Lewis Perkins, President, Aii | Art History, an MBA, the carpet industry, and making the fashion industry more sustainable

Watch the full episode on YouTube, or listen to it on Spotify or Apple.

Lewis Perkins is President at the solutions-oriented industry partner Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) - an industry organization driving collaboration between fashion industry stakeholders. Aii identifies, funds, and measures the impact of sector decarbonization solutions and is aligned with some of the industry’s heaviest hitters. In fact, you might have heard about the announcement of their lead funders for a game-changing $250M Fashion Climate Fund, uniting brands, philanthropic donors, and industry stakeholders.

This is an ambitious task, but Lewis is an ambitious (yet very realistic) leader.

And it’s not just me saying that - Lewis has been recognized as one of Vogue Business’ 100 Innovators: Sustainability thought leaders at the forefront of sustainability, hand-selected by Vogue Business editors and featured on The Earthshot Prize’s Expert Advisory Panel.

In addition to an impressive sustainability resume that includes time at the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute and Mohawk Industries, Lewis has drive, passion, and an intense understanding of the landscape and what it will take to drive, fund, and scale change. In this conversation, Lewis essentially leads a masterclass on how sustainability in the industry has evolved and where it’s headed.

If you’re leading a movement, seeking systems change, feeling challenged with scaling the solutions you’ve been piloting, or wondering how to get the money to fund your world-changing solution, then this one’s for you.

Here are some of the key takeaways from our talk:

• Circularity/ Redesigning Systems
• Financing solutions, specifically the concept of catalytic capital
• Unlocking the Trillion-Dollar Fashion Decarbonisation Opportunity
• The importance of Supplier Engagement
• The pivot point that drew him into the impact space
• The importance of getting out of the pilot phase cycle and moving into the era of scale and permanence
• Convincing and winning over investors