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In yet another announcement about "sustainable apparel," Levi Strauss & Co. has said that it is funding $350,000 toward new approaches and innovations in the apparel supply chain.

Roughly 20 pieces of clothing per person are manufactured each year. Growth of the multi-trillion-dollar apparel industry has been fed by "fast fashion," which makes clothing cheaply and quickly with a low price-tag. These visuals illustrate why the apparel industry must embrace a new approach to sustainably meet demand in tomorrow's markets.

Rates materials in apparel an footwear manufacturing for their environmental sustainability.

The industry group Sustainable Apparel Coalition has opened use of its Higg Index suite of tools for measuring and evaluating supply chain impact to non-member small and medium-sized (SME) brands and retailers. SMEs may now take advantage of a special licence for full access to the Higg Index. The coalition, which has over 180 apparel, footwear and home textile company members, expects that increasing the number of SMEs participating in the Index will bolster reporting and impact a wider spectrum of the supply chain.

VF Corporation has released its first-ever Forest Derived Materials Policy. The company joins over 65 other apparel brands and producers supporting the CanopyStyle initiative, which aims to eliminate the use of ancient and endangered forests in the production of forest derived fabrics such as rayon and viscose from the apparel and fashion industries by the end of 2017.

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), which counts more than 100 major companies among its members (including clothing brands such as Adidas and Hanes, as well as retail giants such as Target, H&M, and JCPenney), is working to create stronger standards for sustainable products

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition has turned its groundbreaking Higg Index, which exposes sustainable business metrics from across the fashion and apparel industry supply chain, into a dynamic Web portal.

A number of leading apparel companies have come to realize that the way we produce clothes has a direct impact not only on the world's valuable water resources, but also on the industry's bottom line.

NIKE, Inc. has announced a new strategic partnership with private equity firm Apollo Global Management, LLC, aimed at building a transparent and ethical apparel supply chain in the Americas.

The North Face, we've set out to change the way outdoor apparel is made. We've set a bold goal to have 100 percent of our polyester (or 80 percent of all of the fabric we use for apparel) come from recycled content - from thousands of plastic bottles - by 2016.

The North Face may have just started a new trend in sustainable apparel: locally grown. Taking a cue from the local food movement, the outdoor apparel company developed an all-cotton hoodie that was grown, designed, cut and sewn within 150 miles of its corporate headquarters in California.

Millions of trees are disappearing every year into the clothing on our backs. They're being felled to manufacture dissolving pulp, a key ingredient for fabrics such as rayon/viscose, modal and lyocell. Even worse, much of that pulp is wasted. That revelation was the impetus behind an apparel industry campaign created both to raise awareness of this issue and to nip it in the bud. More than two dozen fashion and apparel companies - including retailers and producers - are involved with the "Fashion Loved by Forest" initiative. They include Eileen Fisher, H&M, Levi Strauss, Lululemon Athletica, Marks & Spencer, Patagonia and Prana.

Adidas collaborated with Stella McCartney to launch an apparel and footwear line that aims to promote the importance of environmentally friendly fashion. The apparel and footwear line incorporates fabrics such as recycled polyester, organic cotton, and recycled ocean plastic.

VF Corporation brand The North Face launched a pilot program this summer to sell refurbished apparel online, extending product life. Called The North Face Renewed, the collection targets consumers looking for affordable gear who also want to reduce their environmental footprints.

A group of organizations - including C&A Foundation, the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, McDonough Innovation, and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition - have launched the Fashion For Good initiative, which aims to help set the apparel industry on a more sustainable path using a Cradle to Cradle-inspired, circular approach to product development. The initiative will engage key players from across the fashion industry and will support the "scale up of technologies, methodologies, and business models with the potential to wholly transform the industry."

Industry leaders convened last week in Istanbul at the Textile Exchange's 2013 Textile Sustainability Conference to share solutions to enhance the integrity of products and practices in apparel and textiles.

Designer Eileen Fisher, apparel companies Quiksilver, Prana, Patagonia, Lululemon Athletica and other global clothing brands with revenues totaling more than $4 billion have partnered with environmental organization Canopy to develop purchasing policies that aim to end the use of endangered forest fiber. The companies along with 14 eco-designers are working to craft forest-friendly purchasing policies that track which forests their rayon and viscose fabrics are from. The group also will work to eliminate controversial forest fiber from their supply chains.

For a growing number of companies, fighting climate change is a zero-sum game. In late September, several organizations associated with nonprofit sustainability outfit The B Team declared a "net zero by 2050" (PDF) aspiration pertaining to greenhouse gas emissions. Among them: consumer products giant Unilever; apparel company Kering; Chinese construction company Broad Group; African telecommunications carrier Econet; Brazilian cosmetics manufacturer Natura; and British-born investment group Virgin - a geographically diverse group that underscores the global nature of climate challenges.

Timberland is a longstanding sustainability leader within the apparel industry. The New Hampshire-based company is a favorite of the outdoorsy crowd, and its shoes are popular not only for their reputation as being sturdy and rugged, but for their enduring status as a fashion statement as well.

A Haitian initiative supported by apparel company Timberland has given way to a more ambitious goal to farm sustainable cotton on the island