Articles by Simone Preuss
Simone Preuss is a freelance journalist specialising in apparel production, sustainability and social responsibility. She has been working with FashionUnited since 2012, gaining valuable insights into an ever-changing industry.
From field to fashion: Tintoremus' homegrown indigo cultivation promotes natural dyes
In May 2022, Clemente Cebrián and Lola López of Spanish sustainably sourced fashion brand El Ganso found a solution for a problem they had been pondering: They had unused fields in western Spain (initially in La Herguijuela) but did not know what to plant there as summers were dry and hot. Then inspiration struck - indigo seemed perfect given...
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Sustainability at Miomojo focuses on innovation and responsibility
While large clothing and accessory brands often struggle with their sustainability efforts, as their size makes them inflexible or their business model is based on overproduction, smaller and younger labels have it a bit easier as a sustainable direction was part of their programme from the outset. One such company is the Italian bag label...
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A foot in the door: Birkenstock opens three more stores in Mumbai
German footwear brand Birkenstock appears to have taken a shine to Mumbai, home of Bollywood, and India in general. In April last year, it opened its first Indian flagship store on Mumbai's iconic Linking Road, a popular location for international and domestic brands alike. Puma, Levi’s, Benetton, Vero Moda, Raymond, Anita Dongre and others rub...
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Packing light when traveling - lean on the wallet, the planet and the ego
A majority of US shoppers spends up to 200 US dollars on their holiday wardrobe each year according to a CivicScience survey. The main reasons mentioned for buying new instead of taking what is in the closet were ’to update my wardrobe’ (45 percent of respondents), ‘for a vacation or trip’ (27 percent) and for about one quarter (26 percent), ‘...
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When fashion meets protein fibres: “Biotechnology can be a powerful force for good”
Spiber a is bio-venture from Japan that has been harnessing the power of fermentation to produce fibres. How does one have to picture this? It started with bioinformatics researchers Kazuhide Sekiyama and Junichi Sugahara investigating methods for producing spider web fibres through fermentation in 2004. Three years later, they used their...
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Report: Smart textile materials market to grow by a cool 2 billion US dollars by 2030
The market for smart textile materials is poised for growth - estimated to be worth 3.59 billion US dollars (about 3.11 billion euros) in 2023, it is expected to grow by 56 percent to 5.59 billion US dollars (about 4.11 billion euros) by 2030, expecting an annual growth rate of 6.4 percent. This is what a new report by market research company...
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Eyewear trends: Ic! berlin focuses on silent luxury and minimalist design
Premium eyewear brand Ic! berlin was founded in 1996 by entrepreneur and artist Ralph Anderl together with two design students. They had developed a new pair of glasses made of an unconventional material, cold-rolled stainless steel, and the invention of a revolutionary mechanism, the screwless hinge system, still the hallmark of every Ic!...
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Textile Exchange updates form for better tracing of textile waste across supply chain
Clothes made with a percentage of recycled fibres are a step ahead, especially if the recycled fibres are coming from textile feedstock rather than PET bottles, taken from a whole different industry. But this is where the problem lies. “There is currently a lack of transparency around the origins of textile feedstock. At present, the industry...
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Textile Exchange to launch approved criteria of new Materials Matter Standard in December
Global non-profit Textile Exchange introduced its new Materials Matter Standard at its annual conference last year, a voluntary sustainability standard for the production and initial processing of raw materials. After a successful vote by the International Working Group (IWG) as an independent decision-making body, Textile Exchange will launch...
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New Reju and Circle-8 partnership to tackle large-scale textile-to-textile recycling in UK
Textile-to-textile regeneration company Reju and Lonond-based Circle-8 Textile Ecosystems have partnered to boost large-scale textile-to-textile (T2T) recycling in the UK and make a dent in the growing post-consumer textile pile. After opening pilot plant “Regeneration Hub Zero” in Frankfurt, Germany in October 2024, Reju announced its first...
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