When Lewis Perkins, president of the Apparel Impact Institute , made his pitch for a “fashion climate fund” at the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen in 2022, he expected brands to clamor to sign on. Yes, the industry was still recovering from the debilitating aftereffects of Covid-19, but a phenomenon known as “revenge spending” was also surging as hordes of consumers stormed shops in search of normalcy after months in lockdown. Then there was the intensifying need to move beyond talking about climate change to tangible, measurable action. The $250 million war chest Perkins envisioned would unite the “power of big philanthropy” with corporate leadership to identify, fund and—most important—scale verified solutions capable of slashing 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2030. H&M Group, H&M Foundation, Lululemon and The Schmidt Family Foundation each chipped in $10 million as lead donors.…