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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.

Bamboo appears to have less impact than fiber from northern softwood trees, particularly when it comes to land use because it regenerates in three years as opposed to 70 years for the trees, according to a life cycle assessment commissioned by Kimberly-Clark, the company behind Kleenex, Scott and Huggies.

Two weeks ago, this new shoe was three plastic water bottles. After ground-up bottles are turned into recycled filament fiber and delivered to a factory, a San Francisco-based startup uses a proprietary process to 3D-knit the fiber into a seamless, essentially waste-free shoe.

Just weeks after partnering with surfer Kelly Slater on his new men's apparel line, Outerknown, upcyled fiber supplier Aquafil has announced it has partnered with Speedo USA on a take-back program that will allow Speedo's post-manufacturing swimwear scraps to be upcycled into Aquafil's 100 percent regenerated ECONYL® nylon. The take-back program gives new life to leftover fabric scraps, which would otherwise end up in landfills, and allows them to be turned back into raw nylon fiber and eventually new swimsuits. 

Looking for a non-structural building material that is as versatile as wood composite, aluminum or fiberboard but far less toxic? That's the promise behind ECOR, a product made from recycled cardboard, wood scraps, even agricultural byproducts such as coffee grounds and corn-stalk fiber.

Finally, the fashion industry realizes we cannot continue this trend in a world where the rising population will have to devote more land to food - or even energy. We cannot continue to grow cotton like mad, nor can we endlessly spin fossil fuels into polyester or other synthetic fabrics. The road toward more sustainable fibers will be a long one with plenty of failures and misses, but it is one we need to take. That is, at least, absent a total rethink of how many clothes we really need in our closets - a discussion the large global clothing chains want to avoid.

Machine washing of clothes is a major contributor to plastic pollution in the oceans. Every time we do laundry, garments made from synthetic fabrics such as fleece and polyester shed small plastic fibers that end up in the water and pollute rivers and oceans. So denim giant G-Star and marine pollution campaign group the Plastic Soup Foundation are joining forces to stop this process in its tracks with a battle against microfiber.

H&M, the second-largest clothing retailer in the world, is working with German textile recycler SOEX Group on a system where previously used fibers would make up the majority of the material they use in clothing manufacturing. H&M's head of sustainability, Anna Gedda, says the company has collected 34,000 pounds of waste since the program began.

By providing thousands of cases of Emerald sustainable products to their clients, Corporate Coffee Systems greatly reduced their environmental footprint and successfully saved 293 trees; 34,441 pounds of virgin fiber; 9,738 pounds of FSC Certified Paper; 79, 977 gallons of water; 10,565 pounds of plastic materials; and diverted 48,848 pounds of landfill waste.

H&M has just closed the loop on itself. The Swedish apparel chain, which in February 2013 became the first retailer to launch a global textile take-back program, is set to debut its inaugural collection of products made from those same recycled fibers.

Threatened with expulsion from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Indonesian pulp and paper company Asia Pacific Resources International re-committed to an earlier pledge to stop clearing forests for new plantations by the end of 2014. The company also pledged to double its forest restoration program to 40,000 hectares and use 100% plantation fiber by the end of 2019.

McDonald's launched its first Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability framework alongside a new sustainability report. The framework sets new goals of purchasing beef from sustainable-certified sources by 2016, procuring 100% of fiber-based packaging from certified or recycled sources, and increasing energy efficiency 20% in company-owned restaurants in 7 markets

Apple has announced a multi-year project with World Wildlife Fund that aims to protect as much as 1 million acres of responsibly managed working forests in China that provide fiber for pulp, paper and wood products.

The world's largest publishing companies have adopted policies that significantly curtail use of paper sourced from rainforest destruction and social conflict, finds a new assessment published by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN).  Read more at http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0518-ran-publishing-industry.html#20O30qvTrE8O6zAr.99

Levi Strauss and Marks & Spencer joined Fashion Loved by Forests, an initiative organized by nonprofit organization Canopy that seeks to eliminate the use of endangered forest fiber in the fashion industry. Other companies involved in the initiative include EILEEN FISHER, H&M, Inditex, Patagonia (CEF member), Stella McCartney, and more.

Cascades, which produces packaging and tissue products composed mainly of recycled fibers, has invested $26 million in a new chemical-free technology at its Norampac - Cabano facility

Kimberly-Clark will feature the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) logo on its Forest Stewardship Council- certified products to raise consumer awareness about the importance of choosing products made from responsibly sourced fiber. As part of the partnership, the company will contribute $4 million to WWF's forest and ecosystem protection programs.

Nike introduced Flyleather, a new material made with at least 50% recycled natural leather fiber. The material requires 90% less water to produce and has an 80% lower carbon footprint, compared to traditional leather manufacturing

Stella McCartney, long an advocate for ethical fashion, has been busy over the last several months trying to drive the industry away from a take-make-waste model; the luxury label recently announced plans to use Parley for the Oceans' recycled plastic yarn and Aquafil's ECONYL® fiber in its line of shoes, accessories and outerwear. In its latest bid to call attention to the cause, the vegetarian brand has shot its entire Autumn/Winter 2017 campaign on a landfill site on the Eastern Coast of Scotland.