The business of better fashion: How the Singapore Fashion Council is driving sustainability in the local industry

Particularly ambitious is the Zero Fashion Waste Initiative, promoting circularity through its comprehensive “Five R” approach: Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose, Recovery, and Resource. This model addresses the complete range of sustainability challenges, from emissions reduction to waste management, creating a holistic model for industry transformation.

The strength of collective action

What distinguishes SFC’s approach is its recognition that genuine transformation requires coordinated effort across sectors. As self-described “ecosystem architects”, it has cultivated a multi-dimensional collaboration model bridging government, business, and consumer engagement.

“This multi-stakeholder model allows us to create systemic change on multiple fronts," Tan continues. “By aligning top-down leadership with bottom-up engagement, we foster an ecosystem capable of transformative and lasting impact.” This system enables complex challenges to be addressed from multiple angles, creating conditions for systemic change rather than incremental adjustments.

Notably, SFC facilitates green financing solutions and supply chain monitoring through a strategic partnership with ESGpedia, and promotes responsible sourcing of forest-based materials through the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). Each collaboration serves a distinct purpose within SFC’s broader vision to unite diverse expertise across finance, manufacturing, design, education and government.

Converting challenges to opportunities

The journey towards fashion sustainability in Singapore presents significant obstacles. SFC identifies several related challenges hindering the widespread adoption of sustainable practices. “While sustainability awareness is growing, there remains a disconnect between intention and action,” Tan explains. She adds that many consumers often undervalue the long-term benefits of responsible fashion, such as environmental preservation and ethical production, against perceived higher upfront costs. “There is a need to deepen understanding of the true cost of fashion, beyond price tags, to include social and environmental impact. Empowering both consumers and businesses through education can reposition sustainability as a meaningful value proposition,” Tan continues.

Beyond consumer behaviour, Tan acknowledges infrastructure limitations as a significant barrier. “Singapore’s circularity infrastructure is still in its early stages, [but] this presents a powerful opportunity for innovation and growth. Expanding capabilities such as large-scale textile recycling and urban-fit closed-loop solutions will be key enablers,” Tan says.

To overcome these challenges, SFC has integrated them directly into their strategic framework, developing programmes specifically designed to address each barrier. Education and outreach initiatives target the awareness-to-action gap, while innovation challenges and partnerships focus on developing needed infrastructure and technologies.

Growing with purpose

Central to SFC’s mission is cultivating and empowering local fashion businesses to scale responsibly, balancing growth ambitions with sustainability commitments. This support takes multiple forms, from talent development to funding access.

SFC also offers tailored training programmes and enterprise-level upskilling aimed at empowering local businesses to weave sustainability into their operations, designs and growth strategies. “By connecting businesses to grant opportunities…and advocating for shared infrastructure like textile recycling systems and material innovation hubs, we enable scalable adoption of sustainable practices across the sector,” Tan expounds.

Noting that sustainability resonates deeply with the current and next generation of consumers, SFC has embedded it into its programmes such as The Bridge Fashion Innovator (TBFI), which bridges the gap between fashion, technology and sustainability. TBFI identifies and fosters early-stage start-ups in the fashion and lifestyle sector, and empowers them to refine and validate their products and services.

Success stories emerging from the TBFI programme include the invention of COzTERRA—a pioneering carbon-removing textile by Singapore-based company Xinterra—and MYCL, which develops mycelium-based alternatives to leather and packaging.

Vision for tomorrow

As Earth Day reminds us of our collective environmental responsibility, SFC’s efforts present a compelling case study in how industry leadership can catalyse meaningful transformation. Its vision for the next decade is deftly put by Tan: “Success means positioning Singapore as a leading Asian hub for responsible fashion, with SFC driving this vision by building future-ready capabilities, accelerating innovation, and uniting stakeholders for collective, circular and sustainable impact.”

Earth Day tends to bring sustainability into sharper focus—but for the SFC, it’s more than a seasonal talking point. Through its programmes, partnerships, and policy work, it’s laying the groundwork for a fashion industry that’s more thoughtful in how it grows, and more accountable in how it operates.

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