Hosts Wendy Blanpied and Rebecca Ballard are joined by experts and practitioners in the area of sustainable cotton production and traceability, Patricia Jurewicz, Eric Henry, and Leyla Shamchiyeva, for a conversation centered around due diligence in cotton supply chains. This conversion will increase your understanding of where cotton comes from as well as your understanding of what experts and brands are doing to ensure workers in cotton fields are treated fairly.

Patricia Jurewicz is the Founder and CEO of Responsible Sourcing Network, a for-benefit NGO that champions human rights in the mining and harvesting of raw materials found in products we use every day. Since 2004, Patricia has worked with civil society and shareholder communities to address labor and human rights abuses in supply chains. She is the co-founder of the Cotton Campaign and helped encourage the transition of Uzbekistan away from forced labor through brand engagement and multi-stakeholder advocacy. Prior to RSN, Patricia managed production at Gap, Inc., encouraged equitable trade for IATP, and trained women's artisan cooperatives.

Leyla Shamchiyeva is the Decent Work Lead at Better Cotton. She is is a passionate advocate for labor rights and for creating better working conditions in global supply chains. Leyla leads Better Cotton's global effort to improve working conditions in cotton farming. With a background in labor rights risk assessment and employment policy at the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank, as well as contributing to the PwC-led flagship Girls Education Challenge program, Leyla is dedicated to making a positive impact.

Eric Henry is the President of TS Designs. Eric got his start when he launched Creative Screen Designs in 1978 while attending North Carolina State University. Two years later, he and Tom Sineath merged companies to incorporate TS Designs. Eric’s journey into sustainability started the day NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) was enacted and he saw the business destroyed when his long-time customers went overseas for their products. He pivoted the TS Designs strategy based on a triple bottom line of People, Planet, and Profit. In 2008, TS Designs became the first apparel B-Corporation in North Carolina, and they aim to make the highest quality printed apparel in a domestic transparent and trackable supply chain.

For more information please visit:

https://www.sourcingnetwork.org/yess

https://bettercotton.org/

https://tsdesigns.com/

For more on The Fashion Connection visit: thefashionconnection.org

Textile waste is the fastest-growing waste stream in the U.S. and worldwide. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that textile materials generate 17 million tons of annual municipal solid waste. Of which, 11.3 million tons end up in landfill, emitting heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere and leaching toxins into the environment. The vast majority of discarded textiles could be given a second life, but the lack of sorting and recycling infrastructure, along with the absence of critical textile fiber information, have posed severe challenges to mitigating the growing textile waste issue.

Enter Brian Iezzi and Fibarcode. Brian is a Materials Science and Engineering post-doctoral researcher at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on new technologies for enhanced traceability, authentication, and end-of-use management, particularly in the apparel and industrial textile industry. He has recently led research into developing new textile fiber "barcodes" with unique, engineered optical properties that can be directly integrated into textiles and garments, enabling indelible labeling of critical information for apparel re-sale, repair, and recycling.

On this episode of TFC Connections, hosts Nicole Clenney and Costanza Promontorio sit down with Brian to talk circularity, textile waste, and his fiber barcode solution. For more information on Fibarcode and to learn about engagement opportunities, visit https://www.fibarcode.com/