Cascale at STAR Meeting, Asia-Pacific Sports, Outdoor Forum
Cascale centers decarbonization, policy leadership at STAR Annual Meeting in China and Asia-Pacific Sports and Outdoor Fashion Forum in Singapore.
Cascale played a leading role at the recent Asia-Pacific Sports and Outdoor Fashion Forum in Singapore and the Sustainable Textiles of the Asian Region (STAR) Annual Meeting in China, highlighting vast collaboration opportunities in decarbonization and policymaking.
At the 2025 STAR Annual Meeting in Humen, Guangdong Province, China, policy and industry leaders from across Asia’s textile and apparel sector convened to exchange best practices. Howard Kwong, senior manager, public affairs APAC, was invited by STAR to join a peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchange session to present Cascale’s global policy and public affairs strategy.
In his remarks, Kwong outlined how Cascale works to advance smart, globally harmonized policy that enables credible sustainability action, while equipping members with the tools, data, and guidance they need to navigate fast-evolving regulation. He highlighted recent insights from the Manufacturer Interview Group — a project co-led by Cascale and the International Apparel Federation (IAF) — as well as Cascale’s APAC policy deep dive on corporate supply chain responsibility trends and the newly-established APAC Policy Member Expert Team (MET). Sovichea Saron, STAR’s head of secretariat, is a MET member, reflecting how manufacturer perspectives are integrated into Cascale’s global public affairs work.
Meaningful engagement was key. Throughout the event, Kwong met with the STAR board members and association leaders from China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), Bangladesh, Pakistan, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar to explore deeper collaboration.
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In a separate event at the Asia-Pacific Outdoor & Sports Fashion Forum, Joyce Tsoi, Cascale’s senior director, decarbonization program, gave a virtual keynote presentation on the decarbonization and collaboration potential in the outdoor and sporting goods supply chain.
This event is part of the wider programming under the Asia-Pacific Textile & Supply Chain Summit & Expo (APTEXPO). Representing an extensive collaboration, the ASEAN Federation of Textile Industries (AFTEX) and the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) jointly sponsored the event, with ECV International, and The Sub-Council of Textile Industry (CCPIT TEX) as co-organizers. The Singapore Fashion Council (SFC) also supported as a host association. Speakers joined from across Cascale’s membership, among them Mammut Sports Group AG, Puma, and New Balance.
Based in London and joining remotely, Tsoi’s virtual opening remarks began with a playful connection between an individual’s fitness commitments and a company’s decarbonization targets – pointing out that both require diligence, consistency, and commitment to succeed. Then she highlighted the top three systematic industry challenges that stop us from moving at the pace and scale necessary to combat climate change. The first was stalled engagement of Tier 2 materials production facilities, followed by few commitments from brands and retailers. This ultimately creates a lack of true business partnership. With that, Tsoi underscored the need for brands and manufacturers to have shared goals, vision, and responsibilities.
Her presentation then moved into hard-hitting industry carbon emission data, infused with actionable and regional insights from the Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM). Her final points offered a hopeful resolution, highlighting the successes of manufacturers, reflecting eight sponsoring brands, that were achieved through participating in Cascale’s Manufacturers Climate Action Program (MCAP): To date, MCAP has engaged 85 manufacturers in 19 countries with a collective CO2 reduction potential of over 1,429,087 tCO2e from 38 validated participants. She ended with a call for collaboration, highlighting Cascale’s membership, including the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) and the European Outdoor Group (EOG).
