Cascale’s outgoing CEO reflects on the organisations work amid the textile sector’s current geo-political disruption and decarbonisation challenges
Reflecting on her tenure at Cascale, Harsh Saini, the outgoing interim CEO of Cascale, talks about how she has helped to stabilise the organisation through some recent turbulence, and gives a candid assessment of the textile industry’s current difficulties in a world of tariffs and geo-political volatility, as she prepares to hand over the leadership to Ying McGuire on 1st June.
Speaking on the Ecotextile Talks podcast, Saini tells listeners the shift away from coal dependency in textile supply chains – despite years of sustainability commitments – remains a major challenge. She notes how coal continues to account for more than 31% of total energy consumption across the sector – a figure that has remained stubbornly unchanged for two decades. Referring to Cascale work on decarbonisations, she says, “We’ve done a lot of low hanging fruit to date, but we are really looking at and working with other organisations to find greater investment,” Saini admitted. “It’s expensive to change. A small supplier can’t put up the investment needed to change over from coal to other sources.”
The former Nike executive, who was “plucked out of retirement” to stabilise the organisation following its rebrand from the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, and the departure of most recent CEO Colin Browne, pointed to Cascale’s new Technical Advisory Council as a key governance achievement – among other initiatives – and she addresses criticism about potential ‘conflicts of interest’, given that brands and retailers dominate Cascale’s dues-paying membership.
On the Better Buying integration, Saini notes continued progress, while addressing that some suppliers had faced an “absurd” 723 audits annually while acknowledging that improvements in purchasing practices still remain sluggish. “Giving a set of data to a buyer or the sustainability lead is clearly not enough,” she states, emphasising the need to identify who will act on supplier feedback.
As Saini prepares for her departure she also tells listeners that incoming CEO Ying McGuire is prepared to deliver what “the whole industry is waiting for: impact, impact, impact”.
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