The Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) has announced the lead funders for its new $250 million Fashion Climate Fund. The funders are Lululemon, H&M Group, H&M Foundation, and The Schmidt Family Foundation.
Aii is a nonprofit with the objective of “operationalising and accelerating climate action and sustainability solutions in fashion”. The Fashion Climate Fund aims to reduce emissions in the fashion supply chain, using a collaborative funding model between philanthropic organisations and corporations. This model is described as the first of its kind in the industry.
Funding the transition
The Fund will provide capital for initiatives such as transitioning to renewable electricity, accelerating next-generation materials, scaling sustainable materials and practices, eliminating coal in manufacturing, and improving energy efficiency. Funding from philanthropists will help to accelerate new innovations, while industry funding will make it possible to scale the most successful solutions.
Sustainable fashion
As the emphasis on sustainability increases worldwide, many fashion brands are taking steps to make their products more environmentally friendly. Among them is H&M, one of the contributors to the new Fashion Climate Fund. The brand told vegconomist that it is “committed to showing that sustainable fashion has a place on the red carpet”. Its nonprofit arm, the H&M Foundation, already allocates significant funding to sustainable fashion startups.
“By aligning industry leaders and climate-focused philanthropists behind scalable solutions, the Fashion Climate Fund opens a pathway for greater collaboration and cross-pollination of solutions, facilitating greater investment and stronger collective action toward the industry goal of halving emissions by 2030, while also seeking climate justice for the citizens and communities where our fashion is made,” said Lewis Perkins, President of Aii. “We are greatly encouraged by the leadership and decisiveness shown today from these lead partners and honored to play this role as we open up this first phase of the project finance.”
