Innovation Associate - Decarbonisation

About Fashion for Good

Fashion for Good unites the fashion ecosystem to transform and build a regenerative industry. By fostering collaboration and facilitating connections, we bring innovative solutions to the forefront. Our platform connects disruptive innovative solutions with our brand partners and serves as a hub of intelligence and experimentation for the latest insights. Through our platform we empower our network, consisting of brands, retailers, suppliers, innovators and funders, to collaborate and drive change towards a regenerative industry.

Position Summary & Key Responsibilities

Fashion for Good is seeking an Innovation Associate – Scaling (Decarbonisation) to support the adoption of processing innovations across the textile value chain. In this role, you will contribute to the Scaling – Decarbonisation team’s efforts to accelerate the implementation of transformative technologies, particularly those focused on reducing emissions and impact in Tier 2 processing.

You will help advance the growth of promising solutions through bespoke support to innovators as well as through structured programs such as Future Forward Factories. This will require skills such as project management, stakeholder engagement, strong analytical and communication skills, and the development of tools and insights that enable innovators, manufacturers, and brands to scale decarbonisation technologies effectively. Given the role’s strong focus on textile processing and supply chain transformation, prior exposure to textile manufacturing, wet processing, or supply chain operations within the fashion industry is highly preferred.

In this role, you will be responsible for the following areas:

• Project Management
  • Drive project initiation and management for country- and product-focused decarbonisation initiatives. Convene and onboard experts, financiers and ecosystem partners to ensure all elements of scaling Tier II textile facilities—including infrastructure, finance, and policy—come together in a comprehensive and coherent blueprint.
  • Work with the Innovation Manager-Scaling to operationalize the blueprint for low impact Tier II textile factories. This involves identifying opportunities within brands, manufacturers and the broader ecosystem for scaling and contributing to the development of new solutions related to partnerships and financing.
  • Manage technology retrofit support programme for Indian textile manufacturers guided by blueprints on innovative processing technologies. Collaborate with technical experts and industry partners to drive industry-wide change through these retrofit initiatives.
  • Lead the development of an automated tool to provide suppliers with personalised decarbonisation recommendations. This is a long-term project, and will include prototype development and testing, validation of the tool, and alignment with other industry initiatives. You will be the project lead for this workstream, so coding or software development skills are not necessary, but can prove to be helpful.
• Innovator Support
  • Build relationships with identified processing innovators, maintain regular engagement, and champion them through relevant platforms and opportunities.
  • Develop expertise in textile processing innovations and support innovators by connecting them to the right partners, providing industry intelligence, identifying implementation opportunities, benchmarking against industry or internal standards, and tracking their progress over time.
  • Coordinate with the validation team to recommend processing innovators requiring validation and those ready to progress from validation to the scaling stage.
• Supplier Engagement
  • Build a pipeline of manufacturers in key regions like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Vietnam, etc., for participation in Fashion for Good initiatives.
  • Actively engage with Fashion for Good’s group of manufacturing partners and supply chain experts to identify decarbonisation opportunities and challenges, alongside alignment with other Fashion for Good initiatives.
• Industry Intelligence and Thought Leadership
  • Develop reports and intelligence on Tier II textile decarbonization initiatives.
  • Represent Fashion for Good at conferences and events, promoting innovation-led decarbonization, and coordinate with the communications team to create supporting materials.

Experience and Skills

• 5-7 years of experience working in textiles sustainability, consulting and/or innovations. Experience of working in or exposure to textile manufacturing facilities, with a personal network of manufacturers, is highly preferred.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with demonstrated experience in stakeholder management and engagement.
• Experience in project management and structuring complex knowledge into digestible action items.
• Understanding and familiarity with global and textiles supply chain mechanisms and levers.
• Knowledge of environmental sustainability, decarbonisation mechanisms and financing, and energy transition.
• Passion for innovation, environmental impact initiatives, entrepreneurship, and sustainability.
• Ability to swiftly grasp and apply new concepts, and manage multiple projects at a time.

Education

Academic degree (Bachelor (HBO), MBA or Masters) preferably within business, or textile/industrial engineering / fashion technology or related subjects.

Languages

Proficiency in English is a requirement.