The Scandinavian Textile Initiative For Climate Action (STICA)

Climate Action Week
for Fashion & Apparel

The Scandinavian Textile Initiative For Climate Action (STICA)

Climate Action Week for Fashion & Apparel

The Legislative Race Is On: Legislation & Regulation in the USA

Finally a consensus is emerging that smart regulation and legislation is essential for ensuring the fashion and apparel industries take responsbility for their environmental and social impacts. In the United States, one of the world’s largets markets for fashion and apparel, a number of pieces of legislation have been adopted or proposed. The New York Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act is currently the only legislative proposal we know of that will require bands to meet their Science-based climate targets or risk being penalised financially. What can we learn from this legislative proposal and where does climate action fit in to textile legislation in the USA overall?
Some of the key questions we covered during this session included:
Can the New York “Fashion Act” and other US-based legislative initiatives drive climate action and emissions reductions at the pace and scale needed?
What are the strengths of this approach?
Are there any potential drawbacks?
What is the current status of the legislation in New York and in other parts of the USA?
March 20, 2024
15.00-16.30 CET
Reference material
The Fashion Act

Contributors

Maxine Bédat, Founder & Director, New Standard Institute
Maxine Bédat is the founder and director of New Standard Institute, a think and do tank using data to drive accountability in industry. She is also the author of the book, UNRAVELED: The Life and Death of a Garment, a Financial Times Book of the Year, which has been translated into several languages. Prior to NSI, Maxine co-founded and was the CEO of Zady, a fashion brand and lifestyle destination creating a transparent and sustainable future for the apparel industry. Bédat has been recognized by Fast Company in its Most Creative in Business, Business of Fashion’s BoF 500, the definitive index of people shaping the global fashion industry, and Oprah’s Super Soul 100, for leaders elevating humanity. Bédat began her career in international law working at the Rwandan Criminal Tribunal and Allen & Overy, and received a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School.

Isabel Friedman, Advocacy Associate, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Isabel Friedman is interested in the broader systemic forces that contribute to climate change and the ways in which policy regulation can be used as a tool to harness corporate power across all industries, including fossil fuels, fashion, and finance. Friedman pivoted to environmental policy from the financial sector, previously holding a role as a technology investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley. Prior to that, she conducted research on the evolution of the relationship between the Brazilian government and Indigenous tribes over the last two decades, as it related to local land protection and deforestation. Friedman holds a bachelor’s degree from Duke University, where she double-majored in computer science and philosophy. She is based in NRDC’s New York office.
Dr. Anna Kelles, Assemblymember, NYS Assembly
Dr. Anna Kelles represents the 125th District in the New York Assembly, including Tompkins County and the southwest of Cortland County. Assemblymember Kelles is the prime sponsor of the Fashion Act and the Extended Producer Responsibility Act for Textiles in the Assembly. She has been a staunch champion of climate change solutions and natural resource preservation as well as criminal justice reforms and housing affordability. She currently sits on the Environmental Conservation, Agriculture, Corrections, Mental Health, Health, and Housing committees. Prior to serving in the Assembly, Kelles served on the Tompkins County Legislature from 2015 to 2020. Dr. Kelles earned a dual bachelor in Biology and Environmental studies in 1997 from Binghamton University and a PhD in Nutritional Epidemiology in 2008 from The University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.

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