China and The Sustainable Fashion

Fashion is a $2.4 trillion-dollar global business (2% of world’s GDP), and is one of the most polluting industries in the world. Sustainability is a complex and critical issue in today’s fashion industry. China is the largest textile producing and exporting country in the world with $110B exports of textiles and apparel (2017). “Made in China” is on 50% of the world’s apparel (Business of Fashion). This also means that an estimated 53% of the world’s textile production waste comes from China - an estimated 70,000 tons produced every day, and 2.5 billion tons of polluted wastewater produced annually. In this episode, Rayne Reed will discuss what each of us can do in sustainable fashion, what companies can do to increase sustainability while meeting consumers’ demand, and share some industry best practices. Rayne has 30 years’ experience in the fashion industry, has worked for Gap as Senior Director of Product Development and Buying in China, and lived in USA, Europe and Asia.
www.voiceamerica.com/episode/114212/china-and-the-sustainable-fashion

---

About the Guest

Rayne Reed has crafted a career in the global business of fashion. She has over 20 years of experience in growing businesses, brands and teams across the world, and has lived in San Francisco, New York, London, Shanghai and Singapore. As a truly global citizen, Rayne is passionate about the connections of creativity and culture. Rayne is a committed advocate for the fashion industry and believes it can be a force for positive change and innovative evolution in the right hands. She has been in senior leadership roles in global fashion and apparel manufacturing managing revenues of $20M to $800M. She has worked in Gap for 15 years and her last role was Senior Director of Product Development and Buying in China. After that, she was Head of Design and Private Label Brands for a fast fashion eCommerce start up Zalora in South East Asia. Rayne has recently turned her focus to the study of social enterprise, sustainable design and the circular economy within the fashion industry.

---

Listen Now