Sustainable Apparel Coalition Expands, Rebrands to Cascale

So far, though, all the environmental metrics—global warming, biodiversity loss, deforestation, desertification—are all going in the wrong direction.

Part of the problem, Ridgeway acknowledged, is that there aren’t strong enough regulations to disincentivize exploiting workers and emitting carbon. But thanks to legislative proposals in the European Union, New York and California, the tide could begin to turn, he said.

With Cascale’s efforts, combined with policies that charge companies for their water use, carbon emissions and waste management, Ridgeway envisions a world where the cheapest t-shirt on any rack—or the cheapest product on the shelf—is also the one made with the fewest carbon emissions, lowest water use and least waste.

“We’re on a path—as rocky and hard and challenging as it is—towards those results,” Ridgeway said.