Dear Partners and friends, 

Welcome to Laudes Foundation’s October newsletter. Every month we bring you the latest news from our partners around the world, exciting developments across sectors and a space to hear directly from our team. 

Finally, we invite you to join us Copenhagen Fashion Summit 2020! Find more information about the event below. 

If you have an update that you would like to share with our community, email us at communications@laudesfoundation.org.

Our first partnerships towards more inclusive economic policies
In our journey to catalyse systemic change, we launched two exciting new partnerships with the Council on Economic Policies (CEP) and the New Economics Foundation (NEF). Both organisations work collaboratively to ensure that economies do not return to business as usual. Learn more about these partnerships and their goals; visit here.

Fashion for Good and Laudes Foundation embark on a new frontier in chemical recycling
Did you know that approximately 73% of the clothing we produce is sent to landfills or incinerated and, less than 1% of material used comes from recycled sources? The new initiative Full Circle Textiles Project: Scaling Innovations in Cellulosic Recycling will evaluate disruptive solutions from a select group of chemical recycling innovators, to create new fibres and garments from used clothing. Read more about this exciting initiative.



The Response and Vision Fund announces new initiatives to transform the global economic system
Laudes Foundation, together with Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Humanity United, Omidyar Network and Fundación Avina announced the first batch of grantees from the Response and Vision Fund. The fund’s goals are to support workers and communities to be at the centre - with voice, power and priority - in the response and recovery investments of public and private institutions alike. Read more here.
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Our Journey towards equitable evaluations at Laudes Foundation
Why do we do evaluations? Mariana Xavier, Programme Manager at Laudes Foundation, was pondering this question in preparation of the 15th International Evaluation Seminar organised by Itau Social, in São Paulo, Brazil. In her blog, she reflects on how evaluations are implemented at Laudes Foundation and shares three avoidable traps and lessons learnt so far. Read more.
   
Global Leaders Roundtable as the UN Global Compact 
Our CEO Leslie Johnston joined a lively panel of international leaders called "Uniting business for a better world". It included: Martha Newton, Deputy Director at ILO; Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General of UNCTAD; and Robert Suarez, Secretary-General at the International Organisations of Employers (IOE). Watch the live recording here. ​​
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Cotton 2040 accelerates the movement towards aligned impact measurement and reporting
Cotton 2040 working group has jointly-signed a Memorandum of Understanding - “The Sustainable Cotton Aligned Impacts Measurement and Reporting Joint Commitment”. This sets out the intention that the Delta Framework will become a credible and shared framework to guide impact measurement and reporting of core sustainability issues of relevance to the cotton sector. Read more here.
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Taking a People-Centered Approach to a Circular Fashion Economy
"The vision of circular economy presents an economy that is compatible with nature, but we cannot take for granted that it will be inclusive," says our Senior Programme Manager Megan McGill. A new brief by BSR looks at the potential social impacts of a shift to a more circular fashion economy based on their research and stakeholder engagement. Read more here.

CFS+ Redesigning Value in the Fashion Industry: Business Models and Power Dynamics
On 12 October join our panel of experts at this year's virtual Copenhagen Fashion Summit. Our panel will be moderated by, Mariana Colerato, journalist and founder of Modefica and panellists include; Bala Murugan, Programme Advisor, Freedom Fund; Sandrine Dixson-Declѐve, The Club of Rome; and Leslie Johnston, CEO, Laudes Foundation. Registration is still open.

Why do sustainability initiatives within the fashion industry struggle to scale?
New research by Royal Holloway University of London studies why business case sustainability initiatives find it difficult to scale. This report scrutinises the design of social and environmental sustainability initiatives meant to incentivise garment producers by presenting win-win business cases have not had the desired widespread impact. Read more here.

Congratulations to Jan Sahas!
Congratulations to Jan Sahas co-founder, Ashif Shaikh, on winning the Social Innovator of the Year Award by Schwab Foundation and World Economic Forum. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jan Sahas has reached 4000 families and 2900 frontline workers, besides facilitating relief for over 1 million migrant workers across 19 states in India. Discover more about their work here.​​​