At Vegan Fashion Repository, we keep our ears firmly to the ground for every essential development in the vegan and sustainable fashion industry, and celebrate when another milestone is reached.
Here’s a summary of the highlights from March 2025:
Fashion Week Roundup
Vegan Fashion Week – Ethical Luxury Summit 2025 took place in Los Angeles on 10–11 March. Brands, designers, institutions, and industry professionals such as Emmanuelle Rienda, Balmain, Label Oued, École Duperré, Guy Chassaign, and Victor Clavelly, among many others, gathered to celebrate ethical fashion and pave the way for a more sustainable approach to luxury. Vegan Fashion Week
The kaleidoscope of fashion weeks, running from early January to mid-March, concluded with a formal greenwashing complaint filed against Copenhagen Fashion Week and seven participating brands by the Danish Consumer Council. The complaint alleges that CPHFW and these brands have made misleading sustainability claims. Berlin Fashion Week and London Fashion Week have recently adopted sustainability criteria similar to those of Copenhagen Fashion Week, which has been regarded as ‘best in practice’ within the global fashion industry. Apparel Insider
Submissions are now open for Tech Week (2–8 June) and Smart Fashion Week (5–8 June) in New York City. Tech Week is a decentralised tech conference presented by a16z. Each Tech Week sees hundreds of events take place across the host city—from hackathons to panel discussions and community meet-ups. Every event is independently organised by startups, companies, and venture capital firms. Notably, this time, Smart Fashion Week is set to run alongside Tech Week, aiming to redefine the fashion industry by bringing together leading minds in AI, Web3, and blockchain for a four-day showcase. Applications for Smart Fashion Week are due by 11 April at 5 PM PT. Tech Week, Metaverse Fashion Council
Technology
H&M deliberately set off a bombshell with their latest campaign announcement, in collaboration with Swedish tech firm Uncut, in which 30 digital ‘twins’are set to be created using AI this year. The models—real-life prototypes—will retain the rights to their digital twins and will be compensated for the use of their avatars based on usage rates similar to standard industry agreements. However, it does little to calm the storm of panic. The growing fear that AI is stealing models’ jobs is intensifying, particularly in an industry where protecting talent’s rights over their images is already a sore issue. Business of Fashion, BBC World
With people shopping on Google more than a billion times per day, it was only a matter of time before the company became directly involved. Google has announced the launch of a new AI image feature for its Shopping tab, designed to help users find clothing items they envision by allowing them to search using their own words. Vision Match—which has been available to testers as an experimental feature in Labs since 2023—is now integrated into the mobile search experience for U.S. users. It enables shoppers to describe a garment they imagine, with AI suggesting ideas based on the description alongside the best available matches. Google, Grok
Digital Product Passports (DPPs) are gaining momentum. Tod’s has expanded its Digital Product Passport offering to its My Gommino footwear line in collaboration with the Aura Blockchain Consortium and Temera, a product traceability and serialisation company. DPPs allow customers to securely establish ownership of purchased items and obtain a protected digital certificate of authenticity recorded on Aura’s Private Blockchain. This initiative not only aligns with upcoming regulations but also aims to strengthen trust between brands and their customers. DPPs provide intricate details about material sourcing and production methods. Victoria’s Secret & Co. has also recently launched its first DPP. Just Style, Victoria’s Secret & Co.
Trade & Policy
In response to US-imposed import taxes, the European Union (EU) is introducing import duties on US textiles and leather goods. These recovery measures will take effect on 1 April, meaning that goods such as leather products and textiles will be subject to tariffs. Approximately US$19.5 billion worth of goods will be affected. According to the EU, the goal is to ensure that the overall value of its measures matches the higher trade value impacted by the new US tariffs. Apparel Resources
Since the US has imposed additional tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada, US buyers are turning to alternative markets, resulting in a significant surge in garment export orders from Bangladesh to the US—reportedly up 49% year-on-year in January. According to data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) for the July–February period of the 2024–25 fiscal year, Bangladesh’s ready-made garment (RMG) exports have risen by 10.64%, totalling US$26.79 billion. Apparel Resources
In France, on 19 March, the Minister for Trade, Crafts, SMEs, and the Social Economy, Véronique Louwagie, announced that the Senate will discuss the bill on the textile industry’s environmental impact, particularly targeting fast fashion from foreign platforms, in the week of 19 May. The Senate committee has finalised the text approved by the National Assembly, adopting 11 of 25 proposed amendments. These focus on regulating entities that facilitate distance selling via digital platforms and rely on rapid collection turnover. Fashion Network
Meanwhile, in Europe, the European Commission has simplified regulations on sustainability and EU investments through the Omnibus Package, which aims to “create a more favourable business environment to help EU companies grow, innovate, and create quality jobs.” However, the scaling down of sustainability efforts includes limiting compliance to companies with more than 1,000 employees and turnover above €50 million, risk assessments applying only to direct suppliers, and reducing due diligence checks from annually to once every five years. The official EU website
Sustainability
More than 130 brands have now signed up to the Pakistan Accord, which was established in 2023 by the International Accord as its first legally binding safety programme outside of Bangladesh. To date, over 185 safety inspections have been carried out at factories across Karachi, Lahore, and Faisalabad. Key elements of the accord include: independent inspections and remediation of fire, electrical, structural and boiler safety hazards, respect for freedom of association in relation to protecting worker safety, and an independent worker complaints mechanism among many others. International Accord
Lululemon has announced a multi-year collaboration with ZymoChem, a biotechnology company based in San Leandro, CA, to expand the company’s use of bio-based nylon. This follows last year’s unveiling of the world’s first enzymatically recycled nylon 6,6 product, developed in partnership with Australian enviro-tech startup Samsara Eco, proving that textile-to-textile recycling is viable for this high-quality, complex fibre. In similar news, The LYCRA Company, a global leader in sustainable fibre and technology solutions, is previewing samples made with bio-derived LYCRA® EcoMade fibre at Performance Days Munich. Set to launch commercially later this year, this highly anticipated fibre will be derived from annually renewable Iowa field corn to help reduce the environmental impact of apparel. Lululemon, The Lycra Company
Additionally, Circ, a textile-to-textile recycling company, has raised US$25 million in a funding round led by investment group Taranis to build the first industrial-scale textile recycling plant. This is a significant development given the challenging financial landscape for textile recycling companies, which struggle with limited funding options and commercial support. Apparel Resources
WRAP has released a report detailing the environmental impact of circular business models in the UK. Its standardised methodology—established in 2012 and recently updated—was tested by preloved and repair platforms including eBay, Vestiaire Collective, Depop, The Seam, SOJO, and brand Finisterre. The research provides key insights, including: repairing one cotton t-shirt instead of buying a brand new one could save over 7.5kg CO2e, equivalent to ironing for 25 hours, and buying a preloved pair of jeans online instead of buying a brand-new pair could save over 30kg CO2e, equivalent to making 600 cups of tea. WRAP
Finally, ThredUp has published its 2025 Resale Report, which forecasts that the global second-hand apparel market will reach $367 billion by 2029. The report highlights how consumers are increasingly prioritising second-hand purchases, prompting the retail industry to adopt innovative resale pathways. Among the top 10 themes are the accelerated growth of online resale, take-back programmes, AI-driven resale solutions, and the impact of tariffs and waste policies. ThredUp