At a glance
Each year, non-profit Global Fashion Agenda convenes stakeholders from the fashion industry at the Global Fashion Summit. Held in Copenhagen in June, this year’s theme centred on transforming much-cited ambition into tangible action, with a focus on creating a pathway to net positive.
The programme encompassed this call to action with a diverse range of speakers from prominent brands and retailers, supply chain actors, innovators and NGOs. It’s been a month since the conference and I wanted to chew over what resonated weeks later so below are a few of the key moments from the two-day event as well as some of my personal reflections.
Credit: Global Fashion Agenda
Key moments and reflections
Spelling out sustainable fashion communication
On Wednesday 28th June, UNEP and UN Climate Change launched The Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook. This is described as a guide for fashion communicators to align efforts to global sustainability targets. It clearly outlines how marketers, image makers, media and influencers can take action by countering misinformation, reducing messages perpetuating overconsumption, redirecting aspiration to sustainable lifestyles, and empowering consumers to demand greater action from businesses and policymakers.
Attendees learnt from Rachel Arthur, Advocacy Lead, Sustainable Fashion for UNEP and Danielle Magalhaes who is Global Climate Action Teem Lead for UN Climate Change about the intentions of the work. It was welcome to hear Rachel underline how important it was to ground the work in science and why storytelling is an important part of a just transition. Poignant questions were posed to the audience, how can we connect the dots between fashion’s aspirational lifestyle and the 2015 Paris Agreement? How can brands balance pushing production and overconsumption if they are to ever meet their climate targets? “Confronting the systems challenge is about framing the role of value creation,” said Rachel, “It needs to be thought of differently to the historic extractive mindset,” she added.
A primer for science-based nature targets
A landmark report from the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), the Fashion Pact and Conservation International was also released on the Wednesday. The report outlines how the fashion, textile and apparel industry can implement the first science-based targets for nature. There are over 60 brands involved, from Kering, H&M Group, Chanel and Burberry, to Adidas. (Read more on fashion’s biodiversity strategy via my Forbes channel here).
The report addresses fashion’s heavy dependence on natural resources. It’s no secret that the $1.5 trillion-a-year industry plays a substantial role in nature loss across the value chain, especially during the production of cotton, leather and polyester. Target setting is a critical part of reducing the impact on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Nature featured elsewhere in the programme, focusing on finance and nature-related risks to help improve sector readiness on this topic and help participants navigate the ever-evolving landscape of standards, risk assessments and regulation. Elsewhere, a panel on regenerative agriculture realities shone a light on how nature-focused funds are delivering on impact.
Accountability and advocacy for decarbonising the supply chain
Who is accountable for fashion’s unabated supply chain emissions? With speakers from OECD, the UN, Pakistan Environment Trust, Stand.earth and Worldly – it was interesting to learn about different perspectives. Data reliability was a key sticking point in this discussion. Additionally, brands and retailers with activities and influence in regions like Southeast Asia were encouraged to advocate for energy policies that would favour a just climate transition, embrace renewables and work with host country governments on these matters. What particularly resonated with me was a moment when Seema Joshi, Fashion Campaigns Director, of Stand.earth called upon all organisations operating in Vietnam to support the release of prominent Vietnamese environmental activists who had been detained earlier in June.
Matchmaking services for innovative solutions
One of my favourite parts of the event was stumbling across so many companies that are innovating to solve fashion’s complex challenges. The Innovation Forum hosted 26 solution providers and hosted a matchmaking service to connect brands and retailers with potential opportunities. My favourites include Xeros, who have developed multiple opportunities for the reimagining of filtration, care and finish within the industry as well as Upcycle Labs, who transform unwanted inventory into new high-quality décor products, store fittings and more. (You can read more about how Xeros is working to tackle fashion’s microfibre pollution problem here)
Incorporating a global perspective into target-setting
I was kindly invited to moderate this discussion which was centred around how we can incorporate global perspectives into the fashion industry’s target setting across environmental and social indicators. Attendees heard in depth about the partnership between GFA and UNEP on the Industry Target Consultation which was launched in November 2022 at COP27 with the aim to identify and converge existing industry-aligned ambitions to drive future accountability and incorporate voices from over 90 countries.
In the session, we heard about the importance of incorporating all stakeholders’ realities into the target-setting process, especially those situated in the Global South. It was an honour to hear insights from professionals whose expertise lies in different areas of the supply chain, including manufacturing and whose regions can sometimes be left out of the conversation including Africa, MENA and Sri Lanka.
Emotive call to action for a post-growth industry
Respected researcher Dr. Hakan Karaosman who is now Assistant Professor at Cardiff University delivered an emotive keynote discussing a much-needed paradigm shift away from unlimited growth. “We can’t just move from country to country to reduce supply chain emissions and risk the livelihoods of millions of people working in those supply chains.”, he stated. Like Rachel Arthur, Hakan raised the tensions between production volumes and climate targets. He called for policies and incentives that support people at the base of the fashion pyramid, to improve supply chain conditions and relations so that workers and the industry can flourish, not merely survive.
Policy takes centre stage
From European regulations to the International Accord, policy took centre stage throughout the conference. Talking global and local dimensions, we heard from a range of speakers from the European Commission and New York Assembly. The event also saw the launch of the GFA Global Textile Policy Forum. The platform has been designed for governments and textile industry associations from around the world to align on an ambitious sustainability pathway and the global policy frameworks needed. Alongside this, it aims to disperse the likely impact of the EU Textiles Strategy beyond borders. GFA also launched a new policy matrix to summarise the key legislations going on around the world implicating the textile industry.
Investment for innovation
There is a huge funding barrier standing in the way of fashion’s ability to scale sustainable solutions. For instance last month it was reported that the producer of alternative mushroom leather Bolt Threads was pausing its operations after struggling to raise funds. As someone who is highly curious about the nexus between fashion and finance, I was disappointed in the messages put forward by the speakers during the Investment for Innovation panel. At times instead of providing the audience with helpful, actionable insights, it seemed like a spat between Janie Yu, Partner at LFX Venture Partners and Henrik Jones who is General Partner at Buckhill Capital. The market doesn’t look great – but we already knew that. Janie commented, “If you have to rely on governments, it will take forever.”
The word risk was not mentioned once throughout the entire session, which seems odd given that funding fashion’s sustainable innovations could help many actors mitigate the cost of legal, physical and transitional risks associated with climate change. What’s more, whilst Janie praised supply chain efficiency models and tools helping to minimise time frames and deliveries, she also cited Shein’s efficiency model as “Something they are doing right”, noting the value they bring to customers through reduced costs. This comment seems misplaced given that we should also be addressing the value they extract from the earth’s natural ecosystem services and do not pay the adequate price for. Like risk, externalities were not mentioned once – a concept that should be top of mind for all investors.
LVMH on luxury’s sustainable development causes a stir
This opening session ruffled feathers. Antoine Arnault, one of LVMH’s most influential executives, and Jonathan Anderson who sits at the helm of both JW Anderson and Loewe took centre stage with Federica Marchionni, CEO of GFA to discuss luxury’s sustainable development. Federica did well to diplomatically ask many of the questions on our minds. Is the luxury industry moving fast enough on sustainability? “No – Is anyone moving fast enough?” retorted Arnault.
The impact and footprint of fashion shows cropped up in the conversation. Anderson reflected on how things have shifted since he was a young designer. Now, both Loewe and own label JW Anderson borrow elements for shows and repurpose materials and furniture. Where LVMH maisons used to export shows, they now source locally, Arnault emphasized.
With all this talk of fashion shows, I found it strange that the magnitude of Louis Vuitton Menswear collection and Pharell’s design debut as Creative Director in Paris a week prior was not mentioned. How could a show of this scale ever be considered responsible, especially when considering the environmental footprint of flying thousands of influencers in from across the world?
Another red flag moment was when Arnault was asked what he would like to say to his industry peers sat in the room, he said “Think of your grandchildren”. But – shouldn’t we also be thinking of the millions in the Global South right now, perishing because of climate and not just future generations in the Global North?
One final eyebrow-raising moment centred around LVMH’s decision not to join the industry Fashion Pact. Arnault’s justification was grounded in the fact that he didn’t want the group to be associated with fast fashion players. He emphasized that these actors have differing mindsets and objectives and that it would be wrong to be thrown into the same basket. It is precisely these elitist comments that would leave segments of the fashion industry to work in silos. Progression on environmental and social sustainability requires collaboration between all market segments in order not to alienate anyone.
Final thoughts
Written with special thanks to Global Fashion Agenda and their team for the invitation to participate and attend. I greatly enjoyed meeting and speaking with industry professionals whom I have worked with and whose work I have admired for so many years! What particularly resonated for me was that the summit was hosted by an incredible roster of women. I loved the diversity of moderators and how the Next Gen Assembly brought the voices of younger stakeholders, citizens and activists into the conference’s conversation.
Over the remainder of the year and into 2024, I will eagerly await to see how players in the fashion and wider supply chain ecosystem put their pledges and roadmaps into everyday practice to drive momentum toward solving the industry’s critical environmental and social challenges.
Head over to my Instagram for some of the highlights from the event.
Read more about the GFA CEO Agenda here and stay tuned for the update being launched in September of this year.
Learn more about the GFA and UNEP Fashion Industry Target Consultation here.
You can read some fantastic reflections and summaries of the event by Bella Webb at Vogue Business and Brooke Roberts-Islam on Forbes.
Read more on Sustainable & Social.
