25.10.21
Fashion Summits
Influential thought-leaders and industry icons explored how fashion and clothing will evolve in the future and tackle the key challenges facing the fashion and retail industries. This was addressed via a series of panel sessions and keynote presentations on the UK Pavilion. All summit sessions were live streamed to a virtual audience, and are available on-demand.
Agenda
10:25 - 11:00 (UK - BST) / 13:25 – 14:00 (UAE - GST)
POSITIVE FASHION: A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Speakers include:
Chair: Caroline Rush CBE, Chief Executive, British Fashion Council
Panellists:
- Julien Mcdonald, Fashion Designer
- Dax Lovegrove, Director of Sustainability, Jimmy Choo
The panel discussed a set of priorities based on the British Fashions Council’s Positive Fashion framework, a platform designed to celebrate industry best practice and encourage future business decisions to create positive change. Panellists discussed key questions about; sustainable fashion, the associated challenges across a global industry and where the UK is taking a lead; they also highlighted the change industry needs to make regarding the environment, people, community and artisanship and the implications these changes will have on the industry over the next decade.
11:00 - 11:45 (UK - BST) / 14:00 – 14:45 (UAE - GST)
Do We Really Care About Who Makes Our Clothes?
Speakers include:
Chair: Adam Mansell, CEO, UK Fashion & Textile Association
Panellists:
- Caroline Rush CBE, Chief Executive, British Fashion Council
- Julien McDonald, Fashion Designer
- Fahed Ghanim, CEO, Lifestyle and Fashion, Majid Al Futtaim
- Professor Carolyn Hardaker, Professor of Learning and Teaching, Head of School of Fashion and Textiles, De Montfort University
- Fiona Gooch, Senior Private Sector Policy Adviser, Traidcraft
- Professor Sheila Carruthers, Honorary Professor of Design at Heriot Watt University, School of Textiles and Design
The panel discussed the big questions around what needs to be done to minimise the social and environmental impact when it comes to making our clothes. What are the tools being developed to help consumers change their behaviour when purchasing in a store or online, and how is the industry addressing the circular economy through developing new business models for fast fashion based around ‘buy and make’?
12:30 - 13:15 (UK - BST) / 15:30 - 16:15 (UAE - GST)
The High-Tech Future of Fashion - What Can We Expect?
Speakers include:
Chair: Matthew Drinkwater, Head of Innovation Agency, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London
Panellists:
- Professor Stephen Westland, Director of Research and Innovation, Future Fashion Factory
- Professor Guy Bingham, Professor of Design/Director of the Design Unit, De Montfort University
- Martine Jarlgaard, Founder & CEO, Martine Jarlgaard
- John Andrews, Founder and Chair, IORMA - The Global Consumer Commerce
Our panel discussed the impact of new technologies on delivering a stronger fashion sector both economically and environmentally. The conversation covered technologies which enable manufacturers to move from a 'make and sell' model to a 'sell and make' model. Technologies reviewed included; lasers, automation, 3D knitting, 3D printing and AR/VR. Almost every piece of clothing we own was made, in some part, by a person. Clothing manufacturing still lags years behind industries like cars and electronics in automation of labour, but new technologies like lasers and 3D knitting are radically transforming how garment factories operate around the world – and are finally bringing the fashion industry to the tech future.
13:45 - 14:15 (UK - BST) / 16:45 - 17:15 (UAE - GST)
SPECIFICITIES & SUBJECTIVITIES OF A DIGITIZED HUMANITY
Speakers include:
Keynote: Zowie Broach, Head of Fashion, Royal College of Art
Fashion is seeing a shift of gears in the virtual arena, looping back into the physical world: be it the open world of Fortnite, the digital-only clothing of Fabricant, and of course the game play position of Balenciaga’s world. We as individuals within our shared humanity are all driving forward, exceptionally fast, into a combined world of games, fashion and the digital self, more than most thought leaders imagined possible just a few years ago. This is the dawn of the Metaverse! … But how about us… the very core of who we are and the very ‘skins’ that cover us?
14:15 – 15:00 (UK - BST) / 17:15 – 18:00 (UAE – GST)
Accelerating Towards a Circular Fashion Eco System
Speakers include:
Chair: Dan Howlett, Head of Commerical Banking - Middle East, North Africa & Turkey, HSBC
Panellists:
- Caroline Rush CBE, Chief Executive, British Fashion Council
- Florence Bulte, Chief Sustainability Officer, Chalhoub Group
- Vivek Ramachandran, CEO Serai
- Sanal Kumar, Chairman and Managing Officer, Classic Fashion Apparel Industry
- Justin Thornton, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Preen by Thornton Bregazzi
The Fashion Industry has been in the spotlight to address its sustainable challenge and to radically transform toward a responsible future. The panellists discussed how to address the urgent and ambitious actions needed from the industry to transform as the entire value chain shifts towards sustainable and responsible practices in a resource-constrained world.
Coming with a very diverse perspective the panellists shared their experience on how to Accelerate Towards a Circular Fashion Ecosystem.