LewisPerkins

By Lewis Perkins, Sep 11, 2012

Today, many apparel brands are joining the sustainable metrics journey. When companies such as Walmart ask their suppliers to provide them with detailed accounting of the environmental impact of their products, we know the world is changing. But Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) thinking captures only one part of the picture. We also need to look closely at how the product was designed in the first place and whether the design will allow a product’s materials to be reused. As the Institute’s certified products program envisions, there will be no waste in the new economy, only nutrients for continued value to nature or industry – polymers to polymers, metals to metals, and safe biodegradables back to soil.

This proposal becomes more of a challenge when we looks at textiles and apparel, as many fiber types are not easily reclaimed. At best, they are down-cycled or composted. At worst, many fabrics are complex blends of fibers that can’t be easily separated on the backend. Institute co-founders McDonough and Braungart called these fabrics “monstrous hybrids.”

My personal background with the apparel industry goes back more than a decade when I worked with Argentine fashion designers to export products to the U.S. and Europe. My partner and I toured the United States, schlepping samples to Coterie, Designers & Agent, and various apparel marts. The sustainable fashion conversation was only just beginning. Ten years ago, all the average consumer heard was a small murmur from a few “hippy” brands. And I was only beginning to scratch the surface of what sustainable textiles would mean in my work. While I had consulted an organic cotton t-shirt company, I did not truly begin my deep-dive into this field until I joined Mohawk Industries as their Director of Sustainable Strategies for the commercial division in 2007. Even then, my knowledge of the development, recyclability and reuse of fibers in the textile world was limited to nylons and polyesters. That is until now – with my new role as a sector specialist for textiles and apparel with the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute.

With passion for the subject and suitcase in hand, I travelled to Europe earlier this month to assist the Institute in opening our European office. This tour gave me the opportunity to meet with several leaders in the world of innovative textiles and fibers. One such company is Backhausen, a 200 year-old weaver based in Austria. The company is still owned and run by the Backhausen family and, in fact, their Vienna showroom boasts a wonderful collection of textiles from generations past. This museum includes design sketches, iconic textile examples, photographs of their products in historic settings, and the biographies of the many world-class artists and designers who have partnered with the company over the years.

What is truly innovate about this company is their continued dedication to leadership in product design, right down to the performance of the fabrics in this new age of quality-awareness and solution-based thinking. In 2008, their president, Reinhard Backhausen, led the company into their next era of innovation by working with Cradle to Cradle® principles to develop a new textile line called Returnity. This latest innovation is the world’s first environmentally friendly produced and 100% recyclable fabric using Trevira CS, a textile fiber based on the Cradle to Cradle® principles. At the end of a long use phase, the fabric is taken back to be infinitely resourceful in new products. Because Trevira CS has been assessed for its impact on human and environmental health with strategies for continued optimization in place, it has achieved the Cradle to Cradle CertifiedCM Silver Mark.

Keep in mind that today Backhausen produces fabrics and textiles for commercial, hospitality, and home applications. And while these fabrics are suitable for use in clothing, so far this has only been done occasionally to demonstrate and inspire designers. For this reason, we are recommending that a sampling of appropriate Backhausen textiles be included in the portfolio for the 2013 Red Carpet Green Dress design competition. This design competition is a high-profile opportunity for the Institute to convey the benefits of the Cradle to Cradle CertifiedCM Products Program to apparel textile producers via a winning designed dress on the famed red carpet at the Academy Awards (stay tuned for a future story about the competition next month).

Bachhausen textiles will not be the only certified apparel textiles in our designers’ portfolio. We have been working with partners such as Source4Style to identify sustainable textile products and dyes that already embrace many of the concepts that comprise product certification. We are encouraging these fabric producers to seek Cradle to Cradle certification in order to be included for this year. To learn more about these concepts, check out our website.

We can learn a great deal about the potential for truly sustainable apparel if we look to the commercial fabric/textile companies who have paved the way in working with single material fibers and creating programs for product take-back and material reuse. The carpet industry is a grand example of this leadership. The majority of commercial carpets being sold today have face fibers made from one synthetic material that can be reused. As many of us are aware, the “monstrous hybrids” we so often see, particularly in the outdoor and athletic apparel industries, are the major reasons why clothing can’t be easily recycled. Material innovation and new product design will solve this conundrum. This leaves me wondering how quickly we could advance the apparel industry if more companies would experiment with materials such as Trevira CS.

Those of us working in the design and material innovation movement often hear ourselves saying “don’t make perfect the enemy of good.” The Cradle to Cradle Certified Products Program inspires continuous improvement. We enthusiastically celebrate companies who begin the journey and aim high. So I encourage more apparel companies to begin their transition to safe, healthy, and infinitely resourceful products. Getting on the path begins today and I commend industry leaders like Reinhard Backhausen and his team for starting their journey nearly 5 years ago. I can’t wait to see what they innovate next. And I encourage any textile producer who wants to get their company started on its product certification journey to contact me today.

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Consultants are known for being road warriors – hoping on a plane Monday morning for some new destination and returning home Thursday night (generally). We clock tens of thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of miles a year traveling to be with our clients. Oftentimes, the face to face meeting is the only way we get the job in the first place. It is true that people like doing business with people they like. However, even when working with clients or job prospecting in town, in the past I found myself logging a lot of miles and hours commuting across metro-Atlanta to meet colleagues for coffee. This means a 1 hour meeting might be a 3 hour venture by the time all is said and done.

Trusting my relationships with business partners and trusting my belief in myself to do good work, over the past year I began to shift more and more meetings to online. Particularly for those preliminary “meet and greet” coffees or breakfasts where the point was to talk about what we do or how we might assist one another in business. For many of us, these meetings could take up all of our time. I love to mentor and be mentored. I enjoy meeting new people. I like to assist others in their career goals. But being able to prioritize face to face meetings is an important skill of the independent freelance consultant or entrepreneur.

This past year, I set aside my Prius, which already gets 45 miles to the gallon in town, for increasing the number of online meetings using technologies which would allow face time and voice – and even the ability to record the calls. I am not saving I have given up face to face meetings all together. Of course not. I spend lots of time in client offices and working along side partners. I attend professional meetings and networking opportunities (although I have greatly reduced those as well due to time and environmental savings objectives). One way I have been able to do this is about being more strategic and selective about where I do show up. Once worried that people would judge me for opting to not meet in real presence for meeting over online video conferencing – I soon realized that others were just as grateful to shift meeting styles and lower their environmental impact. Less fuel used and less pollutants released in the air of our city was a benefit in addition to the savings of hours a week I could dedicate to reading, running or yoga. I had reclaimed my life by using technology. And had lowered my carbon footprint. I slept better at night knowing that I was getting more done and taking care of myself in the process.

Now that’s what I call being sustainable! Taking care of the planet and myself at the same time. Not to mention the cost savings that adds up from not driving and all those $2 coffees.

Catch me on the “Up in the Air” Panel at South By Southwest – Monday, March 12th // 10a-2p at SXSW

PGi and iMeet Give Next Gen Flair to Collaboration with #shiftSXSW

“Up in the Air”: On the Move with the Working Nomad

According to Forrester Research, 66% of information workers in the US and Europe already work remotely. Evernote CEO Phil Libin, PGi Digital Nomad Cora Rodenbusch and corporate green strategist Lewis Perkins discuss the implications of that trend and tools that have emerged as a result of this shift.

Featured panelists will share personal experiences, successes, failures, lessons learned and where they believe the future is heading. Attendees will participate in an open dialogue about working remotely, unconventional workspaces, business travel, and corporate sustainability.

During this decidedly unique experience, we will spark both conversation and creativity. We want to build collaborative relationships amongst peers and create a fun environment where we can share an elevated dialogue about the work we produce. We hope you will join us in Austin.

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Reprinted from Fast Company Magazine
BY FC EXPERT BLOGGER LEWIS PERKINS

Tue Apr 27, 2010
This blog is written by a member of our expert blogging community and expresses that expert’s views alone.

I wanted to write this week about how important I believe education is in order to transition into a new way of operations in our corporations, communities and homes. Last week, a friend sent me an interview with President Bill Clinton from Digg.com on Earth Day. The first question was “How can we best engage our nation’s youth on the issues surrounding climate change?”

President Clinton replied that empowering our youth to green their schools, create organic schoolyards, develop sustainability curriculum was the most important thing we should all being doing today.

It was no coincidence that during that same week I had spend time to Peg Watson, of the Green Schools Alliance, Rachel Gutter, from the USGBC LEED for Schools and Laura Seydel and her team from the Captain Planet Foundation (developing organic school yards).

I also believe it was no coincidence that I received an email from the Dean of my Business School alma mater, Goizueta Business School, telling us that we had dropped in the US News and World Report Rankings. My question back to him was “where is sustainability in the curriculum?”

As a part of a book project I am working on, I had the benefit to meeting with Hunter Lovins to discuss the future of our country and planet. Hunter, founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions, has consulted with many major organization such as Walmart and the U.S. Department of Energy, but it is during this time that she is spending much of her focus as a founding professor at San Francisco’s Presidio Graduate School. Hunter knows that what Bill Clinton has said is true and also believes that sustainability is the most important discipline we can be teaching our future corporate CEO’s today.

I wanted to use this week’s blog to feature the work of one very diligent social entrepreneur, Tom Feegel and his organization called Green My Parents. I asked Tom to tell me about the program and his overall mission. Tom writes:

GreenMyParents is a revolutionary, nationwide program to help young people teach their peers and parents how to work together to help the economy, earn money at home, and save the planet through simple, everyday actions.

Launched Earth Day 2010, this movement enables youth to bring their insightful perspective on how to reduce their parents’ use of resources and save money at home to make a huge difference in saving the planet and securing their future. Based on the book, Green My Parents, available on
Amazon.com http://amzn.to/GreenMyParents

Our youth environmental leaders will be equipped with the tools and resources to train and educate an additional group of 100 peers each about
eco-friendly actions they can take in their own homes with their families.

By continuing the cycle of recruiting another 100 kids, GMP aims to bring together one million students in an effort to save the planet. Operating with the family pocketbook in mind, kids will find environmental allies in their parents as they work together to bolster family savings, help the economy, and save the planet by conserving home resources through following
and completing “eco assignments.” From reducing water and energy usage to cleaning with non-toxic products, families are estimated to save at least $100, which brings the collective savings of American families to an estimated $100 million over the course of a year.

Environmental Charter High School (ECHS), an award-winning college-prep PUBLIC charter school in Los Angeles, has learned
this week that we are recognized by The White House and the Department of Education for academic excellence and has been named a finalist in President Obama’s Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge.

To vote for ECHS http://bit.ly/Vote4ECHS

ECHS is one of six public schools selected to compete for a presidential commencement address from Obama, the only school
in CA and the only environmental school. The Commencement Challenge invited the nation’s public high schools to submit applications.

“At ECHS the question is not whether you will go to college. It is which college will you go to?” said student Jordan
Howard, is the editor of GreenMyParents, and a senior at ECHS. Jordan is a fantastic representative for the student body of ECHS, and her web site is

http://jordaninspires.com/.

Thank you Tom!

I believe this work is very relevant to the readers of FastCompany magazine. It is from THIS work and THIS training that we are going to find the next wave of innovative leaders and the very people who will help us retool our corporations to safely and responsibly operate in the world. When I met with Rachel Gutter last year to discuss her work with the USGBC, she told me that the kids today are sustainability literate. They know no other way. They are engaged in solutions and operate with a collaborative world-view approach. From what I have learned from Tom, this is not only true, but the vital skills needed as we transform business.

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PODCAST ON GREEN TECH: PODCAST on Green Tech with Paula Collins

For more information on Our Green Value or to contact Paula Collins, click here.

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Many have asked me to share where I like to get my information. While I subscribe to many RSS feeds and podcasts, much of my information comes from trusted friends, such as my co-author, Laura Seydel in our upcoming Green Heroes Book and Multi-media project (Stay tuned for more information on this exciting project).

But when I am not tapping into the brilliance of my fellow eco-warriors, I enjoy checking for the latest “green” news and info on the following sites:

Treehugger.com – Partial to a modern aesthetic, it shares sustainable design, green news and solutions.

HuffPostGreen – Green News and Opinion on The Huffington Post.

MNN.com – MNN is the leading resource for daily environmental news, green commentary and simple steps to save money, stay healthy, and support the environment.

ecofabulous.com – The authority on stylish, sustainable living – your inside source for all things both eco and fabulous!

EWG.org – EWG is a nonprofit environmental research organization based in Washington, DC and a leading content provider for public interest groups and concerned with public health and the environment.

gengreenlife.com – Find everything you need to live a sustainable life: Local green business directory offering products and services; Events and classes where like-minded people.

grist.org – Environmental news and green living tips from Grist, the most recognizable voice in environmental journalism.

Healthy Child Healthy World – Igniting a movement that inspires parents to protect young children from harmful chemicals.

Check out the sites and let me know what you find. It is sure to be good information whatever it is.

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Reprinted from Lewis Perkins – “Semantic of Sustainability” – FastCompany.com

So I think we can all admit by now that “green washing” is a thing of the past and most consumers are savvy enough to determine which companies are really walking the talk and which companies continue to attempt to shade their organization green with stories of zero net impact and carbon neutrality. I believe that 2010 marks a new intelligent view on how we promote our green story. In marketing, the term authenticity has been thrown around a lot over the past several years – but as I look around, I believe we have reached a point where the majority of stories being promoted are real. We are tired of the blowing smoke. Recent events in our government, the healthcare plan, the stock market and even the uneventful and very disappointing results of Copenhagen have led to the American public reaching fatigue with the promise of something that is never realized. We want results. We are not only ready to be presented with action for change, we demand it.

A few weeks ago, the Sunday New York Times ran an article about plastic coatings which are under development to rinse clean without the use of soap. The author of the article presented a vision of how great it would be if, after dinner, the greasy stack of dishes could be placed in the sink and let “plain old water rinse away the grime.” A polymer shield that would do the job of dishwashing detergent. I immediately thought of the hundreds of P&G executives shaking in their boots, but then I thought of one very innovative and visionary leader with whom I recently had a great conversation – Adam Lowry, the co-founder and Chief Greenskeeper of Method Products, Inc. Adam said to me, “rather than being in the soap business, I think we should be in the clean business.” Not only would the development of such a polymer NOT frighten Lowry, in my opinion, he would most likely get right in the middle of its development.

I had met Adam on several other occasions and just the month before we were on a panel together on Trends in Green at the Opportunity Green in Los Angeles. So I knew him to be a bright, open, visionary thinker. His company today is poised to deliver another product which will shift the way we and the entire cleaning industry think. about soap. Lowry was quick to state that he did not claim to be the leader behind the concentrate trending in household soap products over the past few years, but a little market research reveals that in fact Method was the leader in bringing the world concentrate laundry detergent.

Lowry and his colleagues at Method are indeed walking the talk as they understand that you cannot make a “zero impact” claim when you are a company who produces any product or provides any service. Merely by being in operation, you have a footprint. So, in his opinion, it is the role of a CEO to find ways in which to lessen that footprint as much as possible. Lowry says “we are not in the soap business, we are in the clean business.” Perhaps the future of clothes laundering involves more partnerships with the machine manufacturers and considered technology, such as the “clean” polymer described above, in development of fabrics.

In order to truly create a model of a sustainable product innovation, you have to be willing to break down barriers that exist between industries. I look forward to learning about the types of partnerships Lowry and his Method team may be forming in order to break down industry walls.
So it will come as no surprise that Method has launched a new product in 2010: an 8x concentrate laundry detergent, which is dispensed in a pump style container to lessen the mistake of over soaping your clothes. In fact, I was shopping in my local Target Store this weekend and the product was well placed on the shelf. When you see the product lined up with its easy pumping visual and messaging, it is clear that this product is a departure from traditional laundry detergent.

What are the implications? Less product, less weight, less expense and carbon footprint to ship, less shelf space required and a smaller overall impact on water systems. Not to mention the overall innovation of the product which will hopefully encourage competitors and similar product categories to respond with more ways to reduce our material use.

What impressed me the most about my visit to Method was Adam’s visionary perspective on how to lead and innovate. Adam understands that whatever his company creates that is a game changer will be copied. The pump detergent is a new product category. Ultimately he expects the other “soap companies” to follow.

As we discussed above, Lowry also knows that truthfully there is no business which is sustainable. So, in response Method has fostered a business model that is literally focused around change itself. Without this, Lowry believes his company would not be able to reach product and overall company sustainability.

According to Lowry, and borrowing from nature, Method is run as more of an organism than an organization – meaning they are set up to adapt and evolve to their environment. This means being willing “to shoot what makes you money and replace it with something bigger, better, perhaps greener and in our case definitely greener.” And that is just what they have done by creating the new pump detergent and potentially cannibalizing their traditional detergents. I give great props to Lowry and his colleagues at Method for pushing the sustainability envelope and moving us all toward a more sustainable experience when getting clean. I am now waiting for Method to announce a partnership with Patagonia on clean fiber technology. After meeting with a visionary like Lowry, such a concept does not seem so ”future-state.”

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