In Oregon, legislature is working to ban the use of plastic grocery bags—forever. As a nation, we’re realizing how important it is to look at everything we do and make sure it’s not harming our Earth. Retail is, fortunately, on the same path – leading the way once again.

On March 1, 2011, a significant number of apparel and footwear brands, retailers, manufacturers, etc., along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency started the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. The purpose of the organization is three-fold (as taken from their first press release):

1)      Leading the industry toward a shared vision of sustainability built on an industry-wide index for measuring and evaluating apparel and footwear product sustainability.

2)      Spotlighting promising technological innovations.

3)      Identifying opportunities for improving current social and environmental practices throughout the supply chain by collaborating to establish consistent expectations for brands, retailers and manufacturers.

We’ve come a long way, haven’t we? Not only is being eco-friendly a cool, “in” thing to do – it’s how we’re producing goods. Revolutionary! There’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll look back and see 2011 as the turning point – when destruction ended and innovation began.

As a lover of retail, it warms my heart to see this kind of investment happening by some of the top retail organizations in the world.  The founding members of this coalition are incredibly impressive and include: Adidas, Gap Inc., H&M, JC Penney, Kohl's Department Stores, Levi Strauss & Co., Marks & Spencer, New Balance, Nike, Nordstrom, Patagonia, REI, Target, Timberland and Walmart – just to name a few.  

I’m eager to see how this coalition impacts our retail world for the better.

What are your thoughts about the coalition? What would you like to see them work on first? Leave your comments here!

-Heather Strang