Are you simply surfing the waves with your sustainability strategy, or is it the engine helping you “shape the ocean”?
It’s a (metaphorical) question that Michelle Gabriel, a lecturer at Yale’s School of the Environment, posed as a nod to the day’s keynote. Sourcing Journal’s “Road to 2030: Dealing with Detours” Sustainability Forum set sail, if you will, with supply chain leader Colin Browne’s tribute to the Titanic a few panels prior.
Gabriel, who has worked on municipal textile policy in New York, such as Local Law 112, framed sustainability not as optics but as infrastructure.
“I always like thinking of sustainability, not as an inert concept, not as a barnacle on the Titanic… but as a system meant to change systems,” she said. “So it’s a functional tool to drive change in line with the pillars and values under sustainability.”
Joining her on the “Threads of Accountability” panel was Rachel Kibbe—founder and CEO of American Circular Textiles—who pointed to a shift already underway in how sustainability policy is being positioned in Washington. Moderated by SJ’s deputy editor Kate Nishimura, their conversation focused on examining the next era of climate and labor compliance.
Kibbe deemed the current state-level legislative fragmentation as “prohibitive” for global brands, advocating a pivot toward federal standards that treat textile circularity as a matter of global competitiveness. She noted the Recycled Material and Attribution Act (HR7502) as the transitional bellwether.
For context, the proposal intends to move the legal definition of “recycling” from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to standardize industry practices.
“We’re seeing federally … a huge amount of tailwinds in terms of proposals in Congress… to harmonize some of where industry is seeing the system sort of break down because state bills are either so different or sort of prohibitive,” Kibbe said. “It has broad bipartisan support—everyone from the most left to the most right.”
But many are stuck in “collective paralysis,” focusing on incremental supply chain tweaks rather than the basic business model innovations needed for circularity and end-of-life product management.
“What we’ve seen… is sort of a pullback on more visionary thinking and instead, the work has largely gone to thinking about like incremental steps and changes in existing supply chains rather than sort of foundational change in business models,” Kibbe said. “It doesn’t address some of the changes…like, where does this stuff all go at the end of life, and how do you recapture it and how do you create value out of it?”
That said, volatility is now the permanent operational context, according to Gabriel. Companies that view sustainability as a risk-mitigation tool can achieve “pre-compliance,” substantially lowering future regulatory costs. For Gabriel, policy should be viewed as leverage, not risk.
“Sustainability is this amazing, amazing, amazing investment for risk mitigation,” she said. “It’s going to cost you a ton less when regulations come into force.”
Pre-compliance involves proactively adopting sustainable practices and labor standards to reduce risks and reduce financial burdens. But brands tend to treat it as a legal hazard rather than a strategic tool—a disconnect costing them money and control. Because if companies don’t build systems to handle waste, regulators will force them to—in an expensive, poorly-executed manner.
On the policy front, engagement is stifled. Proactive engagement is necessary for companies to “shape the ocean” of regulation rather than simply surviving the current.
“The number one thing when I am lobbying that lawmakers ask for is what are brands saying? Where are brands at this table? That is such an obligation that is being left and totally abdicated in my experience in advancing sustainability policy by brands.”
She further reinforces this point by warning that staying on the sidelines makes brands vulnerable to poorly designed rules.
“Regulation is going to topple you if you are not part of the stakeholders participating,” Gabriel said. “The abdication of that responsibility is leading to dire financial consequences.”
