Alyse Russel, Senior Manager of Global Sustainability Programs at VF Corporation, joins Climate Rising to discuss how one of the world’s largest apparel companies is embedding sustainability across a complex, multi-brand supply chain. VF owns major global brands including Vans, The North Face, and Timberland, and is working to reduce product-related emissions by transforming how key materials are sourced and produced. The conversation explores why raw materials—such as cotton, leather, rubber, and wool—account for the majority of VF’s emissions footprint, and how the company is prioritizing regenerative agriculture to address this challenge. Alyse explains how VF is scaling regenerative cotton, rubber, and wool programs across different geographies, while navigating trade-offs related to cost, verification, and supply chain complexity. The episode also examines how VF collaborates with farmers, NGOs, and researchers to implement regenerative practices, the challenges of measuring outcomes like soil carbon and biodiversity, and the evolving role of traceability and certification in validating sustainability claims. Alyse also reflects on the future of regenerative agriculture in the apparel sector, including the need for better standards, broader environmental metrics beyond carbon, and stronger industry-wide coordination.

VF Corporation: Scaling Regenerative Materials Across Global Apparel Supply Chains

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Alyse Russel, Senior Manager of Global Sustainability Programs at VF Corporation, joins Climate Rising to discuss how one of the world’s largest apparel companies is embedding sustainability across a complex, multi-brand supply chain. VF owns major global brands including Vans, The North Face, and Timberland, and is working to reduce product-related emissions by transforming how key materials are sourced and produced. The conversation explores why raw materials—such as cotton, leather, rubber, and wool—account for the majority of VF’s emissions footprint, and how the company is prioritizing regenerative agriculture to address this challenge. Alyse explains how VF is scaling regenerative cotton, rubber, and wool programs across different geographies, while navigating trade-offs related to cost, verification, and supply chain complexity. The episode also examines how VF collaborates with farmers, NGOs, and researchers to implement regenerative practices, the challenges of measuring outcomes like soil carbon and biodiversity, and the evolving role of traceability and certification in validating sustainability claims. Alyse also reflects on the future of regenerative agriculture in the apparel sector, including the need for better standards, broader environmental metrics beyond carbon, and stronger industry-wide coordination. 

Climate Rising is about the impact of climate change on business. It brings business and policy leaders and Harvard Business School faculty together to share insights about what businesses are doing, can do, and should do to confront climate change. It explores the many challenges and opportunities that climate change raises for managers, such as decisions about where they choose to locate, the technologies they develop and use, their strategies with respect to products, marketing, customer engagement, and policy—in other words, the full spectrum of business concerns.

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