By Lea Stewart / Source: Ecouterre

eileen-fisher-amy-hall-2

What is the inspiration behind Vision2020 and the motto, “No excuses”?

Vision2020 reflects [founder] Eileen [Fisher’s] realization about the future of our planet and the people on it.

While visiting some of our suppliers almost three years ago, Eileen personally connected with the stories and aspirations of our factory workers. She also made the jarring discovery about the global water crisis and how it not only affects the world’s supply of fresh water, but also how it impacts the very core of the apparel industry through agriculture, dyeing, and finishing.

This crystallized in a business imperative: We are not moving our sustainability efforts forward fast enough.

“We are not moving our sustainability efforts forward fast enough.”

“No excuses” refers to how we are holding ourselves accountable for doing everything within our control to reduce—or eliminate—our environmental impact and to maximize our social impact by looking at every thread, every zipper, and every human hand that touches our garments or grows the fiber.

The Vision2020 has a goal of getting to “100 percent sustainability” in five years. How does Eileen Fisher define that benchmark?

Our goal is to get far along our path toward 100 percent sustainability by 2020, but we recognize that we will likely still have much more to do at that point to achieve 100 percent. We have set a high bar for 100 percent sustainability.

It means zero carbon footprint, 100 percent eco-fibers, 100 percent living wages in our supply chain, and much more.

It’s truly looking at every component of our products and practices and doing whatever necessary to have a net positive environmental and human impact through our business.

eileen-fisher-amy-hall-3

What are your main areas of focus and what specific challenges do they pose for the brand?

Our full Vision2020 commitment can be sorted into eight “buckets”: materials, chemistry, carbon, and water, which fall under “environment,” and conscious business practices, fair wages and benefits, worker voice, and worker community and happiness, which come under “social.”

While there are certain fibers that will be more challenging to convert or replace than others—like viscose, one or our top selling fabrics—or certain chemistry goals that will be complicated and expensive to achieve—like 100 percent certified dyeing—the social goals present even more complex challenges.

The very first one, conscious business practices, turns the mirror on ourselves and will result in reshaping established practices and processes that are impeding our suppliers from doing their best work.

“We don’t have answers to [all the] questions yet, but we will.”

The fourth one, worker and community happiness, raises questions of how to assess and measure worker happiness in different countries and culture. How can we help workers identify their personal passions and create a roadmap for getting there? We don’t have answers to these questions yet, but we will.

Read more @ Ecouterre