ArticleOAKLAND, Calif. (May 25, 2022 ) – Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) today announced the promotion of Kurt Kipka to Chief Impact Officer and Ryan Gaines to Chief Financial Officer.
Aii is in growth mode as it scales its work in the supply chain to meet the apparel and footwear industry’s 2030 Science Based Targets of reducing total CO2 emissions by half. The only way to meet this ambitious goal is by addressing Scope 3 emissions, so Aii is expanding its core operations to reach even more regions and support the addition of new programs that adequately address carbon emissions across the supply chain.
“We are very excited about the elevation in roles and responsibilities of our senior leadership at Aii,” said Lewis Perkins, Aii president. “It represents our growth as we match the increased engagement of the sector in ‘on the-ground’ climate action with expanded programmatic commitments, resources and partnerships, therefore resulting in greater impact.”
Kurt Kipka joined Aii in 2018 coming from NRDC where he led the Clean by Design program. Over the past three years, he has directed and evolved Aii’s programs to expand beyond mill improvement and introduced the organization’s tools and programs to new regions and tiers of the supply chain. In his new role, Kipka will drive innovations, partnerships and programs for rapid, quantified and scaleable environmental improvements. In doing so, he will enable Aii to deliver data and performance criteria for increasing and allocating industry funds to proven impact solutions.
Ryan Gaines joined the Aii team in 2019 as Director of Finance and has led all aspects of the organization’s financial management and reporting. Additionally, Gaines co-authored the report “Unlocking the Trillion-Dollar Fashion Decarbonisation Opportunity,” which outlines the critical role of debt and equity investment in decarbonizing the apparel and footwear industry supply chains. In his new role as Chief Financial Officer, Gaines will lead efforts to further develop Aii’s financial and impact reporting capabilities, data and IT systems, and the infrastructure to manage the organization’s growing portfolio of grant activities.
About Apparel Impact Institute (Aii)
Aii identifies, funds, scales and measures proven quality solutions to accelerate positive impact in the fashion industry. Aii looks for scalable solutions and best practices that can be applied to the entire value chain. By improving upon the environmental footprint of the current industrial model the key to unlocking the future will involve new innovations of materials, manufacturing and business models. Aii is calling for a $250M Fashion Climate Fund to unlock a $2B blended capital investment towards the science based targets commitments by 2030. Learn more: www.apparelimpact.org or fashionclimatefund.org
