Maxine Bédat tells our host Philip Berman why she is backing the latest legislative attempts in the Sunshine State to curb fashion’s environmental impacts – and why the AB 405 bill could change the financial equation for companies to make real industry change.
YORK – This new 20 minute Ecotextile Talks podcast gives the floor to Maxine Bédat from the New Standards Institute, the official sponsor of a new bill in California that aims to hold fashion brands to account for the environmental impacts of their supply chains.
Bédat, who is also the brains behind the New York Fashion Act, says California’s Fashion Environmental Accountability Act (AB 405), if enacted, would become the first law in the US to require apparel retailers to engage in “environmental due diligence” concerning their products and supply chains.
Introduced by assembly member Dawn Addis last month, the bill – also backed by industry players including Patagonia, Stella McCartney and the NGO Canopy – would require fashion companies to disclose their carbon emissions, water use, pollution and waste.
Anybody in this space who’s been here for longer than a minute recognises that the marketplace is not going to fix itself
Bédat notes: “Anybody in this space who’s been here for longer than a minute recognises that the marketplace is not going to fix itself.
“And if we can just cut through the BS for a second, we can lay the path for something that is very exciting and a new dawn for the industry.”
Listen to the podcast to find out:
- How AB 405 would require fashion companies to set and achieve science-based targets for emissions reduction
- What the Bill means for the adoption of circular business models and supply chain sustainable practices
- How retailers and brands can work collaboratively to find sustainable new innovations.
- Why it’s more economically viable to invest in sustainable practices and innovations.
- Why there has been some industry push back on the proposals.
The interview also touched on the progress of the New York Fashion Act, which Bédat said was not stalled but is still moving through the legislative process.
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