Levi’s is a pioneer in more than just denim. In this episode, Jennifer DuBuisson, Senior Director of Sustainability at Levi Strauss & Co., explains how the company’s Water<Less® innovation became the industry standard for water reduction. Now, the heritage brand’s 2030 Beyond the Blue strategy is raising the bar even further, while their Wear Longer Project teaches Gen Z about emotional durability through mending.
To learn more about Levi Strauss & Co., visit www.levistrauss.com
Check out other resources mentioned in the episode:
Produced by Cascale and Hueman Group Media.
Views and opinions expressed during the podcast are those of the individuals expressing them and do not necessarily reflect those of Cascale or Hueman Group Media.
In this guest blog, Jayanth Kashyap, investment lead at Good Fashion Fund, outlines the industry’s structural gaps and how Cascale’s “Source of Good” podcast dives deeper.
Key Takeaways
The conversations that stay with me aren’t the ones about ambition. They’re the ones about friction. A small-to-medium-sized textile mill owner in Bangladesh who can’t access a long-term loan because their balance sheet doesn’t fit a bank’s credit model. A brand sustainability team that has committed to Scope 3 targets but can’t finance the transition for their Tier 2 suppliers. A policymaker designing carbon incentives without a clear picture of what manufacturers can absorb.
These aren’t isolated problems. They are symptoms of the same structural gap: capital, data, policy, and production are moving on separate tracks, at different speeds, with different incentives.
That’s the problem “Source of Good” takes seriously. It’s why I was glad to be part of the conversation in Season 3, and why I am excited to dive into Season 4, which launched this week. Good Fashion Fund works at this intersection, moving affordable capital to SME manufacturers in South and Southeast Asia who are ready to decarbonize but locked out of conventional finance and locked into high carbon assets. What we have found is that the technical and financial solutions largely exist. The harder problem is alignment, and brands have a real role to play here, not just as buyers setting sustainability requirements, but as co-investors in the transition. When brands, capital providers, and manufacturers are pulling in the same direction, individual deals stop being one-offs and start becoming a scalable model.
“Source of Good” doesn’t treat these as parallel conversations. And that’s because the link between supply chain due diligence, procurement decisions, and investment flows isn’t incidental. It’s structural, and none of it holds if workers aren’t part of the conversation. Inclusive progress isn’t a downstream outcome but a condition for the transition to be durable at all. Ultimately, this won’t be driven by any single actor getting it right. It will happen when enough actors stop optimizing in isolation.
To kick off Season 4, we’re diving in on the topic at the forefront of global apparel industry conversations: EU sustainability regulation. Our guest Marina Prados Espínola, director of policy coordination & stakeholder engagement at the Policy Hub, gives us the inside scoop on what’s current and coming for eco-design, waste regulation, extended producer responsibility (EPR), and more.
To learn more about The Policy Hub, visit policyhub.org
Check out the Policy Hub’s EU policy map referenced in the episode.
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Produced by Cascale and Hueman Group Media.
Views and opinions expressed during the podcast are those of the individuals expressing them and do not necessarily reflect those of Cascale or Hueman Group Media.
How we talk about sustainability is just as important as whether we talk about it at all. Anne-Laure Descours, former Chief Sourcing Officer of Puma and current board member at Gildan, has spent decades identifying and closing gaps within the apparel industry. Today, she explains why sustainability isn’t just good for people and the planet – it’s good for business.
Check out Anne-Laure’s LinkedIn
Learn more about Puma’s RE:FIBRE program
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Produced by Cascale and Hueman Group Media.
Views and opinions expressed during the podcast are those of the individuals expressing them and do not necessarily reflect those of Cascale or Hueman Group Media.
David Forsgate grew up in the apparel industry, and one of the lasting lessons he learned while watching his father Brian run the sourcing company ERALDA was this: nothing beats building trust through face-to-face relationships with clients, suppliers, and workers. Now serving as ERALDA’s Chief Representative Officer, David shares what that people-first approach looks like amid increasingly complicated and automated supply chains.
Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts
Learn more about ERALDA at eralda.com
Check out Eileen Fisher here: www.eileenfisher.com
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Produced by Cascale and Hueman Group Media. Views and opinions expressed during the podcast are those of the individuals expressing them and do not necessarily reflect those of Cascale or Hueman Group Media.
Have you ever heard of “emotionally durable” gear? We hadn’t either, until this conversation with Greg Gausewitz, Senior Manager of Sustainability at REI Co-op, who explained how falling in love with your sleeping bag can maximize its positive impact. In this episode, join us to explore how to implement physical and emotional durability in product design, and how REI’s new partnership with circularity trailblazer Ambercycle could impact the wider consumer goods industry.
Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts
Check out the REI Magma 15 Sleeping Bag
Learn more about REI’s partnership with Ambercycle
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Produced by Cascale and Hueman Group Media. Views and opinions expressed during the podcast are those of the individuals expressing them and do not necessarily reflect those of Cascale or Hueman Group Media.
Rather than chasing silver bullets, Jayanth Kashyap, Investment Lead at the Good Fashion Fund, explains how this first-of-its-kind initiative helps shift the textile and apparel industry by financing practical, high-impact production technologies in Asia — including a $4.5 million investment to modernize equipment and expand solar capacity at Pratibha Syntex.
Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts
Learn more about Good Fashion Fund
Check out Pratibha Syntex
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Produced by Cascale and Hueman Group Media. Views and opinions expressed during the podcast are those of the individuals expressing them and do not necessarily reflect those of Cascale or Hueman Group Media.
Labor conditions in the consumer goods industry have improved — but serious problems remain. How do we solve them? According to Annabel Meurs, Executive Director of Fair Wear, it begins with stronger worker representation, more formal brand-supplier agreements, and a willingness to listen to all stakeholders. But that’s just the start. Discover how alignment across initiatives can reduce duplication and drive real change.
Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts
Learn more about Fair Wear and the HRDD Academy at www.fairwear.org
Check out Mammut at: www.mammut.com
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Produced by Cascale and Hueman Group Media. Views and opinions expressed during the podcast are those of the individuals expressing them and do not necessarily reflect those of Cascale or Hueman Group Media.
How does UNIQLO ensure ethical working conditions across its global supply chain? Eshan Chan, Supply Chain Sustainability Manager at Fast Retailing (UNIQLO’s parent company), explains their approach: a dedicated Human Rights Committee, worker hotlines in factories, and the Japanese philosophy of “zen-in keiei.” What does that mean? Tune in to find out.
Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts
Learn more about UNIQLO’s actions on decent work here
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Produced by Cascale and Hueman Group Media. Views and opinions expressed during the podcast are those of the individuals expressing them and do not necessarily reflect those of Cascale or Hueman Group Media.
For more than 30 years, Dr. Marsha Dickson has worked to make fashion more fair. From research and teaching to launching the Better Buying Institute, she’s led the change to center supplier voices and responsible purchasing in the pursuit of decent work. Now, as she steps away from day-to-day leadership and into a much-deserved retirement, Dr. Dickson reflects on what’s changed — and what still needs to be done.
Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts
Click here to learn more about Better Buying
Visit Under Armour
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Produced by Cascale and Hueman Group Media. Views and opinions expressed during the podcast are those of the individuals expressing them and do not necessarily reflect those of Cascale or Hueman Group Media.
