Upcoming Webinar: Cotton & the Climate Roadmap

Cotton & the Climate Roadmap: Strategies for the Apparel Industry to Reach Net Zero

September 30 at 2 p.m. EDT (11 a.m. PDT)

How are apparel companies planning to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

Join us for our upcoming webinar as experts Michael Sadowski and Sean Cady discuss the latest report, Roadmap to Net Zero: Delivering Science-Based Targets in the Apparel Sector.

Michael Sadowski of the World Resources Institute (WRI) will cover how the apparel industry can achieve its science-based greenhouse gas reduction targets and the specific actions that companies can take to have the greatest impact on getting there.

Sean Cady, Vice President of Global Sustainability, Responsibility, and Trade for VF Corporation will comment on VF’s current science-based targets and the specific actions they are planning to take to meet their commitments.

About the Speakers

Sean Cady is Vice President, Global Sustainability and Responsible Sourcing at VF Corporation, a global leader in branded lifestyle apparel, footwear, and accessories. VF is the owner of iconic brands, including The North Face®, Vans®, Timberland®, JanSport®, and Dickies®.

VF’s environmental sustainability strategy, under Cady’s leadership, drives impact reduction on products, VF’s direct operations, and throughout the supply chain. His teams cut VF’s overall environmental impact in half, reducing the effects of VF’s key materials by 35%, and sourcing 100% renewable energy.

In leading the Global Responsible Sourcing across VF, Cady and team assure more than 1.2 million workers a safe workplace and fair treatment while making VF products.bCady also directs the team who launched the Worker and Community Development interventions. To date, the interventions have directly improved the lives of over 300,000 workers. VF has already announced its goal of positively impacting more than one million workers’ lives by 2025 and two million by 2030.

For 20 years, Michael Sadowski has worked with companies to solve business challenges, including sustainability. Over this time, Michael has been a trusted advisor to senior executives, managed organizations and teams, driven change from within companies, led research and authored reports, and facilitated multi-stakeholder collaborations.

From 2017 to 2019, Michael led a project on behalf of the World Resources Institute to develop guidance for apparel and footwear companies to set science-based climate change targets. With the guidance published in June 2019, the work has shifted to a cross-value chain effort in collaboration with the Apparel Impact Institute to identify how the sector will drive greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

Michael is currently advising the Sustainable Apparel Coalition and Textile Exchange on their climate change efforts and is working with a number of apparel and footwear companies on topics including science-based targets and circular economy.

Michael serves as a Board member of DendriFund (Brown-Forman’s environmental foundation), as well as the Circulate Initiative (a non-profit working to address ocean plastic).

Dr. Jesse Daystar is the Chief Sustainability Officer and Vice President of Sustainability at Cotton Incorporated. In this role, Daystar oversees and coordinates internal and external sustainability efforts. These efforts include directing sustainability research, working with cotton industry stakeholders to develop industry stainability goals, assisting in the communication of sustainability messages, and providing technical insights to Cotton Incorporated, the cotton industry, and brands.

Dr. Daystar’s career at Cotton Incorporated began in 2017. Prior to his work at Cotton Incorporated, Daystar was the Assistant Director of the Center for Sustainability and Commerce at Duke University where he directed sustainability research for apparel, energy, bioproduct, and other industry sectors.

Mark Messura serves as Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain Marketing for Cotton Incorporated, where he is responsible for the company’s global marketing and technical support programs with retailers, brands, and manufacturers. Mark is a frequent speaker and advisor to the textile industry on issues related to sustainability, responsible sourcing, supply chain strategy, and fiber economics. He currently serves as Chairman of the International Forum for Cotton Promotion. He is a member of the International Task Force on Cotton Identity Programs for the International Cotton Advisory Committee.

Mark is Chairman of the Industry Advisory Board, Textile Apparel and Technology Management Program in the College of Textiles at North Carolina State University where he is also an adjunct associate professor. He also serves on the Industry Advisory Board to the Textile Development and Marketing Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology and is a member of the Advisory Board to the Department of Apparel, Merchandising, Design, and Textiles at Washington State University.

Prior to joining Cotton Incorporated in 1994, he served as Director of Policy and Programs for the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, and as Associate Director of the North Carolina Board of Science and Technology.