Visionary solutions to protect our rainforests and woodland

"Most people still don’t know that trees go into clothing,” says Catharine Grant of Canopy, the organisation saving forests through business innovation. In fact, the fashion industry uses more than 150 million trees every year to produce cellulosic fabrics such as rayon, viscose, lyocell and modal – if placed end-to-end, these trees would circle the earth seven times.

The use of these wood-derived fibres is putting immense pressure on today’s forests, and is an especially big issue in countries like Brazil, Indonesia and Serbia.

Since it was founded in 1999, Canopy has worked to ensure that no fibres are sourced from ancient and endangered forests. “We want to make sure we’re resourcing from forests that are responsibly managed,” says Grant, “rather than these precious forests.” Canopy’s broader goals are aligned with climate scientists and wildlife biologists, and focus on preventing the worst of run-away climate change should temperatures rise by more than 2℃. “What we’re focused on is that 30% of our forests need to be protected by 2030. If we don’t achieve those targets, that’s when we start to see the wheels coming off in terms of basic ecological functions.”

At Nanushka, we signed our first commitment with Canopy in February 2020. “Canopy supports us in choosing and understanding the positive and negative sources for viscose,” says Senior Sustainability Manager, Veronica Pravato. “They have an online platform that ensures suppliers aren’t sourcing wood from ancient and endangered forests.”