"C&A Foundation, with Fashion for Good, made an industry-wide call for collaboration to transform the apparel industry at a gathering of innovators, sustainability and fashion thought leaders today in Amsterdam. Created with an initial grant from founding partner C&A, Fashion for Good is a global initiative that brings the industry players together to reimagine how fashion is designed, made, used and reused."

C&A Foundation, with Fashion for Good, made an industry-wide call for collaboration to transform the apparel industry at a gathering of innovators, sustainability and fashion thought leaders today in Amsterdam. Created with an initial grant from founding partner C&A, Fashion for Good is a global initiative that brings the industry players together to reimagine how fashion is designed, made, used and reused.

As per Leslie Johnston, Executive Director of C&A Foundation the C&A Foundation will transform the fashion industry, and to do this we need to completely change mindsets. That is why Fashion for Good was incepted. It aims to inform a new way of thinking and at the same time nurture and embed innovations that can bring crucial change. Johnston says this kind of transformation can only be done with others, so today C&A is calling for brands, manufacturers, funders and innovators to work together to realise a shared vision.

Aim & intent

Fashion for Good enables the industry to embrace innovation and change its business models, promoting the five essential goods of a new, transformed fashion industry – good materials, good economy, good energy, good water, and good lives. It finds and funds early-stage ideas, and scales proven technologies and business models to be adopted by the industry. Its Apparel Acceleration Fund catalyses access to finance and its open-source ‘Good Fashion Guide’ shares knowledge to help the apparel industry transform. In addition, as a convener, Fashion for Good will use its first hub in Amsterdam to enable conversation and collaboration by bringing co-locators together, as well as by inviting visitors to The Launchpad Exhibition on good fashion.

Fashion for Good is supported by partners Plug and Play, McDonough Innovation, the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, IDH – the Sustainable Trade Initiative, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Impact Hub Amsterdam. The first brands to partner with Fashion for Good are C&A and Kering.

Fashion for Good’s six programmes

This initiative is part of C&A’a wider efforts to drive the transition to circular economy within the fashion industry. They are nurturing and scaling solutions that will accelerate this new system by enabling best practice today and supporting innovation of tomorrow. The foundation is partnering organisations that will challenge the industry to rethink its material choices, chemical choices, manufacturing choices, and retail and use choices. Fashion for Good's six programmes are:

Early-stage innovation Accelerator: Fashion for Good works with Plug and Play, a leading Silicon Valley accelerator, to give promising start-up innovators the funding and expertise they need to grow.

Late-stage innovation Programme: Fashion for Good finds innovations that have proof of concept and helps them scale by offering bespoke support and access to expertise, customers and capital.

Apparel Acceleration Fund: The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) is scoping a fund that catalyzes access to finance where this is required to shift at scale to more sustainable production methods.

Good Fashion Guide: This open-source guide proves that good fashion is feasible today and shows brands how to embrace it. The online guide provides practical tips, a self-diagnostic tool and a step-by-step guide to production, based on lessons learned while creating the world's first Cradle-to-Cradle Certified™ GOLD T-shirt.

The Launchpad Exhibition: Fashion for Good has opened two floors to the public in its historic building in the heart of Amsterdam. The Experience Centre's first exhibition opens 30 March 2017 and inspires guests to think differently about how clothes are made.

Circular Apparel Community: Fashion for Good is using its historic building to bring key organisations and partners together, including Sustainable Apparel Coalition, ZDHC and Made-By. This coalition will embrace collaboration to create change and it will be the first time such a vibrant eco-system of entrepreneurs and innovators has come together in the name of circular fashion.