Last week, the 2022 Global Fashion Summit (GFS) took place in Copenhagen, Denmark. Formerly known as the Copenhagen Fashion Summit, the GFS is organized by the nonprofit, Fashion Global Agenda, and is the leading international forum for sustainability in fashion. Representatives for brands like Bottega Veneta, Ralph Lauren, Mulberry, Ganni, and ultra-fast fashion company SHEIN spoke about sustainable initiatives for the future.
In addition to unveiling news, brands also shared the science behind sustainable ways, such as textile composition, and the summit also included speeches from industry leaders from companies like Kering and climate activists such as Xiya Batsita, who attended the 2022 Met Gala alongside Gabriella Hearst. So what were the key takeaways from the event? We’re breaking down what you need to know.
To kick-off the two-day summit, SHEIN admitted that creating excess clothing negatively impacted the environment and announced that it would be donating $50 million (which is half of its value — company is worth $100 billion dollars according to the Wall Street Journal) over three years through an Extended Responsibility Fund.
Ralph Lauren released its new circularity program called Live On, which is designed to extend the lives of Ralph Lauren pieces through repair services, resale, and rental opportunities. According to WWD, Mulberry announced that it would be joining Courrèges and Vestiaire Collective to start using data led tags, or Digital ID’s, that allow for traceability in the items.
Vogue Business reported that Ganni will produce products containing three new fabrics, Mylo, Stem, and Circulose, to reduce its carbon footprint by 2027. Mylo is a fabric made from mycelium, or mushrooms; stem is a fabric creation process that uses all of the fabric made, leaving no waste; and circulose is a material created from recovering worn out cotton clothes into dissolving pulp. The breakdown process of circulose uses 100% renewable energy.
Bottega Veneta’s CEO Leo Rangone announced the introduction of the Bottega Series, which is a new sustainable initiative by the company that will re-release archived bags in drops of 12 every month. The bags will be sold at the same price they went for previously.
The Global Fashion Summit has become a key event on the fashion calendar and we can’t wait to see how brands roll out these initiatives.
