Articles by Simone Preuss
Simone Preuss is a freelance journalist specialising in apparel production, sustainability and social responsibility. She has been working with FashionUnited since 2012, gaining valuable insights into an ever-changing industry.
Cotton and biodiversity: New report demonstrates key role of smallholder farmers
When it comes to cotton, many think of large companies responsible for its cultivation. However, according to Solidaridad figures from 2023, 70 percent of the world's cotton is produced by smallholder farmers. These are family farms of between one and ten hectares. Four key factors are responsible for agriculture contributing significantly to...
Business26 minutes ago
Shein slapped with high fines in California, France
Chinese ultra-fast fashion giant Shein needs to have deep pockets these days, given that the global e-commerce company is being slapped with fines in two countries at the moment. Shein just settled a consumer protection lawsuit in the United States, in California’s Napa, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sonoma counties, and agreed to pay 700,000...
BusinessFeaturedMemberJul 11, 2025
DressX launches first Roblox game together with Puma
Digital fashion retailer DressX has launched its first game on metaverse platform Roblox, together with partner Puma. The game called DressGo will allow players to dress up their avatars, participate in styling challenges and build personalised wardrobes by collecting items of varying rarity. Via a mystery box system, players can unlock looks...
Fashion Jul 10, 2025
Accompanying report helps navigate new GFA Fashion Impact Toolkit
A new Fashion Impact Toolkit, presented by the Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) and Deloitte at the Global Fashion Summit in June, wants to share a meaningful inventory of industry impacts for guidance on strategy assessment. But how to use it? And what are some of the key findings from the impact inventory? An accompanying report, published...
BusinessMemberJul 8, 2025
Patrick McDowell and Sparxell pioneer dresses coloured with plant-based cellulose
Sustainable luxury brand Patrick McDowell has announced a new collaboration with colour platform Sparxell to create a printed couture gown and a commercially available shirt dress, thus integrating Sparxell’s innovative colourants for the first time into fashion. Sparxell was founded by University of Cambridge scientists Benjamin Droguet and...
Fashion Jun 25, 2025
Study: Branded clothing sector contributes almost 332 billion euros to EU economy
A study released by the European Branded Clothing Association (EBCA) today presents new findings from Oxford Economics, which reveals that the European branded clothing sector contributes 331.8 billion euros to the EU’s GDP annually, which is nearly 2 percent of the total EU economy. It also highlights the sector’s role in driving jobs, trade...
BusinessMemberJun 24, 2025
Global Fashion Agenda and Deloitte launch new open-source Fashion Impact Toolkit
An new open-source and free to use toolkit has been developed by the Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) and Deloitte to share a meaningful inventory of industry impacts for guidance on strategy assessment. It keeps fashion sustainability teams in mind to help them understand, measure and leverage large amounts of data to drive positive change,...
BusinessFeaturedMemberJun 23, 2025
Woolmark and Colourizd introduce new dry colouring method for wool
Wool industry certifier Woolmark and dry textile colouring specialist Colourizd have introduced a new method to colour wool and wool blends that significantly reduces resource consumption and costs. Colourizd’s QuantumColour is a reduced resource-intense colouration process that requires only the wetting agent and a Bluesign-certified pigment...
BusinessMemberJun 23, 2025
Better Cotton to become regenerative standard
Cotton sustainability initiative Better Cotton announced at its annual conference that it would become a regenerative standard within the next twelve months. “While Better Cotton’s field level standard is already recognised to cover many of the core tenets of regenerative agriculture, this move will further ensure that farmers who meet our...
BusinessMemberJun 20, 2025
Fashion for Good and AltMat support adoption of next-gen fibres through new Altag Fibre Club
Global sustainability initiative Fashion for Good has announced a strategic partnership with AltMat today, a pioneering materials science company that transforms agricultural waste into high-value materials. It was one of the nine participants of Fashion for Good’s first South Asia accelerator programme back in 2020. In 2022, it was also part of...
BusinessMemberJun 19, 2025