A CommPRO Industry News Update...

Levi Strauss & Co. has announced the LS&Co. Collaboratory, a fellowship program that works with entrepreneurs who see both sustainability and design working together to create a more sustainable apparel industry.With a curriculum from the Aspen Institute Business & Society Program, this fellowship will bring together innovators and designers that are working to advance sustainability. The fellows will work at LS&Co.’s Eureka Innovation Lab and tap into the company’s resources and mentors to bring their product ideas to life.“As an industry, we need to make sustainability a top priority and this means coming together to tackle the big social and environmental issues of our time,” said Chip Bergh, President and CEO of LS&Co. “The LS&Co. Collaboratory embeds the principles we’ve followed over the last 163 years to help foster the next generation of designers and entrepreneurs so that together we can build an apparel industry that restores the environment and protects our most vital resources.”Each year, the LS&Co. Collaboratory focuses on a social or environmental issue related to the industry, for example: textile waste, water shortages or workers’ rights.In addition, fellows can receive up to $50,000 in funding to implement their solutions. After completing the program, LS&Co. Collaboratory fellows will have the knowledge and hopefully inspiration to create apparel even more sustainably than we can imagine today.The program is open to leaders of for profit and not-for-profit organizations. Applications are now open and the 2016 fellows will be announced later this summer.For more information on the LS&Co. Collaboratory, visit www.levistrauss-collaboratory.com.