The State of Sustainable Apparel: What North America Needs to Know with Christine Goulay | Innovation Forum Partnership

About this episode

Sheri Hinish interviews Christine Goulay about the current state of sustainable apparel and the impact of regulation on the fashion industry.

In this episode of the Supply Chain Revolution podcast, produced in partnership with the Innovation Forum, Sheri Hinish sits down with Christine Goulay, founder of Sustainabelle Advisory Services in Paris. Christine brings 20 years of experience at the intersection of sustainability and fashion, including operational roles at Pangaea and the Kering Group (the luxury conglomerate behind Gucci and Balenciaga), advisory work with UNEP and the Textile Exchange, and board positions with traceability and materials startups including Fairly Made. Together, they unpack the honest state of sustainable apparel in 2026. Christine identifies three distinct tiers of brand behavior: the core leaders who are integrating sustainability as a risk reduction and customer engagement strategy, the compliance hedgers who are calculating whether to invest now or pay fines later, and the silent majority waiting to see which way the regulatory wind blows. She explains why regulation was the decisive differentiator in scaling reuse in France, why the same dynamic is now playing out with the California Textile Recovery Act and Digital Product Passport requirements in the EU, and why simply checking the…

People in this episode

Host: Sheri Hinish

Guest: Christine Goulay

Topics covered

• sustainable apparel
• fashion industry
• regulation
• sustainability
• brand behavior
• supply chain

Keywords

• sustainability
• apparel
• fashion
• regulation
• supply chain
• brand behavior
• California Textile Recovery Act
• Digital Product Passport

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Sustainabelle Advisory Services, Pangaea, Kering Group, UNEP, Textile Exchange, Fairly Made

Places: France, California, EU

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