“2025 did not constitute a transition year. It constituted a consolidation of narrative capability”.

“The system became better at explaining why change was underway, better at projecting inevitability, and better at managing contradiction. It did not become better at altering fibre composition, reducing throughput, or decarbonising production at scale.”

Shivam Gusain - Founder at Decypher

What work was actually done and what work was not?

“Brands need to do the work that actually reduces emissions rather than the work they find interesting, exciting or convenient. Do the work that matters. Fix the processes that carry the load. Touch the machinery you have spent years avoiding.”

Shivam Gusain - Founder at Decypher

Waste is still too often treated as a matter of what happens at the end of the value chain, as though the real problem begins only once a garment is unsold or discarded.

In reality, the damage is already baked in much earlier. If one fifth of production volume is destined never to reach a consumer, then one fifth of all the energy, water, chemistry, and labour that went into that production is squandered the moment the order is placed.

Shivam Gusain - Founder at Decypher

There is no need to enforce behavioural change. There is no need to ban high-emitting activities or impose immediate penalties. The act of disclosure alone begins to shift the terrain. Because this is not a symbolic gesture. It is a new lens on value itself.

By forcing carbon risk into the structure of reported profit, this approach does what sustainability pledges never could.

Shivam Gusain - Founder at Decypher

Arvind Limited, one of India’s largest textile manufacturers, is building what it calls a 'near carbon neutral' wet processing facility, a part of the supply chain typically ignored by brands, underfunded by VCs, and misunderstood by climate advocates.

But the numbers behind this factory make it look less like a sustainability initiative and more like a carbon abatement powerhouse.