Mark Yates, Head of Technical Product Development together with Phil Townsend, a Leading Sustainable Fibre Expert led an informative talk by M&S, highlighting some of the ethical and environmental issues surrounding the fashion industry right now.
“Sustainability is an issue no business can ignore” declared Phil Townsend, who went on to describe his role which involves researching new materials and working with suppliers to source ethically. M&S are making a huge effort to do ‘the right thing’ when it comes to production and designing, which is why there are such a sought after company to work for.
M&S strive to be an ethical business that is carbon positive, wastes nothing, restores the natural environment and improves people's lives. They stated some impressive statistics that the company have reached; 68% of their products have ethical attributes, 49% of their cotton is picked sustainably (aiming to be 100% by 2019), and 99% of their wood used is sourced responsibly.
As a brand, M&S started an amazing health campaign, a documentary style short film played in the background consciously showing their hard work to improve health check-ups, nutritional meals, hydration, sexual education, and hygiene.
Words by Isabel Woodrow-Young