"Canopy, award winning environmental not-for-profit, announced that CanopyStyle, which focusses on the elimination of ancient and endangered forests from the production of rayon and viscose fabrics, has hit the significant milestone of 100 committed brands. Kathmandu, SVILU, Raquel Allegra and Duffield Design are the latest to join to groundbreaking initiative with strong forest conservation sourcing policies making the CanopyStyle 100 a reality."

Canopy, award winning environmental not-for-profit, announced that CanopyStyle, which focusses on the elimination of ancient and endangered forests from the production of rayon and viscose fabrics, has hit the significant milestone of 100 committed brands. Kathmandu, SVILU, Raquel Allegra and Duffield Design are the latest to join to groundbreaking initiative with strong forest conservation sourcing policies making the CanopyStyle 100 a reality. The CanopyStyle 100 consists of 100 global brands, designers and retailers who have strong, sustainable sourcing policies for their rayon and viscose fabrics and are united in their conservation vision for our global forests.

Manu Rastogi, Textile R&D and Responsible Materials Manager of Kathmandu points out the strength of the collective action being driven by the CanopyStyle 100 is how her company will be successful in addressing the critical issue of protecting endangered forests from ending up in fabrics. They are inspired and excited to join Canopy and The CanopyStyle 100 to forward lasting protection in the world’s forests, said.

Sourcing sustainably

These fashion and apparel leaders, representing over $115B in annual revenue, have all committed to end sourcing of ancient and endangered forests or controversial sources in fabrics from their supply chain, and to kickstart sourcing next generation closed loop rayon and viscose from recycled clothing and left-over straw. They will also put their global might behind Canopy’s work to advance conservation solutions on the ground for landscapes of hope including Quebec’s Broadback Forest, Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem and British Columbia’s last stands on Vancouver Island.

The Beginning

The CanopyStyle initiative was launched in October 2013 with five fashion brands signing on as early ignitors, and in just over 3.5 years has become the fastest moving environmental initiative in the apparel industry. The question for customers now is, if my favourite brand isn’t part of CanopyStyle, then why not? No-one wants the last stands of 1,000-year-old trees cut down to make their jeans or t-shirts. The CanopyStyle 100 is acting on that and as a result we see similar sourcing commitments from nine out of the world’s top 10 largest viscose producers, said Nicole Rycroft, Executive Director, Canopy. One hundred clothing companies are now waiting to see suppliers like Fulida, Xinxiang Bailu and Shandong Yamei move forward on CanopyStyle Audits in order to meet their policy requirements.