Big Closets Small Planet
Episodes
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: Do we need to reimagine growth in apparel? Textile Exchange makes the case.
13 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A few years ago Professor Jason Hickel was invited to speak during an annual Textile Exchange conference. Why was that invitation noteworthy? Because ...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: Ken Pucker is a thought leader and an independent voice. Is anyone listening?
13 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ken Pucker, former COO at Timberland and now Professor of Practice at Tufts University, sustainable industry analyst, opinion columnist and critic, vi...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: How much is enough? Can a "sufficiency" approach be applied to textile policy?
13 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The idea that the fashion and apparel industry can continue to grow by employing a green-growth model has been questioned by many leading thinkers. It...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: How Elisabeth Peregi, the Kappahl Group's CEO, views climate action.
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Kappahl Group is a signatory in STICA's Company Climate Action Program. That is why we invited Elisabeth Peregi, CEO of the Kappahl Group, for a c...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: Status Update: Will the New York and California Fashion Act bills pass?
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
During STICA's 2024 Climate Action Week, Maxine Bédat and her colleagues from the NRDC and the New York State Assembly updated us on the arguments fo...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: Will EU's textile legislation reduce industry emissions at the pace and scale required?
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
According to a recent report by the European Environment Agency, the greenhouse gas emissions from textile consumption in the EU was 355kg CO2e per pe...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: Watchdogs Action Speaks Louder & Fashion Revolution want more from the industry.
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
During the past few years, a number of NGO campaign organizations, sometimes referred to as watchdogs, have set their sights on accelerating climate a...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: Heat is putting Indian garment workers' lives at risk today. We need to act now.
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nandita Shivakumar is a labor organizer and campaigner whose work has focused on gender justice, sustainability, and migrant rights in global fashion ...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: Professor Hakan Karaosman is still asking: "Where are the workers' voices?"
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hakan Karaosman, whose mother was a garment worker, is a Professor in supply chain management from Cardiff University. Six years ago, Hakan and his co...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: The Laudes Foundation explains its approach for ensuring a Just Transition.
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Laudes Foundation is one of the few philanthropic organizations that funds sustainability initiatives that specifically impact the apparel industr...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: Jason Judd wants the apparel industry to take heat stress very seriously.
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Already today global warming is having an impact on companies, workers and communities in countries where a majority of global production currently ta...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: Apparel Impact Institute has a decarbonization strategy for the industry. Is it working?
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) has become a central player in setting and implementing the apparel industry's decarbonization agenda. To achieve t...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: Will climate-related innovations save us? We asked Lutz Walter from Textile ETP.
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lutz Walter founded and leads the European Technology Platform for the Future of Textiles and Clothing (Textile ETP), a network of research and techno...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: WRAP believes we need a standardized way to measure circular business models.
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
To reach their greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets and to transform their businesses, companies are hoping they can increasingly replace revenu...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: The Good Fashion Fund has tested its impact model. It is time to scale up.
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Good Fashion Fund (GFF) was launched in 2018 to demonstrate that an impact fund that supports textile suppliers in their sustainability journey, e...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: Will we soon see a breakthrough for "next-gen" man-made cellulosic textiles?
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nicole Rycroft from Canopy believes "next-gen" materials are to forests and climate as renewables are to fossil fuels and climate. Her organization's ...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: Will H&M reach its climate targets and decouple emissions from financial growth?
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The H&M Group, a STICA signatory, is by far the largest emitter of greenhouse gases among those companies participating in STICA's Company Climate Act...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: These manufacturers argue a paradigm shift is needed for successful climate action.
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In on-going discussions about who is responsible for bearing the cost of sustainability investments in the supply chain, one issue emerges repeatedly:...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: Will energy benchmarks for apparel change the game? Kurt & Phil think so.
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Experts working with the Apparel Impact Institute are developing the first quantitative performance evaluation benchmarks for apparel and textiles in ...
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: Factory decarbonization expert Peter Ford is surprisingly optimistic about 2030.
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We wanted a broader perspective on the state of decarbonization in apparel supply chains from a practitioner who is working actively in this field. So...
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Dr. Jennifer Hinton Thinks Not-for-Profit Business Models Can Help Address The Problems of Fast Fashion.
08 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Is our current for-profit economic model a root cause of many of today's sustainability challenges generally, and specifically in apparel and fashion?...
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: For Ken Pucker, circularity is just another win-win fantasy & distraction for the fashion industry.
29 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ken Pucker, former Timberland COO and current Professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts, recently published a series of piec...
HOT OFF THE PRESS: Climate & The 1 Trillion Dollar Question
06 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Now that climate action has rapidly moved to the top of the apparel industry's agenda, it is crucial that the industry moves from intention to action ...
HOT OFF THE PRESS: Fashion is endangering our forests. A new report from Canopy weighs in on what we need to do about it.
16 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Forests play a crucial role in promoting biodiversity, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and supporting livelihoods, especially in p...
HOT OFF THE PRESS: Are the Sustainable Apparel Coalition and the HIGG tools making a meaningful difference? A new report weighs in.
25 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It's been nearly a decade since Patagonia, Walmart and a number of other brands, retailers, manufacturers and NGOs established the Sustainable Appa...
DEBATE: Part 2 - A proposed Swedish chemical tax on textiles - is this a case study in great government leadership or political greenwash?
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sweden has a reputation for being a sustainability leader in many areas, so you can imagine how curious we were to learn about a newish proposal from...
DEBATE: Part 1 - A proposed Swedish chemical tax on textiles - is this a case study in great government leadership or political greenwash?
28 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sweden has a reputation for being a sustainability leader in many areas, so you can imagine how curious we were to learn about a newish proposal from ...
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Sustainable investment expert Sasja Beslik thinks the fashion industry is a very poor performer and possibly a stranded asset.
14 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sasja Beslik, Head of Sustainable Finance Development at J Safra Sarasin, fled Bosnia when he was 18 to escape the war. He ended up in Sweden and tod...
MAKE YOUR CASE: Phil Patterson believes the way we use chemicals in the textiles industry is broken and here is his plan to change it!
30 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Phil Patterson, Managing Director at Colour Connections, has been working at the intersection between the textile industry and influential retail br...
FACT OR FICTION: Alden Wicker and Sandra Roos think the fashion industry has a misinformation problem... do you agree?
16 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we continue to explore the most commonly repeated "factoids" in fashion and sustainability in order to determine whether they are s...
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Femke Groothuis argues that tax reform is the best way to transform the apparel industry at the scale and pace required.
24 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
You've heard it before: The global environmental challenges we face are daunting and time sensitive. If we want to avoid catastrophic tipping points, ...
LEADING CHANGE: What can a new psychology of climate action teach us about being better change agents?
10 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As a listener of Big Closets Small Planet, you are likely interested and engaged in changing the apparel industry. So for those of you who are keen to...
INDUSTRY UPDATE: Circular business models, like clothing resale and subscription rental, are taking off - but can they ever fully replace today's retail models and deliver the radical sustainability improvements we need?
27 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Experts and practitioners agree that simply improving upon today's take-make-waste linear business models will not ensure the apparel industry can ope...
FACT OR FICTION: Does the apparel industry really create more greenhouse gases than flights and shipping combined?
13 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this new segment we will explore commonly repeated "factoids" in order to determine whether they are substantive and useful. Perhaps you have heard...
INDUSTRY UPDATE: COVID-19 - Are millions of workers at risk? Will Bangladesh ever be the same?
29 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The impacts of the corona virus on the apparel sector have been fast and furious. We are all affected, but millions of low-wage garment workers are fa...
INSPIRING INNOVATION: Is digital clothing the future of fashion and a solution to overconsumption?
15 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Fabricant, a digital fashion house, recently sold a piece of digital clothing - clothing that is only available in digital environments - for over...
HOT OFF THE PRESS: Pioneering analysis estimates 300 billion USD is needed by 2030...
25 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
...to develop and mainstream the sustainable apparel innovations required to meet key sustainability goals for the apparel industry. Listeners of this...
MAKE YOUR CASE: Lewis Perkins warns the industry not to reinvent the wheel
11 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this new segment - Make Your Case - Big Closets Small Planet provides industry experts and stakeholders a platform to argue for a particular positi...
INSPIRING INNOVATION: Will molecular bonding of fibers mean the end of polyester?
27 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Here is a quick dose of inspiration! At Planet Textiles, Mike spoke to Spencer Null about Natural Fiber Welding's breakthrough solution: enabling natu...
BUSINESS LEADERSHIP: The optimist CEO of Lenzing, Stefan Doboczky, weighs in on circular business models, short-termism & watchdogs.
13 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Do you ever wonder how CEOs from some of our industry's most influential companies view the big social and environmental challenges we are facing toda...
INSPIRING INNOVATION: Can a simple phone call make invisible workers visible?
30 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Lea Esterhuizen, an expert in gathering sensitive data from scared populations, believes we are unwittingly eating and wearing products that have ...
INDUSTRY UPDATE: Finance & Innovation - Today's financing models don't cut it. We need new approaches that are structured in a way to help reduce risk for all parties involved.
16 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Mike had the unique opportunity to sit down with an impact investor and a vertical manufacturer to share their real world views on what it takes to ac...
INDUSTRY UPDATE: Sound the alarm? Or have we overestimated the problems associated with microfibers & microplastics?!?
02 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Between 2014 and 2016, an increasing number of journalists began reporting on disturbing new research showing that microfibers from synthetic garmen...
INSPIRING INNOVATION: The robots are coming! This development may be good for the environment, but is this the beginning of the end for garment workers in production countries?
18 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The United States Military is required to make their clothing in the United States. But because very little clothing is produced in the United State...
INDUSTRY UPDATE: A Sexy Update on the State of Chemical Management in Textiles Today. "As consumers, we've probably never been safer. As citizens, we have probably never been more unsafe..."
04 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
At Planet Textiles, Mike Schragger spoke with two of his favorite chemical and textiles experts, Phil Patterson and Linda Greer, about the state of th...
INSPIRING INNOVATION: Subcritical water… what the "!#@%" is that? And what can it do for the apparel industry?
05 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The founders of Tyton BioSciences are not personally interested in fashion, but that won't stop them from using subcritical water to help solve the cu...
INSPIRING INNOVATION: Apparel industry = waste.
29 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Nearly 6 million tons of leftover textiles - the equivalent 18 million new clothes - are wasted in South East Asia and China alone. If we could remanu...
BUSINESS LEADERSHIP: Climate Action - The H&M group boldly committed to becoming climate positive by 2040. But getting there requires unprecedented leadership and change. Is the H&M group in over its head? And what can the H&M group's journey teach us a
22 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In a refreshingly candid and constructive interview, Mike spoke with the H&M group's Kim Hällström about what has happened since the company first m...
INSPIRING INNOVATION: What if using your credit card to purchase clothing could actually help combat global warming?
15 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
If we knew the specific climate impacts of each of our purchases, such as the greenhouse gas emissions of our favourite dress or shoes, would we make ...
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Innovation - Edwin Keh thinks that to solve the fashion industry's sustainability challenges we need to radically rethink R&D.
08 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Mike speaks with Edwin Keh, CEO of the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles & Apparel Limited, about his team's pioneering and surprising breakthr...
INDUSTRY UPDATE: The Innovation Ecosystem - Do you want the inside scoop about which sustainable apparel innovations are hot and which are not? Then ask two passionate, albeit a bit wacky, business development and innovation experts for advice.
02 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Do you get excited when hearing about breakthrough sustainability apparel innovations - such as fibers made from fruit waste or blockchain technology ...
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Jason Kibbey: "Beware of the 'Circular Fairies'!"
12 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Jason Kibbey, CEO of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), has been been leading one of the most important sustainability trade organizations in...
INDUSTRY UPDATE: Finance & Innovation - Show me the money!
28 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Sustainable solutions are emerging but is there enough investment capital available to ensure they succeed? Mike Schragger talks with Fashion for Good...
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Linda Greer believes in radical transparency!
31 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Linda Greer, Senior Scientist at the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) joins Mike Schragger online from her office in Washington, D.C. to shar...
INSPIRING INNOVATION: Akshay Sethi is convinced that all of our clothes will be made from recycled materials by 2030.
17 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Mike Schragger talks to the smart and savvy Akshay Sethi about the science behind polyester recycling, the rapid development of the his company Moral ...
INDUSTRY UPDATE: Climate Change - Are you and your company serious about helping to solve the global climate crisis?
03 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Then Cynthia Cummis & Michael Sadowski from the World Resources Institute think you should start by setting science-based targets for reducing your cl...
INSPIRING INNOVATIONS: Style Lend & Good On You are betting that they can improve your consumer behavior.
19 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What if customers could improve the environment and make money by renting out their clothes simultaneously? And whom do you trust to provide an honest...
OUTING THE FASHION INDUSTRY: A crash course in sustainable fashion.
01 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
If you are new to the field of sustainability and/or fashion and apparel and want to quickly up get up to speed, then this podcast is for you. Mike Sc...