Brazilian Sustainable Fashion League: Consultancy REGENERATE Fashion led nine Brazilian textile and fashion companies in their sustainability and circularity journey

REGENERATE Fashion, LLC July/2021

The Brazilian Sustainable Fashion League (BSFL) is a project that supports companies of the textile and apparel sector in improving their sustainability practices and integrating circular economy principles, to build a League that showcases to the world a diverse, creative, and sustainable Brazilian textile and fashion industry.

We created the BSFL with the aim of informing, guiding, preparing, and positioning Brazilian companies that invest in sustainability practices in the global market.

Lilian Kaddissi, Texbrasil Program

The BSFL was launched in 2020 through Texbrasil, a program for the Internationalization of the Brazilian Textile Industry and Fashion – which is a result of the partnership between the Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association (Abit) and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil).

“We created the BSFL with the aim of informing, guiding, preparing, and positioning Brazilian companies that invest in sustainability practices in the global market. The League aims to work collectively to build an internationally real and strong image of a diverse, creative sector committed to finding more sustainable solutions to face global challenges.”, says Lilian Kaddissi, executive manager of the Texbrasil Program.

REGENERATE Fashion was the consultancy selected to, for a period of 8 months, provide individual consulting, online training, and group sessions to the companies participating in the League to strengthen their path towards best practices of socio-environmental responsibility and circularity.

The first edition of the project, which ran from October 2020 through June 2021, had the participation of nine companies of the Brazilian textile and apparel sector: Cedro Têxtil, Contextura, Dellas Lingerie, Digitale Têxtil, Grupo Gatomia, Grupo Lunelli, Santista Têxtil, Textilfio Malhas, and Vicunha Têxtil. The profile of the companies in the League is diverse and included different value chain stakeholders – from textile producers and printers, to fashion brands of denim, beachwear, fitness, lingerie, and children and adult apparel. 

Capacity Building Phase

The first part of the project was focused on training and capacity building, and was led by REGENERATE’s co-founder Larissa Roviezzo with the collaboration of Gabi Machado on content development. The capacity building followed two approaches: development of online training and facilitation of group sessions. 

The exchanges between the group, instructors and international guests brought important contributions to Contextura, such as the opportunity to have real information about international buyers.

Anne Anice & Evelise Anicet, Contextura

Anne and Evelise Anicet, co-founders of brand Contextura expressed: “Working with Regenerate Fashion was a productive and pleasant experience. The exchanges between the group, instructors and international guests brought important contributions to Contextura, such as the opportunity to have real information about international buyers.”

It helped us broaden our perspective on sustainability with consistent, clear directions, and a vision for a future full of challenges

Sueli Pereira, Santista Têxtil

Sueli Pereira, Communication and Fashion Manager at Santista Têxtil, participated in the project and commented about the experience: “It helped us broaden our perspective on sustainability with consistent, clear directions, and a vision for a future full of challenges. This demands establishing partnerships with a very well prepared and committed team like you.”

Individual Consultancy Phase

The second part of the project consisted of offering individual consultancy to the participating companies. REGENERATE’s team – led by co-founder Melissa O de León – developed a sustainability diagnosis where companies were assessed in their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance, as well as in their potential to incorporate strategies for circularity. Based on the results of this diagnosis, the consultants identified key improvement areas, and each company selected which one to work with during the duration of the project.

Melissa O de León, lead consultant for the BSFL project, states: “Having all the companies in the Brazilian Sustainable Fashion League undergo the same diagnostic process and sustainability assessment, was crucial to identifying each company’s status quo to develop a tailored action plan, as well as to define a sustainability baseline and quantify their improvement results as a League.”

Among the improvement areas addressed, REGENERATE worked with the League’s companies in the following strategic actions: creation of internal environmental policies in line with the ISO 14001 standard, review of values ​​and code of ethics with an emphasis on the topic of diversity and inclusion, definition of circular strategies for textile waste, review of impact metrics for communication and reporting, mapping of social standards and certifications for the textile industry, and definition of targets and metrics to align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

REGENERATE Fashion helped us to put on paper several projects we were doing, in addition to aligning them with the SDGs

Fabricio Tardin, Dellas Lingerie

Fabricio Tardin, representative of Dellas Lingerie, said about the consultancy: “REGENERATE Fashion helped us to put on paper several projects we were doing, in addition to aligning them with the SDGs. The result showed us the potential we have to achieve our sustainable development goals, along with the improvement of products and services, bringing more awareness and information to employees and customers.”

Project Results

At the end of the project, REGENERATE conducted an assessment on the group’s performance and identified that the BSFL made progress in all three main pillars of the ESG analysis: Environment, Social and Governance, with outstanding improvement on the categories of Environmental Compliance, Values ​​and Transparency, and Sustainability Goals.

“The partnership with Regenerate Fashion was excellent. During our time working together, we carried out rich exchanges in relation to Circular Fashion, the SDGs, and Diversity.  Very relevant and urgent topics not only in the Textile industry, but as a whole. The views that Larissa and Melissa brought to our business, contributed to directing actions to enhance the positive points and the development of the Strategic Sustainability Plan for Lunelli. We were very happy with the work developed and we hope to have other partnership opportunities.” commented Mariana Riskoski Emmerich, sustainability analyst at Grupo Lunelli.

The views that Larissa and Melissa brought to our business contributed to directing actions to enhance the positive points and the development of the Strategic Sustainability Plan for Lunelli.

Mariana Riskoski Emmerich, Grupo Lunelli

Furthermore, the League committed to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and selected SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production, and SDG 17 – Partnership and Means of Implementation as their 3 focus goals.

Larissa Roviezzo added on the results: “BSFL companies have advanced in terms of industry standards and practices for sustainability, with relevant commitments translated into strategic actions. We believe that the companies will strengthen their positioning as companies dedicated to innovation and sustainable development, both in the Brazilian and international markets.”

The individual and collective results achieved by the companies of the BSFL, demonstrate that assessing where your company stands at and selecting priority areas to focus on, are the most straightforward paths into advancing your sustainability and circular journey. 

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If your company is ready to further your sustainability agenda and align to the UN SDGs, contact us to discuss your needs. All of our consulting and training services are tailored to your company’s sustainability goals.