Colin Browne has been named CEO of Cascale, the company formerly known as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. The nonprofit group announced the hire last week.

Browne’s 30-year tenure in footwear and apparel spans across the value chain. He began by working in factories in the U.K. before moving to the U.S. to work at Reebok. Throughout his career, he ran factories and manufacturing groups, he said, before he pivoted to working with brands on their supply chain operations. From 2011 to 2016, he held various leadership positions at VF Corp., the holding company of Vans, Timberland and Dickies.

He arrived at Under Armour in 2016, where he held multiple c-suite positions, including chief supply chain officer, interim president and CEO, and chief operating officer.

After seven years with the athleticwear company, Browne wanted to take time to think about what he wanted to do with his career, he said in an interview.

“I just felt as if maybe I could use the skills, the experience, the integrity, and the energy, and the passion, and the network that I have to try and nudge this industry forward in the sustainability [space],” Browne said.

Browne assumed the top executive role at Cascale on May 1. He succeeds Amina Razvi, who stepped down in December 2023 after holding the CEO position since 2022.

At the time of Razvi’s departure, the nonprofit group said Razvi and the board mutually agreed it was the right time for her to step away as “the organization enters a new phase of growth and expansion to adjacent product categories.”

In February, it rebranded as Cascale. At the time of the rebrand, Rick Ridgeway, co-founder of Cascale, said the organization was evolving “to address the needs of a broader scope of consumer goods beyond apparel and footwear.”

Cascale is a global collective of more than 300 organizations in the apparel, footwear and textile industries. The group was designed to “develop a common approach to measuring sustainability.” While Cascale’s membership includes large brands such as Walmart, Patagonia, Kering and Nike, its members stretch beyond the brand level and into the supply chain. 

Fashion Dive spoke with Browne on his second day on the job, and although he said it may be too early to discuss his long- and short-term goals, his focus during the early days of his position was to “listen and learn.”

“I don’t claim to have all the answers with regards to how we should be thinking about driving this organization and really trying to impact this industry,” he said. “...I think it’s a great time for [this]. We’ve all seen legislation and other things that are starting to evolve, and the tide continues to rise. Brands and businesses and boards are having to be more vigilant with regards to how they’re thinking about this kind of stuff. I think the background I bring, by continuing to be on boards, allows me to hopefully elevate the conversation and move things on.” 

Cascale owns the Higg Materials Sustainability Index, a technology designed to measure social and environmental sustainability impacts. In 2022, it paused the consumer labeling portion of the organization’s transparency program following greenwashing allegations from the Norwegian Consumer Authority.

While there are no plans to resume the consumer labeling portion of the tech, Browne said the Higg suite of tools will continue to be refined, and Cascale has aspirations of offering it to other groups in the consumer goods space, beyond just apparel and footwear.

Browne said that as the nonprofit group embarks on its mission, there will be criticism, and Cascale won’t get everything right.

“Helping to address climate change for this industry is a huge issue,” Browne said. “We’re not gonna get it right the first time. This is not like trying to boil an egg… There's going to be initiatives where we take three steps forward and then we have to take one step back, but being open to criticism and trying to work with all of the key partners, we have to find the right solutions.”

In addition to his professional goals within the position, his personal ambition is to leave the planet better than he found it, he said.

“This, to me, is a mission,” Browne said. “It’s not a job.”