Textile Exchange evolves membership structure to drive action on climate and nature impact
Textile Exchange is announcing a significant evolution in its membership model, shifting to a more action-oriented, impact-driven approach. This new structure is designed to offer clear, practical pathways for organizations to address the urgent climate and nature challenges facing the fashion, textile, and apparel industry.
For over 20 years, Textile Exchange has been guiding a growing community of over 700 organizations including brands, retailers, suppliers, producers, NGOs, and solution providers toward more sustainable material sourcing and production. This broad network has been supported by resources, expertise, and events that encourage deeper understanding and foster progress. Now, with the climate and nature crises demanding urgent attention, Textile Exchange is redesigning its membership framework to help organizations take more direct, measurable action in their sustainability efforts.
Sarah Needham, Senior Director of Engagement and Partnerships at Textile Exchange, emphasized the importance of the new model, saying, “Our members are fundamental to achieving the progress we want to see. Since the beginning of Textile Exchange, they’ve shown many times what’s possible when the industry works together. Now, this evolved membership structure empowers them to collectively go further, no matter where they are on their sustainability journey. By providing targeted guidance and fostering collective action, the structure will enable our community to align behind the shared priorities and direction needed to make measurable change.”
A Two-Tiered Structure for Scalable Change
The new membership model introduces a phased transition to a two-tiered structure, offering organizations the choice of joining one of two interconnected cohorts: Action or Community. This dual structure aims to better serve the distinct needs of different types of organizations across the industry, providing structured pathways and practical tools for coordinated action on regenerative production systems, while maintaining the strong sense of community that has always been a hallmark of Textile Exchange.
The Community Cohort
The Community Cohort is tailored for organizations whose work does not directly involve raw material sourcing or production, yet who are eager to expand their sustainability knowledge and engage in peer-to-peer knowledge sharing. This group is ideal for academics, non-profits, solution providers, consultancies, and supply chain partners (Tiers 1–3) that do not produce or procure materials themselves.
This cohort provides a self-guided approach, with access to a global network of like-minded professionals, educational opportunities, events, and expert-developed tools. It closely aligns with Textile Exchange’s current membership model, offering organizations the resources and connections needed to deepen their sustainability practices.
The Action Cohort
The Action Cohort is specifically designed for brands, suppliers, and raw material producers who are directly engaged in sourcing or producing materials. This cohort focuses on helping members achieve concrete, measurable progress through a shared roadmap aimed at positive outcomes for climate, nature, people, and animals.
Members of the Action Cohort will benefit from structured action pathways, a standardized progress reporting framework, expert guidance, and opportunities to participate in collective action initiatives and workshops. By joining this cohort, organizations commit to taking tangible steps, including reporting their progress and sourcing or producing through systems that verify best practices. This approach helps turn intention into implementation.
The Action Cohort is also designed for members who want to lead change within the industry. Brands and producers will have the opportunity to work together through collective action to overcome barriers in production systems and accelerate progress toward sustainability goals.
Supporting a Collective Strategy for Measurable Impact
This new membership model reflects the five-year strategy that Textile Exchange has outlined for 2030. The goal is to advance progress toward critical climate and nature goals by catalyzing the necessary levels of collective action across the industry.
A central element of the strategy is the creation of an enabling environment for scaling preferred production systems and directly addressing economic barriers, especially for producers at the earliest stages of the supply chain. By focusing on collective action, the redesigned membership structure will strengthen Textile Exchange’s ability to support organizations in navigating these challenges, ensuring that their sustainability efforts are not only ambitious but also measurable.
As Textile Exchange evolves to meet the growing demands of the climate crisis, the new membership model provides organizations with clear pathways and targeted guidance, helping them contribute meaningfully to a more sustainable future for the fashion, textile, and apparel industries.
