Ralph Lauren Corp. joins a growing number of fashion companies that have pledged to not use products derived from cleared forests or that required grabbing land from indigenous people, says Reuters. The company says it has new plans to track its sourcing and avoid parts of the world that practice extreme deforestation and human rights abuses.
Many of the same developing countries that have leveled their forests for wood pulp, which is used in the making of viscose, rayon and modal, have also destroyed them for palm oil plantations. Indonesia, for example, is the largest producer of both wood pulp and palm oil. “Global Forest Watch estimates Indonesia lost 18.5 million hectares (70,000 sq. miles) of tree cover from 2001 to 2014,” says Reuters.
Higher cotton prices have propelled a surge in alternative wood-based fibers, encouraging wood pulp (and palm oil) companies to kick indigenous people off their ancestral land in order to harvest resources. The Rain Forest Action Network has successfully pushed Abercrombie & Fitch, Guess, Forever 21, Michael Kors, Foot Locker, and Under Armour to change their sourcing through its “Out of Fashion” campaign.