Innovation in fashion: Climate organisation Parley launches investment arm

Parley for the Oceans is launching an investment arm to support material innovation in a bid to secure a more sustainable future for fashon deisgn.

The environmental organisation, which works with brands such as Adidas and Dior to turn plastic pollution into product components, is aiming to provide long-term funding to next-generation start-ups - namely those that address the environmental and social problems caused by plastic - according to Business of Fashion (BoF), which initially reported the news.

If it were up to Parley, the company itself would be the one to introduce the next generation to new materials. "We don't see good investors," Parley founder and CEO Cyrill Gutsch told the media outlet. "There is too much influence on the wrong side, which is too quick to commercialise and driven by short-term returns."

Parley uses knowledge of supply chains and its strong links with designers to bring new materials to market. The company's first investment is in Bananatex, a five-year-old company that makes materials from banana plants. As such, Gutsch is calling on designers to work with this material.

Gutsch has already introduced banana plants to Kim Jones, Dior's menswear designer, in the past, leading to the creation of a Dior coat utlising the material. "Designers in fashion houses are more or less the best advocates for us," Gutsch told BoF.