicking the link below.
Don't hesitate to contact us at [email protected] if you would like to partner or better yet share the developments in sustainability with our community.
Events
Join the 3rd International Conference on Resource Efficiency & Circular Economy 2025 — bringing together global experts, innovators, and industry leaders to shape a sustainable future.
📅 Date: 06th November 2025
📍 Venue: Cinnamon Lakeside, Colombo
🕗 Time: 8.30 AM – 4.30 PM
👉 Learn more & register now: https://www.ncpcsrilanka.org/international-conference-2025/
The EU's Digital Product Passport (DPP) is set to reshape how companies selling into Europe manage and disclose product data. For US exporters, this will have a direct impact: the DPP will be a compliance tool for EU authorities, making it easier than ever to identify non-compliant products. Preparation will require gathering, validating, and sharing detailed product information across the supply chain.
In this session, Eurofins experts will introduce the DPP framework, outline what’s required, and explain the practical steps US businesses can take now. You’ll learn what to look for in products and testing procedures, and what to do when reports raise concerns. This session will look beyond compliance, highlighting how the DPP can be used as a tool for improving product quality and compliance strategies, and as an opportunity for US exporters to demonstrate leadership in transparency and sustainability.
Attendees of this webinar will learn:
To understand the EU Digital Product Passport framework and the implications for US exporters.
To identify key product data, testing procedures, and reporting practices needed to prepare for DPP requirements.
Strategies to leverage the DPP beyond compliance.
Thursday, October 30, 2025 - 2:00 PM ET to 3:00 PM ET | Online - Register
JAAF Insights
In our latest series “Stitched with a Purpose,” JAAF sits down with some of the leading apparel and textile manufacturing companies to highlight their sustainability milestones over the past financial year.
Among them, Teejay Group stands out as Sri Lanka’s first multinational textile manufacturing mill, with over 25 years of industry expertise, and is today recognized as one of South Asia’s leading textile manufacturers.
Mendaka Hettithanthri, PMP, LFCPM from Teejay shares some of their most significant sustainability achievements during the past year.
Read their full sustainability report here: https://lnkd.in/gGXaxaWG
Dhanujie Jayapala (CEnv) from MAS Holdings shares how MAS is working to reduce their environmental footprint across energy, water, waste, and emissions.
Read their full sustainability report here: https://lnkd.in/g8fceTmD
Sustainability In Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s apparel industry is strengthening its reputation as a global benchmark for sustainability, with leading manufacturers Brandix, Teejay Lanka, Hirdaramani, Hayleys Fabric and MAS Holdings reporting significant progress across climate action, circularity, ethical practices and community empowerment.
The MAS Plan for Change is an ambitious roadmap to inspire sustainable change within our business, amongst our customers, people and communities, and within our planet at large.
Launched in 2020, with a five-year horizon leading to 2025, this comprehensive plan outlines three pillars of focus and specific commitments for 2025. Achieving our ambitious targets requires collaboration, innovation, and strong alignment between our internal teams, partners, and supply chain.
As a company, the MAS Plan for Change extends our commitment to stakeholders beyond responsible business conduct to embrace the prospect of positive change that is ingrained in our DNA.
While our immediate focus is realising the ambitious goals outlined in our current Plan for Change by 2025, we have already begun laying the groundwork to expand and advance this strategy to 2030.
Brandix : 10th sustainability report - Every Thread Matters
Brandix ESG Report 2024/25, “Every Thread Matters,” our 10th sustainability report that highlights progress across Environmental, Social, and Governance priorities.
Our progress builds on our pioneering achievement as the World’s First LEED Platinum Rated Apparel Manufacturing Facility as well as the first Net Zero Carbon Certified Apparel Manufacturing Facility, and now includes achieving 37% renewable energy use, maintaining Net Zero Carbon status across six facilities, and reaching 90% recycling or reuse of solid waste.
By leveraging agility, innovation, and sustainability, we continue to weave these values into the very fabric of who we are.
Download the full report here: bit.ly/3WQSytK.
Global Fashion Regulations
This framework is based on several major instruments, including:
the Taxonomy Regulation of 18 June 2020, which imposes 'minimum safeguards' on companies to ensure that their activities are considered 'sustainable';
the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive of 14 December 2022 (CSRD), which requires the disclosure of information on the negative impacts of their activities;
the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive of 13 June 2024 (CSDDD), which introduces a mandatory duty of due diligence duty throughout their chains of activity, accompanied by a liability regime;
the Deforestation Regulation of 31 May 2023, which aims to ensure that products entering the EU do not contribute to deforestation.
European Parliament narrowly rejected an “omnibus” directive, which included proposals intended to reduce sustainability reporting obligations for companies operating in the European Union (EU). The “omnibus” directive was introduced in February 2025 and, if approved, would have exempted 80% of companies that were originally set to be covered by the scope of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), mandating the publication of regular reports regarding companies’ ESG risks in accordance with European Sustainability Reporting Standards. The rejected directive would also simplify and reduce the scope of several other key regulations, including the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and the Taxonomy Regulation.
UNEP InTex factsheets developed with the support of the European Union showcases how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Kenya, South Africa, and Tunisia are transforming the textile sector toward sustainability and circularity.
As fashion's environmental toll mounts, these small clothes makers embrace sustainability'. And watch the video on ‘Circular fashion: the $700 billion opportunity to #Beatpollution’ below
The revised draft European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) promise simplification, but what do they really mean for your organisation’s reporting efforts? With EFRAG’s proposed 57 percent reduction in mandatory datapoints, companies may expect significant relief. Yet, our experience shows that the true impact depends on your material topics, reporting maturity, and strategic priorities. We help you look beyond compliance to unlock value – connecting sustainability reporting with long-term business goals. In this article, we explore the proposed changes, what remains challenging, and how Wave 1 and Wave 2 companies can prepare for what’s next.
The fashion industry is undergoing a profound transformation, with circularity at the center of this transition. While the linear 'take-make-dispose' model still dominates, many forward-thinking brands are now investing in sustainable materials and solutions that promote reuse, repair and recycling to cut waste and environmental impact. A cornerstone of this movement is material innovation, particularly the rise of biobased alternatives to fossil-based textiles, synthetics and finishes.
Global supply chains, including Italy’s, are under pressure — and increasingly under scrutiny. Policymakers are navigating the complexity of dealing with a different world — and business views. The performance of the fashion sector is still iffy and the outlook hard to predict.
“The issue at hand concerns the models we want to champion for the future, the vision of the world we want to embrace,” said Vittorio Emanuele Parsi, international relations professor at Milan’s Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, at the fourth two-day edition of the Venice Sustainable Fashion Forum held here at the Fondazione Cini.
A new global coalition of businesses from diverse industries and geographies, Carbon Measures, has been launched to establish a more accurate global carbon accounting framework and accelerate market-based solutions to drive emissions reductions.
The coalition will ‘leverage sound science and the principles of financial accounting’ to facilitate the development of a carbon accounting framework that is more accurate, eliminates double counting, and addresses information gaps.
The non-profit H&M Foundation, in collaboration with Accenture, has unveiled From Signals to Systems Change, an insight report calling on the fashion industry to rethink its role in transformation. At its core is the Reimagined System Map, a pioneering open-source framework that visualises how early-stage innovation could drive a just and net-zero textile future.
Redress, the Asia-focused NGO accelerating circular fashion together with the United Nations Fashion and Lifestyle Network (UNFLN), which plays a central role in advancing sustainable development by connecting industry stakeholders, media, governments, and United Nations entities, co-organised a high impact delegation and panel discussion of pioneering fashion designer activists, representing India, the Philippines and USA, within the SDG Media Zone at the United Nations General Assembly.
The newly unveiled Cotton Rankings Report from Solidaridad paints the most detailed picture yet of the material mix of 100 brands and retailers, thanks to exclusive brand data from Good On You. From ambiguous language to plastic dependency, here’s what we found while examining brands’ claims and, crucially, what they’re not telling us.
For decades, actors across the textile industry have implemented innovative technologies, novel materials and recycling schemes to lower emissions and reduce waste. While all these initiatives matter, the potential impact is marginal when matched against the emissions generated in fabric processing and dyeing.
Fact is, 65 percent of the entire industry’s emissions come from dye houses, finishing mills and production facilities. However, for most suppliers, making the switch from coal to clean energy or betting on an innovative solution, requires vast amounts of capital and commitments from brands and partners. Something that’s rarely available.
Neighborhood Watch
Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&Co.) is taking the next step to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The San Franscisco-based company announced on Wednesday the launch of the LS&Co. Energy Accelerator Program (LEAP), a program to increase access to renewable electricity for its supply chain, starting in India.
The Bangladesh apparel industry has achieved a new global milestone in sustainable manufacturing with 36 factories earning international environmental compliance certifications in a single year.
The record-breaking achievement in 2025 surpasses the previous high of 30 certifications awarded in 2022, solidifying Bangladesh’s position as a global leader in green garment production.
A three-way partnership is disrupting commercial-scale dyeing.
Textile-to-retail conglomerate Arvind Limited, in collaboration with H&M Group and Indian innovation start-up Deven Supercriticals Pvt. Ltd., announced the inauguration of India’s first supercritical CO₂ dyeing machine at Arvind’s facility in Ahmedabad.
IAs Lenzing Group works toward our target of net-zero emissions by 2050, one of the key investment areas is renewable energy.
We are increasingly powering our regenerated cellulose fiber facilities with energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass. Building on these efforts, the company is expanding its photovoltaic capacities through a new plant in partnership with Verbund. The new plant will produce 1.3 megawatts peak (MWp), bringing the photovoltaic park’s total output to 8.3 MWp.
Crystal International's new membership with Textile Exchange aligns with its Sustainability Vision 2030, which prioritises climate action and circularity.
The firm’s commitment to sustainable practices is evident in the credibility of its operations. Over 90% of its factories have secured sustainable material certifications such as the Global Recycled Standard (GRS) and Organic Content Standard (OCS).
A three-way partnership is disrupting commercial-scale dyeing.
Textile-to-retail conglomerate Arvind Limited, in collaboration with H&M Group and Indian innovation start-up Deven Supercriticals Pvt. Ltd., announced the inauguration of India’s first supercritical CO₂ dyeing machine at Arvind’s facility in Ahmedabad.
Deven’s flagship innovation, Suprauno, is at the center of this collaboration. The globally patented, dyeing technology uses supercritical CO₂ (carbon dioxide in a fluid state) as the medium to dye fabrics instead of water and chemical compounds.
The H&M Foundation’s Saamuhika Shakti collective action circularity initiative is setting its sights on India’s hospitality industry with a new program that will divert the sector’s textile waste away from landfills.
Through Saamuhika Shakti, the H&M Foundation has partnered with nonprofit venture builder Enviu and its Closing the Loop program known as Second Spin to transform used hotel linens and other textiles in India into yarn, recycled paper and new textiles. The venture works with waste picker entrepreneurs in India to provide dignified work within the circular value chain.
TechStyle will focus on digital transformation by providing AI-supported solutions that optimize raw material procurement, waste reduction, and production efficiency in apparel and garment manufacturing. Sweden and France, known for their AI initiatives, will share best practices with Greece, Spain, Italy, and Türkiye—countries with strong textile traditions but in need of greater digital and green innovation.”
General
The global apparel market is responsible for 8.3 million metric tons (14 percent) of plastic leakage every year as the fashion industry generates a whopping 8.3 million tons of plastic waste, give or take. For scale, it’s the same weight as if 820 Eiffel Towers were built year after year, the report reads—almost nine times the weight of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Can hemp-based denim can match or even surpass cotton in both performance and appeal?
That’s the mission of “Beyond50 Denim: Combining Cottonized Hemp and Green Chemistry,” a new 12-month project led by Fashion for Good with support from Bestseller, C&A, PDS Limited, Reformation and Target.
The project positions hemp as a more “climate-resilient alternative” to conventional cotton. However, the bast fiber’s coarse characteristics have limited its use in denim.
DyStar Group, the Singapore-based dyestuff and chemical manufacturer, published its 2024-2025 Integrated Sustainability (ESG) Report. The report covers DyStar’s global portfolio, including all production sites, warehouses, offices and laboratories that are either owned or operated by DyStar in over 50 countries for fiscal year 2024.
Peter Majeranowski, CEO of textile-to-textile recycling innovator Circ, said he was leaving Textile Exchange’s conference in Lisbon more optimistic than before he arrived.
It was a rare moment of positivity for an industry mired in no small amount of doom-and-gloomism as corporate sustainability targets become increasingly untethered to economic realities and Europe’s simplification of environmental reporting and supply chain due diligence rules is beginning to appear like deregulation by a different name. But beneath the frayed nerves, questioning glances and pained shrugs runs an undercurrent of resilience, he said.
Infant clothing may expose babies to hundreds of different chemicals used in everything from plastics to paints—including some known to be toxic, a new scientific investigation shows.
The analysis of 43 infant garments, published this month [October 5] in Environmental Research, is the first to comprehensively screen for all detectable chemicals versus a limited number. In total, 303 different chemicals—from traces of pesticides to prescription drugs—were identified across the fabrics.
As one of the world’s most resource-intensive industries, textiles and garments must fundamentally reimagine sustainability—not as an add-on, but as the core of business strategy. For Hong Kong, this transformation represents both a challenge and an extraordinary opportunity to leverage our unique strengths built over seven decades.
Despite the challenging market climate, Eastman Naia is reasserting its commitment to sustainable investment.
At the Textile Exchange Conference in Lisbon, the fiber maker provided an update on its progress toward the sustainability goals it set five years ago and presented a “roadmap” for the work that still must be done. Additionally, it introduced new targets centered on three main action areas: combatting climate change, bringing circularity into the mainstream and caring for society.
Cotton remains a significant player in textile recycling, largely due to its extensive global utilization, biodegradability, and potential for reuse through both mechanical and chemical methods. As the second most used natural fiber, cotton consistently generates pre- and post-consumer waste, providing recyclers with substantial material for processing.
Coats Group plc, a world-class Tier 2 manufacturer and trusted partner for the apparel and footwear industries, will announce its latest innovation - Coats Textile-to-Textile sewing threads - at this month’s Textile Exchange Conference in Lisbon, Portugal.
Available in T2T Epic and T2T Gramax variants, the proof-of-concept threads are made from textile waste using a chemical recycling process. They match the strength, durability and colour fastness of standard Coats threads and can be seamlessly integrated into existing sewing machine lines without downtime.
A look at what the latest reports from fashion giants LVMH, Hermès and Inditex say about their sustainability strategies.
The fashion industry, particularly its fast fashion segment, is frequently criticised for its environmental impact and the sustainability of its supply chains. Scrutiny is intensifying on how major apparel businesses are addressing these issues throughout their production and distribution networks.
An examination of three of the largest companies, LVMH, Hermes and Inditex, offers insight into the progress being made in transforming fashion supply chains.
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