China Textile Industry Leaders Discuss Sustainability At Esquel Gathering In Foshan

The meeting was organized by the Hong Kong-based Esquel Group, chaired by Marjorie Yang.  Esquel, a shirtmaker that employs more than 50,000 people globally and counts Nike, Brooks Brothers and Ralph Lauren among its customers, has been recognized for advances in green manufacturing. Yang, a graduate of MIT and Harvard, was a member of the 2012 Forbes Asia Power Women List.

“Sustainability is about people changing a way of life,” Yang said in an interview. “It’s little things that add up. There is no killer app that’s going to solve the whole world’s problems. It’s lot of people thinking of lots of clever ways of doing things better.”

Besides Yang, speakers at the event included Hau Lee, a business professor at Stanford, Ma Xiuhong, chairman of the China Foreign Trade Center, Jiang Hui, chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce for Textile Import and Export, Sun Ruizhe, a vice president of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, water expert Ma Jun, the founding director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs,  Stephen Gray, global marketing and planning vice president of Huntsman Textile Effects at Huntsman Inc.,  Andreas Dorner, the global marketing director of the business unit textile for Lenzing AG, and John Cheh, CEO of Esquel.

More than 300 people attended. Yang, an active supporter of education, has served on the board of Novartis, Swire Pacific and HSBC.

Together with her family, she ranked No. 50 on the 2013 Forbes Hong Kong Rich List with wealth of $1 billion.