Textile Exchange urges industry to act

Textile Exchange has urged fashion and textile businesses to move “from readiness to action”, as its 2026 conference closed in Vancouver.

More than 1,300 brands, producers, suppliers and academics attended the three-day event, held under the theme The Implementation Era from 13th–15th October.

Sessions highlighted barriers to scaling preferred production systems, including mismatched data requirements, weak producer incentives and limited textile-to-textile recycling feedstock.

Claire Bergkamp, chief executive of Textile Exchange, said: “Our role is to help connect these pockets of progress and turn them into lasting impact.”

Speakers also called for landscape-level collaboration on regenerative agriculture and earlier alignment between sustainability, communications and legal teams on credible claims.

Textile Exchange said its Materials Matter Standard would help translate shared targets into practical action across climate, nature, people and animals.