Kurt Kipka
Chief Impact Officer Apparel Impact Institute
Transparency and traceability are vital for achieving environmental ambitions
With energy, water, and chemistry as its focus areas, the US-based Apparel Impact Institute (AII) plays the critical role of a technical clearing house for its partner brands, manufacturers, and philanthropic donors, validating and aggregating proven environment initiatives. AII identifies, funds, scales and measures the proven quality solutions to accelerate positive impact in the apparel and footwear industry. In a chat with Fibre2Fashion, AII Chief Impact Officer Kurt Kipka discusses initiatives and action to drive sustainability in the apparel industry.
How do you see the role of technology and innovation in achieving sustainability in the apparel industry?
Innovation and technology will continue to shape the future of the industry. How we manage that change with data-driven decision making is how we can ensure that the future we achieve is a sustainable one.
What is the importance of collective action in driving sustainability improvements in the apparel industry?
It is critical for navigating change at scale, especially considering the immense nature of the apparel industry and its supply chain. There is the obvious benefit of shared resources which drives many collective action projects, but the less obvious benefits are perhaps more important: By working together we’re also agreeing on priorities and a shared course of action to guide decision-making and the results we aim to achieve.
Tell us about your background and how you became involved in the sustainability space?
I started my career in Sourcing at a large US-based retailer, Target Corporation. It is there that I became interested in sustainability, first through the lens of cost-saving but also through the lens of future-proofing the supply chains I was managing. From there, I took an opportunity to start Target’s sourcing sustainability team and began driving projects to support suppliers in becoming more sustainable. One of those projects was Clean by Design, which was founded by Dr. Linda Greer at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Dr. Greer and I hit it off, and I eventually joined her at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) where I oversaw the growth and long-term plan for the Clean by Design initiative. That long-term plan landed me, my team and Clean by Design at Apparel Impact Institute where now, as Chief Impact Officer, I oversee the development and deployment of a portfolio of projects and initiatives aimed at creating positive environmental outcomes for the apparel sector.
What inspired the creation of the Apparel Impact Institute, and what are the main goals and objectives of the organisation?
The Apparel Impact Institute is a not-for profit registered in the state of California (501c3), founded in 2017 by four industry leaders: the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), NRDC and Target Corporation. The organisation emerged organically as a result of a real need to accelerate positive impact in the apparel, footwear and textile industry to transform the impact that the sector has on people and the planet.
Can you walk us through the process of identifying, funding, and scaling sustainable solutions within the apparel industry?
AII has drawn from our teams’, partners’ and strategic advisors’ experiences in delivering successful programmes to develop criteria for understanding the readiness of a project or solution for implementation. Readiness could be a test on an individual production line or multi-country, multi-facility programme. Our aim is to shape these projects in such a way to advance them along a programme pipeline for eventual widespread commercialisation. In doing so, we engage the sector’s various stakeholders with aligned interests in the programme’s success such as manufacturers, brands, banks and philanthropic organisations. This allows us to prioritise shared projects and deploy unique funding models to the work we do, including the Fashion Climate Fund, which was launched in June 2022 with an aim to deploy $250 million in catalytic programme funding to unlock $2 billion in investment.
What are some of the biggest challenges the apparel industry faces in achieving sustainability, and how is AII working to address them?
The industry has to act urgently to deliver the GHG reductions needed to stay within the 1.5°C pathway by 2030. Still, it’s challenging to identify, prioritise and sequence projects and initiatives that drive quantifiable reductions of GHG. We have developed the Climate Solutions Portfolio and supporting criteria for project evaluation to launch an open application and registry process for solutions that effectively address or show promise to bridge the gap between aspirations and execution. By providing grant funding to the most promising projects, it’s our ambition to expedite their potential for GHG reductions and unlock the potential for further investment.
How does AII measure the impact of its initiatives, and what metrics do you use to track progress?
Every AII project follows a simple formula: We begin with a starting point or baseline, apply an intervention or set of interventions and then evaluate the results achieved by said interventions. We use hard data such as energy, GHG or water reduced to quantify the success and progress of projects while also considering the reach of each initiative in terms of sites, facilities and regions where they may be deployed.
How do you envision the future of sustainable fashion, and what role can AII play in shaping that future?
I see a sector with an opportunity to provide other industries with a zero waste, low carbon model for the future. AII can be a convening body or centre of gravity for placing momentum and resources towards initiatives that create the most positive environmental impacts.
What is AII’s stance on transparency and traceability within the apparel supply chain, and how is the organisation working to improve these areas?
AII builds our organisational strategies around achieving quantifiable results within the apparel supply chain. Transparency and traceability are vital for achieving this sector’s environmental ambitions. Having visibility and data along the supply chain is the only way that we can quantify the improvements needed and the improvements made as we go.
The importance of circularity and reducing waste in the apparel industry is well-known. How is AII working to support these efforts?
Our Roadmap to Zero report published along with the World Resources Institute highlighted material waste reduction and circularity as two of the key levers for the industry to pull if it is to stay within the 1.5°C pathway by 2030. We have established the Fashion Climate Fund and its deployment mechanism, the Climate Solutions Portfolio, to identify and support these efforts across all of the levers identified in the report.
How do you see consumer behaviour and awareness impacting the sustainability of the apparel industry, and what role do brands and organisations play in educating consumers?
Consumers and society have an increased awareness and requisite expectations of brands in the apparel industry. It is incumbent upon those brands to both maintain and build consumer confidence that their purchasing decisions are ones they can make confidently and proudly.
What advice do you have for apparel brands and organisations looking to make meaningful progress towards sustainability?
The window for planning and research is rapidly closing when you consider 2030 milestones. There are proven solutions, efforts and initiatives waiting to be deployed and scaled. The time to act is now, but it’s critical to do so in partnership with your suppliers who must balance their own environmental aspirations with those of their clients.
Published on: 14/03/2023
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
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