Photo: Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff and Dennita Sewell with Nicholas Brown, partnership and engagement lead at Retraced, a Cascale member, and fashion designer Marissa Wilson
The Sourcing Journal Sustainability Summit returned to Los Angeles this month, bringing together leaders from across the apparel, retail, manufacturing, and materials sectors to discuss how the industry can turn climate and social commitments into measurable progress.
Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff, Cascale communication director, attended the event, which explored the practical steps required to strengthen supply chain transparency, scale circularity, improve environmental performance, and address emerging regulatory expectations in the United States and globally.
Key highlights included a presentation by Dennita Sewell, founding director of ASU FIDM and professor of practice at Arizona State University, followed by a keynote address from U.S. representative Jimmy Gomez.
Cascale members were strongly represented in the speaker mix. Ryan Hahn, director of R&D and innovation at GUESS?, presented the company’s path to net zero; Yvonne Johnson, senior director of product development at Cotton Incorporated, shared the organization’s Engineered by Nature program; and Madeleine Danzberger, sustainability and social impact specialist at Steve Madden, joined a panel on circular footwear.
Jennifer Guarino, president and CEO of the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center (ISAIC), a Detroit-based national nonprofit institute that produces for Cascale member Carhartt, joined Christian Birky, founder of Because Capital, to discuss responsive manufacturing in the U.S.. After top-lining the current state of overproduction, in which 20 percent of apparel is landfilled before reaching consumers, Guarino described producers as “doing business with one foot on a banana peel.”
Guarino is currently developing an ISAIC funding match to pilot solutions. “The U.S. can lead on showing how responsive manufacturing solutions can work but we need to have partnerships to do it,” she said. “Manufacturers can’t do it alone. The technology is there, but you have to change the model.”
A standout presentation on “Legislating Change” included perspective from Rachel Kibbe, founder and CEO of Circular Services Group and American Circular Textiles. Kibbe detailed California’s Responsible Textile Recovery Act of 2024 (SB 707), the first U.S. textile Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law, which requires companies with revenue over $1 million that sell apparel, footwear, and textiles in the state to sign up with its Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) by July 2026.
Across the summit, a consistent theme emerged: industry can only close the gap between ambition and delivery through shared tools, consistent measurement, and deeper supplier–brand collaboration. These priorities mirror Cascale’s commitment to collective action and credible sustainability progress across the consumer goods value chain.
A statement from Dustin White, co-founder and CEO of LAB Denim, which pioneered a waterless dyeing and and finishing technology, best captured the industry’s changing course: “If something’s been done for 150 years one way it’s hard to show up and say, ‘We have a solution for that’ without partnership,” he said. “It’s hard to get that momentum but we’re starting to see it now.”
