As a part of our broader work on Just Transition Finance, this project – delivered in partnership with Laudes Foundation and India Impact Investors Council – aims to unlock private capital at scale to build a greener, fairer and more resilient industry for people and the planet.
Employing more than 45 million people, India’s textile and apparel sector is the second largest driver of employment in the 1.5 billion person country.
Around the world, the fashion sector is responsible for around 10% of global CO2 emissions, as well as being a source of large-scale waste, pollution and water use. Compounding these environmental impacts, a range of social abuses sit within its complex supply chains, from poor working conditions, abuse, modern slavery and breaches of occupational health and safety.
Despite this, hundreds of millions of workers and suppliers derive livelihoods from fashion worldwide, particularly in the Global South.
To advance this agenda, the Impact Investing Institute and the India Impact Investors Council jointly implemented the programme Unlocking Investor Action for a Just Transition in India’s Fashion Sector.
The programme adopted a value chain approach, examining transition challenges from sustainable cotton cultivation through to end-of-life textile waste management and recycling. This framing was designed to identify where climate and social outcomes converge, where capital flows are most needed and which transition pathways across the sector could be realistically strengthened.
The programme engaged a diverse group of stakeholders, including development finance institutions, philanthropic foundations, equity and debt investors, catalytic capital providers and entrepreneurs, to explore how the investment community could play a more proactive role in supporting a just transition across India’s textile and apparel ecosystem. This included convening over 100 stakeholders across gatherings in India and the UK, alongside more than 25 in-depth interviews with investors, financial institutions, enterprises and intermediaries.
Case studies
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Good Fashion Fund Blended finance for textile manufacturing
The Good Fashion Fund (GFF) is a blended private credit vehicle that provides long-term loans…Read More -
Upaya Social Ventures Impact-linked finance for textile waste enterprises
Upaya Social Ventures uses impact‑linked finance to support textile waste enterprises that centre sanitation and…Read More -
Omnivore Venture capital at the agriculture-textile intersection
Omnivore is an impact venture capital firm investing at the intersection of agriculture and textiles…Read More -
Saamuhika Shakti Inclusive textile waste systems
Saamuhika Shakti’s collective impact initiative, initiated and funded by H&M Foundation, was launched in 2020…Read More
For more information or to get involved, contact programme lead Aisling McCaffrey.
