Global Fashion Summit Gets Large, Small Companies, From LVMH to Rubi, Talking
COPENHAGEN — Businesses and brands touted their sustainability innovations and also revealed that more green work needs to be done at the annual Global Fashion Summit, which took place here earlier this week.
More than 1,000 attendees and 138 speakers representing 28 countries gathered in Copenhagen at the event, which was called “Ambition to Action.”
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Among the speakers was Antoine Arnault, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s head of communication, image and environment. He was in conversation with British fashion designer Jonathan Anderson, creative director of Loewe and JW Anderson.
Nicolaj Reffstrup, founder of Ganni, also spoke, as did Fanny Moizant, cofounder and president of Vestiaire Collective; Aude Vergne, chief sustainability officer at Chloé, and Natasha Franck, chief executive officer and founder of Eon.
Some used the stage to unveil new initiatives.
Twin sisters Neeka and Leila Mashouf, the scientists behind Rubi, revealed their partnership with Danish brand Ganni to create the first yarn made directly from carbon emissions.
“I spent 10 years in tech. I remember when I entered the fashion industry, it always struck me as surprising how little innovation happens inside these big brands. It’s all caught up around the product and the look,” said Reffstrup.
Anders Wøggsborg, senior customer sustainability partner at Maersk, this year’s top sponsor, revealed that next month the shipping and logistics company will roll out six methanol-powered vessel containers.
The Global Fashion Agenda, the nonprofit organizers of the summit, revealed the launch of the Global Textiles Policy Forum, a platform for government and textile industry officials to connect and amplify supply chain efficiency.
The United Nations Environment Program and U.N. Climate Change published their second Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook, a guide to navigating sustainability in a positive way.
During his conversation with Anderson, Arnault argued that luxury goods are inherently sustainable.
“That’s what makes them so special. They are made from the highest-quality materials, they are durable, they are repairable. That’s what separates us from the rest of the fashion industry,” he said.
He added that when he started at Berluti 10 years ago, the idea of “scratched and scarred leather” was rejected by the teams. He told the industrial teams that he preferred the imperfect leather, which has become the preferred leather of choice for the brand’s customers.
“It shows that there is a change in perception of beauty from the client that is beginning to accept small differences,” said Arnault.
His answers garnered mixed reactions in the lobby after the talk, with some guests criticizing Pharrell Williams‘ gigantic debut show for Louis Vuitton men’s.
Onstage Arnault didn’t shy away from discussing LVMH’s numerous shows a year outside of the ready-to-wear calendar. Three years ago he had anticipated that the pace of shows would slow down.
“They haven’t slowed down. What’s very important is that we do them differently. We used to export an entire show and do another one in L.A., Seoul and Hawaii. Now we use local communities, local productions and local castings,” he said.
“It’s important in terms of creation, and business,” he added.
Rachel Arthur, advocacy lead for sustainable fashion at the United Nations Environment Program, disagreed with Arnault.
“Fashion shows are super important for creativity and business value. They are one of the most successful examples of fashion communication,” she said, explaining that their unsustainable levels of production and consumption means they are significantly contributing to the industry not being able to reach its sustainability targets.
She suggested that consumers and businesses should not only think about carbon footprint, but also about the “brain print,” which refers to the volume of product they directly consume as a result of marketing.
During the in-conversation, Anderson said sustainability concerns are top of mind among the new generation of designers.
He said during hiring processes at Loewe, young fashion school graduates always ask him about the company’s sustainable credentials, something which was not discussed when he was a student at Central Saint Martins.
As an LVMH Prize jury member, he said that 90 percent of the collections he sees have a sustainable angle.
During the summit, Vestiaire’s Moizant, Chloé’s Vergne and Franck of Eon reaffirmed their partnership, and talked about what they believe the future holds. It was revealed in February that Chloé would partner with Vestiaire Collective and technology startup Eon on digitizing their luxury goods for instant resale.
“[Products IDs] will be the future of how brands actually sell to customers. They will know the exact profile of users’ closets,” said Franck, adding that brands will be able to manage and use their products while adding value to them, something she believes has been lost in the traditional shopping process.
Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, patron of Global Fashion Agenda and the summit, kicked off the two-day event with an address urging the audience to “show the world how a complex industry can transform to one that protects the fragility of and conserves our natural world, to one that gives more to people, societies and the economy.”
She added that while progress may be incremental, it is “nevertheless promising, as it demonstrates that scalability has potential,” she added.
The princess also took an opportunity to focus on the positives, such as the 28 percent growth of the secondhand clothing sector in 2022, adding that by 2024, 10 percent of the global apparel market is expected to be made up of secondhand clothing.
“When we are brainstorming, designing or researching potential solutions to achieve a net positive industry by 2030, we are looking at the world we are living in a holistic way, putting humans and society at the center is insufficient,” said the crown princess, who spoke to a 7-year-old activist as she came off the stage.
Guests drew a number of fresh ideas from the two-day event, which wrapped on Wednesday.
Sarah AlHamdan, founder and creative director of the clothing brand Mood of Thought, said having attended the summit, she’s now considering “a take-back program” for her brand.
Mood of Thought was the among the first labels to use LVMH surplus fabrics in the U.K. It also offers a lifetime tailoring service to customers in partnership with Sojo, the London-based clothing alterations app.
“For resale, every care label includes a QR code representing an authenticity stamp of Mood of Thought’s goods. The code also gives access to product materials to support after-care, resale and recycling if needed,” said AlHamdan.
The Global Fashion Summit concluded with a party hosted by Moët Hennessy at The Plant Cph, an old factory that has been transformed into an events space.
Alexandre Capelli, group environment deputy director at LVMH, took to the stage to talk about Château Galoupet Rosé Cru Classe, which is the first rosé wine to be bottled in recycled amber glass.
Dancers walked around dressed as rainforests. They posed for photos with guests on the step and repeat. Halfway through the sit-down dinner, they made an appearance on the stage, dancing with glow sticks to Destiny’s Child’s “Survivor,” and Lorde’s “Greenlight.”
The Copenhagen summit held its first international edition in Singapore last year. They chose the location as Asia Pacific regions account for 75 percent of garment workers worldwide.
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