Lessons Learned on the Way to 500

We are so excited that CanopyStyle has reached the milestone of five-hundred global brands united to end the sourcing for viscose from Ancient and Endangered Forests. Together we use purchasing power to conserve forests on the ground, and shift the fashion industry to circular, non-forest derived viscose sourcing.

Like any ambitious vision, it has taken a lot of people and a lot of energy to achieve. CanopyStyle did not get to be an initiative representing more than 857 billion USD in annual revenue by Canopy’s efforts alone, but through the cooperation and support of brands, producers, allies, and funders. Here’s a look back at some of the things we’ve learned along the way. We like to think of it as the wisdom that will carry us through to the NEXT 500 brands.

Listen at least as much as you talk – actually….listen more

We launched CanopyStyle in 2013 building on our success working to end Ancient and Endangered Forests sourcing in the publishing industry and seeing the power of markets in conserving places like the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia, Canada. Armed with our expertise on forest supply chains, passion for conserving these vital ecosystems, our research into this new sector, and a lot of enthusiasm, we started cold calling fashion brands. But we weren’t fashion supply chain experts nine years ago, and we simply could not know what we did not know about this complex industry. The collaborative framework of the CanopyStyle initiative allowed us to be educated by our new partners about how the fashion industry and supply chains work – from the fabric to garment, and we in turn educated brands about the impact that sourcing for viscose was having from the fabric to the forest. We couldn’t have engaged and supported the viscose industry the way we have since 2013 without all of the knowledge and experience of our partner brands.

Built a Big Tent

No brand is too big or too small to be an integral part of CanopyStyle. As long as a company is willing to commit to keeping Ancient and Endangered Forests out of their supply chain publicly, with a time-bound target, we are happy to collaborate. In fact, the initiative requires this breadth of partners — smaller companies are often more nimble and able to try new things, and large companies have market share and influence that is absolutely necessary for our collective success. Some of our largest retail partners like Walmart and Amazon have joined CanopyStyle more recently. These big retailers originally had legitimate concerns that their procurement volumes could distort supply and demand, even by making an announcement (this had happened in the past on organic cotton). But our work with brands had already created the necessary momentum to ensure that 50% of the global supply of viscose could meet CanopyStyle policy expectations. From local boutiques to the world’s largest fashion brands, CanopyStyle is built from the collective power and voice of all of these companies. Just like in nature, diversity is queen.

A spark isn’t possible without intrepid igniters

CanopyStyle has 500 brands in the family now, but it all started with a small group of forward-thinking companies and designers willing to take a chance on a brand-new initiative about a little-known issue. These companies took a leap of faith and saw the value in ensuring fashion sourcing would not negatively impact forests. Nothing begins without a spark and these early igniters have been with us from the beginning, helping this supply chain transform in real time.

Shona Quinn, from the EILEEN FISHER team, has remarked, “I’m glad I picked up the phone when Canopy called in 2012 … CanopyStyle has become business as a movement.”

This competitive industry loves collaborating

The fashion industry is huge and diverse, and in today’s landscape has to be competitive. One of the great revelations of our work with fashion brands has been seeing representatives from a variety of global brands working together in the pre-competitive space to help lead CanopyStyle to success. In 2014, H&M and Inditex, at the time both arguably positioned as the “largest fashion brand in the world”, approached Canopy together, helping ensure that we would be prepared to create conditions for the sector-wide shift required to remove Ancient and Endangered Forests from fashion. We are working on replicating this pre-competitive approach with viscose producers and next generation innovators, as we continue to scale up solutions.

Announcing a partnership is just the beginning

Just like ‘Happily Ever After’ is actually just the beginning in a relationship, so it is with CanopyStyle. We love signing on new brands and producers, growing our movement, and making celebratory announcements about CanopyStyle – but some of the most important work we do with brands is behind-the-scenes, over time. From creating an annual ranking of viscose producers to helping brands learn what to ask for from their suppliers, from meeting annually to strategize on the direction of the initiative, to exploring and spreading the word about Next Gen Solutions, CanopyStyle becomes part of the – ahem – fabric of a company’s sustainability work.

And speaking of behind-the-scenes work…

Forest champions take root and spread – everywhere

It’s wonderful to have a close collaborator on forests within a brand – it’s through the work of these people that fashion is meeting the demands of environmentally aware consumers. It is especially inspiring when our professional contacts become so expert and committed to our work that they become forest champions. This is illustrated to us again and again as sustainability professionals change companies, and bring CanopyStyle right along with them.

I love it when a brand partner colleague catches the spark and becomes as dedicated to forest conservation as my amazing coworkers at Canopy. It is the moments when I hear a brand representative talking to their suppliers about the importance of forests or giving a presentation on a panel about their success in removing endangered forests from their product lines that I know we’re successfully building a corporate movement for the world’s forests.

Transparency is powerful

When we describe viscose’s impact on forests being a little-known fact in 2013, we are not exaggerating. Some of the companies we spoke to back then weren’t even aware that viscose was made from trees. In 2013, Canopy also shone a light on the fact that the production of these fabrics was very concentrated. The top ten largest players controlled (and still control) 80% of the entire global supply. When brands came to understand not only WHY they should act, but HOW they could make change because of this pinch point in the viscose supply chain, and Canopy’s commitment to engage these producers, our early partners signed on with enthusiasm. Expertise about forests and knowledge about supply chain players brought both power and a visible pathway to change for brands. Canopy continues to dedicate our time and efforts to bridge the knowledge gap from forest floor to fibre producer for our brands, illuminating risky sourcing, and groundbreaking solutions.

Naysayers can come around

When we first started communicating with viscose producers, we were often told that their company wasn’t sourcing from Ancient and Endangered Forests and that viscose could never be made from anything but tree pulp. Nine years later we are happy to report that producers responsible for 90% of the viscose market now have CanopyStyle policies in place, and many of these are taking action on risks identified in their CanopyStyle Audits to avoid sourcing from these irreplaceable forests globally. Even more remarkable is that four out of the five largest viscose producers in the world are now producing products made with Next Gen inputs like recycled clothing. These former skeptics are now valued partners and contributors to CanopyStyle.

Always come to the table with solutions, and never stop having fun

This is the Canopy model, to talk about problems, and collaborate and focus on solutions. Whether those are tools to help keep sourcing on track, initiatives behind the scenes to advocate for forest conservation, or Next Generation Solutions that take waste products and make them into new, more circular textiles, we are proud to be there for our partners with ideas, innovation, connections, and vision. We are simply too restless to raise a problem without working ten times harder on the solution.

And on the fun side, well we have yet to meet anyone who hasn’t gone along with our wild ideas. From our very first brand meeting in 2013, when everyone in the room imitated their favourite forest animal, to the 500 participants at the China Chemical Fibre Association Conference warming up by doing “Tree Yoga” together, to the UN delegates taking a moment to check each other’s clothing tags for viscose, these light moments are as irreplaceable in the journey of CanopyStyle as the forests we are all working together to protect.

So, cheers to CanopyStyle 500, and here's to continuing our journey together. I’ll sign off now to do a tree pose, growl like a grizzly bear, and recommit to listening even more carefully and thoughtfully to each of you as we build our work together.

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