With open land scarce in Bangladesh, the textile industry is playing a part in the nation’s clean energy transition by using roof space for solar power.
Reuters
Under pressure from global brands to go green, textile suppliers, which account for 85% of Bangladesh’s exports, are hoping new initiatives can help find the funds they need to expand rooftop solar power systems.
Small and medium-sized factories that form the bulk of Bangladesh’s garment and textile manufacturers often lack financing to build their own solar plants, and few energy companies have came forward to make the investments – wary of failing to get returns in case smaller factories default on their obligations.
To break this deadlock, fashion brands are teaming up with energy companies to co-invest in building rooftop solar capacity for smaller Bangladeshi suppliers, creating a synergy of brand investment and commitment with energy company expertise.
One example is the Greener Garments Initiative (GGI), in which the Danish clothing brand Bestseller joined with the solar energy company SOLShare to jointly invest in construction of rooftop solar plants at garment factories in Bangladesh.
“Scaling up brand support to suppliers’ solar growth could speed up the industry’s energy transition,” said Aziza Sultana Mukti, Deputy CEO at SOLShare.
Involvement of fashion brands encourages suppliers to switch to solar power faster while making the investment financially safer for the solar energy company that builds the photovoltaic system, she added.
The joint initiative catering to small and medium-sized factories has already installed a combined capacity of more than seven megawatt-peak (MWp) in the last two years, said Mukti.
While such a capacity is not terribly large, GGI’s solar installations have grown by more than 200% in the last 18 months and it plans to build out capacity in the coming years, he added.
Other initiatives being tested include the Apparel Impact Institute, which is pooling contributions from brands and philanthropic organizations to support Bangladeshi factories in developing rooftop solar capacity.
Bangladesh’s textile-dominated industrial sector could build roughly 5,000 MW of solar power, about fifth of the country’s total generation capacity, while rooftop solar installations now make up less than 1%, according to an analysis by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), a global think tank.
“Industrial rooftop solar has not been reaching its true potential as many manufacturers struggle to access the required finance,” said Shafiqul Alam, IEEFA’s lead energy analyst for Bangladesh.
Most of the progress in building rooftop solar capacity so far has come from large manufacturers.
The DBL Group, one of the country’s biggest manufacturers with 50,000 workers, invested to build 5.42 MW capacity on its factory rooftops – a significant amount for a single business group – and plans to multiply its solar generation in the next few years.
“Arranging finance for renewable energy projects is not a big challenge for us – and we have made our own investments in our rooftop solar plants,” said Mashook Mujib Chowdhury, senior manager of sustainability at the DBL Group.
Large suppliers are more likely to build rooftop solar plants with their own investments using capital expenditure, said Chowdhury.
Smaller joint initiatives like the GGI by SOLShare and Bestseller, on the other hand, are implementing operational expenditure projects in the textile sector, he said.
This means an energy company builds, owns and runs the rooftop solar plant and charges the factory for the power generated – while selling any surplus power to the grid.
Such a model “works better for smaller suppliers to meet their gaps in finance, knowledge and technical know-how,” said Mohiuddin Rubel, former director of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and also managing director of Denim Expert Ltd.
For fashion brands like Bestseller, reducing suppliers’ emissions is key to their decarbonization goals as these account for 96% of the sector’s emissions, said a study published last year by the Apparel Impact Institute.
“As a big buyer from Bangladesh – one of our key sourcing regions – we are committed to support suppliers who are navigating more and more climate targets,” said Felicity Tapsell, head of responsible sourcing at Bestseller.
Bestseller is also considering supporting suppliers with big ticket clean technology investments like biomass boilers or heat pumps, said Tapsell.
“Financing solar plants on factory rooftops may not be enough – as they need a few more things for energy transition,” said Rubel.
For decarbonization to be sustainable, suppliers need long-term partnership from brands, low-cost financing and tax cuts from the government, he added.
An Hermes handbag that once belonged to Jane Birkin was sold for $2.86 million (2.45 million euros) at auction in Abu Dhabi on Friday, just months after the record-breaking sale of her first bag from the French brand, Sotheby’s said.
Jane Birkin with one of her signature Hermes bags – Sotheby’s
Hermes first created the design for the British singer and actress in 1984 and it has gone on to become a modern and highly prized classic, sought by fashionistas the world over. The first prototype was sold for 8.58 million euros ($10 million) at a Sotheby’s auction in Paris in July, smashing previous price records for a handbag.
The one sold on Friday was a ‘Birkin Voyageur,’ which was gifted to the former wife of French singing legend Serge Gainsbourg in 2003. The final sale price was around six times times higher than the estimated price range of $230,000-$430,000 given before the sale.
“Jane Birkin’s handbag legacy continues to captivate collectors,” Sotheby’s said in a statement sent to AFP, adding that bidding took place over 11 minutes between six collectors. The new owner was a phone buyer and has not been identified.
The handbag was one of four owned by the late celebrity, who used to sell them to raise money for charitable causes. It has a handwritten inscription in French inside from Birkin that reads: “My Birkin bag, my globetrotting companion.”
A third Hermes bag owned by Birkin is set to go under the hammer on December 15 at the Hotel Drouot auction house in Paris. It was entrusted by the late star to her friend and biographer Gabrielle Crawford, who is selling it to help fund the future Jane Birkin Foundation, Drouot said in a statement.
Produced in very limited numbers, the modern Birkin bag manufactured by Hermes has maintained an aura of exclusivity and is beloved by celebrities such as the Kardashians, Jennifer Lopez, and Victoria Beckham. The most expensive fashion item ever sold at auction was a pair of ruby red slippers worn by actor Judy Garland from The Wizard of Oz in 1939, which sold for $32.5 million in 2024 in Dallas, Texas, according to Sotheby’s.
Artificial intelligence (AI) continues its march to transform businesses’/consumers’ lives with customer advocacy platform Mention Me launching ‘AI Discovery IQ’, a free-to-use tool that “helps brands reach target consumers in the new age of generative AI search”.
Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP/Archives
It claims to allow brands to “instantly audit how discoverable they are within popular AI systems” such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity.
According to Mention Me, 62% of UK consumers now turn to generative AI tools for product recommendations, brand discovery and comparisons, “bypassing traditional search engines entirely [so] businesses are under pressure to respond to this behaviour change,” said the platform’s CEO Wojtek Kokoszka whose platform works with firms including Charlotte Tilbury, Huel and Puma, “helping marketing teams to boost consumer awareness and sales”.
With AI, it says the modern customer journey, powered by natural language prompts instead of outdated keyword strings, means consumers are 4.4 times more likely to convert if they find a brand through a large language model (LLM).
“The rise of ‘agent-mode’ assistants and AI-driven voice search has pushed brands into a new world of digital visibility. Despite this, most brands have little to no insight into how they appear in AI-generated answers”, said Kokoszka.
AI Discoverability IQ claims to give brands an overall LLM discoverability score, specific details on areas such as technical website elements, content and structured data, and actionable recommendations to improve their AI discoverability.
Its tool generates “measurable, trackable outputs” like AI Visibility Score, brands’ prompt-based results, and a side-by-side comparisons with their competitive set. This means brands “can react quickly to improve their discoverability scores” with Mention Me’s wider suite of products and unique first-party data.
It’s also “innovating and evolving” its platform to include more capabilities, such as the ability to benchmark against competitors, to drive further improvements for marketing leaders in the age of AI.
Mention Me CMO Neha Mantri said: “AI Discoverability is not yet a named practice within most marketing teams; the same way SEO wasn’t in the early 2000s. But when up to 31% of consumers say they’re more likely to trust responses from generative AI than traditional search results, this needs to change. Mention Me is naming the problem and providing a solution at just the right time.”
A host of celebrities and high-end brands have donating goods to ensure Savile Row’s latest annual ‘Pop-Up Crisis’ store will continue to support the Crisis charity event that has so far raised over £650,000 since 2018.
Image: Crisis charity
Across 8-13 December, the pop-up store at 18-19 Savile Row in London’s Mayfair will sell a curated selection of designer clothing, past stock and samples from luxury brands.
Celebs donating goods include Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Naomie Harris, David Gandy, Jarvis Cocker, Louis Partridge, Jamie Redknapp and Emma Corrin, among others, for a week-long event and raffle with all proceeds going to help end homelessness across Britain.
Hosted by landlord The Pollen Estate, the temporary shop is also selling designer goods donated by Savile Row tailors including Mr Porter, Wales Bonner, Crockett & Jones and many other luxury brands from Barbour, Tod’s to Manolo Blahnik and Watches of Switzerland Group.
This year, celebrity model and fashion entrepreneur David Gandy will also be curating an exclusive online edit on shopfromcrisis.com, including donations from his own wardrobe as well as items from friends including Redknapp’s brand Sandbanks, Hackett and Aspinal of London.
Gandy said: “Having supported Crisis for a number of years, I’m delighted to have had the opportunity to curate my own online edit this year with the help of some of my close friends. It means a lot to know that donations from my own wardrobe are going towards such an important cause. Whether you’re looking for the perfect Christmas gift or to treat yourself, your purchase can help make a real difference to people facing homelessness this Christmas.”
Liz Choonara, executive director of Commerce and Enterprise at Crisis, added: “Pop-Up Crisis is such an iconic event in the Crisis calendar and one that we look forward to every year. We’re thrilled to be partnering with the team once again for another week celebrating the iconic craftsmanship and style of Savile Row – with all proceeds going towards our crucial work to end homelessness.”
Politics8 years ago