The fashion industry is one of the largest, most resource intensive industries. It is a powerful engine for global growth and development, but the current model is pushing the earth beyond its planetary boundaries and challenging social justice. The industry accounts for 4% of greenhouse gas emissions, 20% of industrial water pollution globally and workers face issues such as hazardous environment and low wages.

Already today, the fashion industry finds itself in a transformational state where company owners and shareholders seek to protect the long-term viability of their investments and acknowledge clear business opportunities by increasing their commitment to sustainable development and purpose. A great opportunity for long-lasting and purpose-driven value creation is apparent, calling for creative leadership to champion change management and forward-looking approaches to progress by redefining measures of success and decoupling growth from resource constraints.

We urge you as industry leaders to investigate new business models outside current market mechanisms to drive change, implement innovation and tap into collaborative business opportunities. This is not only essential to future-proof your business, but it is also crucial for humanity to operate within planetary boundaries and to meet the needs of future generations.

We consider brands and retailers at the core of securing comprehensive change and increasing the industry’s sustainability performance across the value chain to ensure that sustainability is a strategic priority. In partnership with our Strategic Partners ASOS, BESTSELLER, H&M Group, Kering, Li & Fung, Nike, PVH Corp., Sustainable Apparel Coalition and Target, we spearhead the fashion industry’s journey towards a more sustainable future.

Global Fashion Agenda is behind the leading business event on sustainability in fashion, the Copenhagen Fashion Summit, which has been leading the movement for over a decade. Each year, the Copenhagen Fashion Summit brings together members of the fashion industry, multilateral organisations, industry associations, policy makers, among many others to find common solutions to accelerate social and environmental sustainability.

Global Fashion Agenda’s work as a thought leader is further evident in the insightful reports it produces throughout the year. These include the annual CEO Agenda, which outlines the crucial sustainability priorities for fashion’s leaders; Fashion on Climate, an analysis of the industry’s GHG emissions and how fashion stakeholders can focus efforts to meet climate targets; among other insightful publications, past and present. Our publications demonstrate GFA’s range of expertise and ongoing commitment to educating the industry to take bold and urgent action on sustainability.

Our commitments drive industry pledges and supports fashion companies in reaching their targets on important topics, e.g. 2020 Circular Fashion System Commitment that has engaged 12.5% of the global fashion market to accelerate the industry’s transition to a circular fashion system. And through policy engagement, GFA proactively advocates for policy changes and supportive measures that reinforce sustainability targets, establish circular systems and incentivise necessary change.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced fashion – a resource-intensive industry and a powerful engine for global growth and job creation – to undergo a dramatic transformation that is playing out in real time. As our industry begins to recover, we must be ambitious in rebuilding a better new normal. We at Global Fashion Agenda, in turn, have set out to do the same: to build a new digital platform for fashion brands and retailers to connect with innovators, for creatives to integrate sustainable practices into their design thinking, and for the industry to interact and share knowledge at-large.

Stay tuned for more to come as we build a new, digital frontier.