Kering, Tracy Reese, Gabriela Hearst Team Up to ‘Accelerate’ SDG Efforts

The Conscious Fashion Campaign, which is an initiative founded by social entrepreneur Kerry Bannigan to “accelerate fashion industry action in support of the Sustainable Development Goals,” has launched a monthlong “virtual educational experience” that is in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Partnerships.

The event features designers such as Anyango Mpinga, Tracy Reese, Gabriela Hearst and Maria Cornejo, among others. The program, titled, “Discover the Sustainable Development Goals — To Power the Decade of Action,” runs from Dec. 1 through Dec. 30.

Organizers of the event said the experience “aims to advance knowledge and strengthen engagement from the global fashion industry to further support the ‘Decade of Action’ to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals — the 17 goals to transform our world.” The event includes a “Discover the SDGs” online exhibit, which features a variety of tools and resources for industry stakeholders. The monthlong event has fashion industry-specific sessions with business leaders, UN officials and other stakeholders, and includes organizations, brands and businesses such as Kering, Lenzing, Allbirds, PVH, Vogue Business, the CFDA, the British Fashion Council, Messe Frankfurt, Collina Strada and the Swarovski Foundation.

Industry supporters of the event also include Drapers, Fashinnovation, Kingpins, Transformers Foundation and RawAssembly. Speakers, session topics and registration information for the event can be found at http://www.discoverthesdgs.com.

Annemarie Hou, acting executive director of the UN office for partnerships, said this is a critical time to “accelerate partnerships to address the world’s biggest challenges — from eliminating poverty, hunger and inequalities to reversing climate change and unsustainable consumption and production practices.”

Hou noted that the fashion industry “is an important ally for the United Nations in this Decade of Action to deliver the SDGs by 2030.”

Organizers said the Discover the SDGs event is underwritten by Arch and Hook, Artistic Milliners and Lenzing with support from Interwoven, ITL Group and Orta. The event “serves as a catalyst for a new era of fashion; exploring the intersection of the SDGs and fashion business including climate action, gender equality, industry innovation, digitization, life of land and responsible production and consumption,” organizers said.

Tricia Carey, director of global business development at Lenzing, noted, that, “As we close out a tumultuous 2020, we have optimism for a new year with a path to recover better together. Discover the SDG’s by the Conscious Fashion Campaign provides the fashion industry with the tools to make educated choices with regards to both the environment and society.”

Carey said Lenzing uses the SDGs as a “framework for our initiatives to be a responsible wood-based cellulosic fiber producer making Tencel, Lyocell and Modal.”

Murtaza Ahmed, owner and managing director of Artistic Milliners, stressed the importance of partnerships and collaboration to advance the SDGs. He said he believes “any one entity alone cannot rely on fragmented work to achieve global impact.”

“Therefore, we are leveraging the power of SDGs as the most comprehensive framework of collective action to bring about real impact,” Ahmed explained. “Our efforts have led to our recognition by the United Nations Global Compact as the Global Pioneer of SDG 5: Gender Equality. We want to share our best practices with our peers and partners and the Conscious Fashion Campaign provides the perfect platform to inspire the global fashion industry to action.”

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