<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><ns2:project xmlns:ns1="http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/gtr/api" xmlns:ns2="http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/gtr/api/project" xmlns:ns3="http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/gtr/api/fund" xmlns:ns4="http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/gtr/api/person" xmlns:ns5="http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/gtr/api/project/outcome" xmlns:ns6="http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/gtr/api/organisation" ns1:created="2026-07-08T08:44:08Z" ns1:href="http://gtr.ukri.org/gtr/api/projects/A869C95F-D2C7-498B-A3E0-B8E059938B2D" ns1:id="A869C95F-D2C7-498B-A3E0-B8E059938B2D"><ns1:links><ns1:link ns1:href="http://gtr.ukri.org/gtr/api/persons/AE586B15-CD61-41F9-B5A2-5F1793007EE2" ns1:rel="PM_PER"/><ns1:link ns1:href="http://gtr.ukri.org/gtr/api/organisations/BC42B97C-1582-4F33-A428-57538A795D1C" ns1:rel="LEAD_ORG"/><ns1:link ns1:href="http://gtr.ukri.org/gtr/api/organisations/BC42B97C-1582-4F33-A428-57538A795D1C" ns1:rel="PARTICIPANT_ORG"/><ns1:link ns1:end="2021-06-29T23:00:00Z" ns1:href="http://gtr.ukri.org/gtr/api/funds/0C117C75-6FA5-47ED-86FA-C2B91F5A01DA" ns1:rel="FUND" ns1:start="2020-09-30T23:00:00Z"/></ns1:links><ns2:identifiers><ns2:identifier ns2:type="RCUK">78054</ns2:identifier></ns2:identifiers><ns2:title>Nature Positive Fashion Supply Chain Management</ns2:title><ns2:status>Closed</ns2:status><ns2:grantCategory>Collaborative R&amp;D</ns2:grantCategory><ns2:leadFunder>Innovate UK</ns2:leadFunder><ns2:abstractText>COVID-19 has caused reduced consumer demand for fashion, leading to a reduction in demand for raw materials such as cotton and wool. The dramatic decline in sales has resulted in prolonged fragility and tension in the British fashion industry's supply chains. COVID-19 has halted the progressive sustainability agenda in the British fashion industry, which was making substantial progress in greening their supply chain. Due to budget cuts and furloughs, sustainability has been sidelined. This market disruption offers a unique window of opportunity to improve supply chain transparency and secure a resilient long-term supply of critical raw materials for the longevity of the British fashion sector.

Nature-based solutions are strategies to protect, restore and improve the management of natural and agricultural lands, with the potential to mitigate up to 11 GtCO2e yr-1 emissions cost effectively (= $100 MgCO2e-1) (Griscom et al., 2017). In most cases, nature-based solutions also provide positive ecological, social, and economic returns (Dasgupta et al., 2020; Seddon et al., 2019). Pilio will enable the fashion/textiles industry to incorporate sustainability into normal, commercially critical business activities such as long-term supplier relationships and consistency of supply.

Our innovation is novel in that it will enable fashion companies to take a holistic and systems approach, by creating an instrument for them to both reduce their carbon footprint and improve the socio-ecological resilience of the lands they depend on for raw materials. By the end of this project, we will pilot a SaaS platform that enables the fashion/textile industry to transition to a net zero carbon and nature positive supply chain.</ns2:abstractText></ns2:project>