Beyond Circularity: How Asia's Manufacturers Turn Sustainability Into Strategy

Circularity is climbing the agenda in fashion, but what actually drives results? Former Puma Chief Sourcing Officer Anne-Laure Descours has spent 30 years working across Asia’s supply chains, seeing firsthand which sustainability efforts stick… and which stall. In this episode, she joins Senior Director, Research & Advisory Jenna Fink to explore how manufacturers are embedding sustainability into real business performance. From the limits of textile recycling to the coalitions and production decisions shaping material innovation, Anne-Laure explains why the competitive edge sits upstream, and why suppliers often see the commercial logic more clearly than brands.

1. When “doing it right” became a competitive edge (01:10)
2. China’s “Two Mountains” philosophy: green growth = real growth (02:43)
3. Metrics matter… but the real work happens in factories (05:42)
4. The unsung heroes: machinery and suppliers driving the backstage innovation (07:33)
5. RE:FIBRE, circularity hype, and why we can’t recycle 150B garments a year (08:17)
6. The waste-to-energy pivot (because sorting doesn’t scale) (11:38)
7. Making the business case for sustainability: wins, fails, and supplier-led change (14:03)
8. Boardroom perspectives, DNA traceability, and giving makers their due (18:06)