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growth bind carbon from the atmosphere while generating oxygen. In terms of functionality HeiQ AeoniQ is designed to offer comparable performance properties to polyester, nylon and conventional regenerated cellulose yarns. HeiQ AeoniQ yarns do not draw on arable land, pesticides or fertilizer in their production and according to the Zurich-based company, can be recycled repeatedly while maintaining consistent fiber quality. Initial delivery of the first HeiQ AeoniQ yarns from the pilot production plant is slated for spring of 2022. The LYCRA Company is the first to join HeiQ as a development partner. According to LYCRA Company CEO Julien Born, new types of LYCRA fiber have the potential to be combined with HeiQ AeoniQ yarn to create unique decarbonizing and degradable elastic fabrics. This "co-creation" concept also signals positive change within the textile industry as firms form deeper relationships with brand partners. l D r. Pamela Ravasio, founder and man- aging director of Shirahime Advisory, specializes in corpo- rate governance and responsibility, with a strong link to innovation pro- cesses and digitalization. She has held corporate roles as a global stakeholder manager and as head of CSR & sustainabil- ity, and under her leadership, the European Outdoor Group developed into a global indus- try force. Ravasio is known as a champion of transparency and advocates for an inclusive approach to all partners along the textile supply chain. Her long-held goal remains to enable companies to change towards "being good." This is an edited version of Ravasio's Fireside Talk in con- versation with Charles Ross during the Performance Days fair held virtually in December. Ross: Is the industry moving fast enough toward sustainable goals? Ravasio: I believe that each of us can, and should be, doing a contribution to make everyone's life better, to live within the means this planet is giving us, to have a good life. We should try to reduce the negative effects of what we do. Rather than making life less bad, you want to make life good for other people. Can we have a truly sustain- able brand in the current system? Do we need to decouple profit and growth to achieve true sustainability? The clear cut answer is NO. There is no way any company across industry is genuinely sustainable living within the boundaries we have — and gen- uinely contributing to having a better life for all. It's 'donut eco- nomics,' no companies move in the little donut piece. The economic model that we have does not serve what it should. It was functional in days where there were few people and loads of natural resources. In my lifetime, population growth has gone from 6 billion to almost 8 billion with current projections targeting 10 billion by the end of the century. That kind of pressure on the system reduces its ability to regener- ate itself. The scale we have achieved doesn't work with the resources we have. We need to find how else to work. Has the planet demonstrated that it's going to survive? It isn't about survival of the planet, the planet will be just fine. It's about survival of spe- cies. If you have children you might see your grandchildren, possibly your great grandchil- dren. But fundamentally if we are talking economics, or an economic system, and the suc- cess of business, unless your great great grandkids are a fit for your business, you haven't got a case. How much longer will homo sapiens survive is the question. What is the first step compa- nies should do if they want to have better practice? My view is quite simple: What you can't measure you can't manage. So you need to know where you are now and how you measure that. Those ducks have to be in a row to go forward. Can we be a sustainable brand if our model for selling stuff is how we make profit? The fundamental question behind that question is: how do you define success? Both as an economy globally or company specifically, is success mea- sured by your P&L? By single or double digit growth? Growth in jobs created? Or growth in the number of offices opened? If you look around, there are com- panies that are challenging the concept of success. For exam- ple, a brand of tea that supports the livelihood of tea growers in underprivileged areas. Is sustainability the wrong word for what we are doing? It used to mean a lot, and in turn has undergone significant trans- formation over the decades. For some time sustainability meant the financial survival of the company. It went into meaning sustainable development with the famous report put out by the United Nations (UN), and every few years sustainability gets a slightly different nuance, a slightly different feel to it. Maybe a more intuitive way to think about it is, if you're gone will your offspring still be there, and will they have a good life within the current context at that time. What have you heard recently that has piqued your interest? Tech that takes out carbon from the atmosphere. "Carbon Capture" is the buzzword. Big investors are rolling out big facilities in Iceland, and else- where with this in mind. It's not clear if this will pan out. For example, can they scale quickly enough? What are the tradeoffs and are there side con- sequences? I'm still at the point of trying to understand if these technologies make sense. I've also heard about yarns made from solidified carbon. (Carbon nanotube wools made directly from CO 2 by molten electroly- sis are being talked about as a way to mitigate carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions.) As for offsetting, why do we need to offset, when we actually need to reduce what we create in the first place. Perhaps it should be "insetting" vs "offsetting." There's no silver bullet, there will never be, there has never been. It's always a trade off. And the science is only as good as it is today, and tomorrow it will be something else better than today, etc… We need to keep learning, and tomorrow we may learn that we might be wrong." l THE BIG PICTURE FUTURE FABRICS Dr. Pamela Ravasio sportstyle • sportstylemag.com 42 • March/April 2022

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