How does the fashion industry justify 15 years of Global Fashion Summit?

“We can’t go on talking about this topic for another 15 years,” was undoubtedly the most frequently uttered phrase at the latest edition of the Global Fashion Summit (GFS). Yet that is mainly what the sustainable fashion gathering is: a place for fashion professionals from the top of the industry to engage in the conversation about sustainability, and not – as they secretly hope anyway – to find ready-made answers to complex issues. Meanwhile, the sector’s circular transition is faltering; progress looks like a neck-and-neck race between successful and stranded initiatives. What is GFS’s stake?

“Global Fashion Agenda [GFA; the organisation behind GFS] believes that education is a fundamental tool to move the industry forward,” said GFA’s head of content Faith Robinson. “The Summit is designed as a knowledge platform so that participants feel inspired and equipped for their sustainability journey. We tailor the content to specific stakeholders, such as policymakers. With them in mind, we launched the Global Textile Policy Forum, a platform for governments and industry associations worldwide to set policy frameworks for the textile transition and disseminate the EU Textiles Strategy outside the EU. For creative directors, we organised Designer Challenges, where they could collaborate with sustainable innovators.” Besides panels and presentations, the summit programme includes “action stages” with highlighted case studies, innovation booths with new materials and an investment programme – a big expansion since its inauguration in 2009, when the event was still called Copenhagen Fashion Summit.

Little yet important news

Laerke Skyum, founder of the Ayni brand, was among the attendees for this edition after attending back in 2019, when she saw little novelty in topics and speakers. “I often thought: this is not very valuable, and there was even room for a bit of greenwashing. On the other hand, we get nowhere without a platform to come together, debate in order to provoke reactions, and most importantly – to stay up to date. We are constantly learning as an industry and what seems like a good idea today may look very different tomorrow. I believe that coming together ultimately produces results, but you only see it in the medium to long term. Take the regulations that are now popping up everywhere – their creators have also taken inspiration from platforms like GFS.”

Skyum experienced the Summit’s development through close contact with GFS founder Eva Kruse, now engagement officer at Pangaia, who gave a negatively-voiced speech on the big stage at the 15th edition – disappointed by the slow progress she wanted her Summit to address. While the ‘why’ and ‘what’ have become clear (“the language has come of age”), behind the ‘how’ and ‘when’ there are still the same question marks. Skyum stressed her respect for Kruse and GFA’s search as an organisation for the right balance in that mood, with outliers towards corporate leadership on the one hand and activism on the other. Edition 2022 featured one such moment that has stayed with her, when a moved Or Foundation representative spoke on stage about Shein’s 50 million dollar investment in a sustainable project. Not only did it look like a sponsorship in disguise, the communication style created an uproar. “A third of the room got up and left, because GFS is not a platform for this type of leadership,” said Skyum.

Hard core

As dynamic as the developments of sustainable fashion are, the hard core of visitors to GFS is stable – in 2023, there were about a thousand of them. Major fashion companies like Bestseller, H&M Group, Kering and Target are standard attendees, complemented by innovation and logistics companies, policymakers, knowledge institutes and human rights organisations. They don’t send the typical communications officer with trainees, but “decision makers” who have the authority to prioritise sustainability – GFA calls it “agenda-setting”. This is reflected in keynotes on leadership and vision. Besides the common sustainability agenda, they also keep their own agendas.

The idea that GFS, with its high-end representation, is not for everyone, Kruse does not think is an unwise perspective, but she misses the “push” from the organisation to network more with strangers. “It would be nice if newcomers and small companies were more involved through social events or workshops, as I have seen at other summits. The matchmaking platform is good [in 2023, 400 meetings were organised and GFA received feedback on fruitful collaborations], but only pairs brands with innovation companies. Panels are mostly one-way traffic.”

Differing expectations

Conversations between FashionUnited and visitors reflect how widely expectations of the summit vary. Kateryna Burianova, Remake volunteer and sustainable fashion retailer, said, for example: “I find knowledge here that I have also integrated into my work, but I see the summit more as a place to broaden your perspective than to find hands-on advice. A memorable moment was an impressive presentation by activists from Ghana, who highlighted the challenges around waste management. That evoked in me a sense of empathy and need for action.”

A senior expert in sustainable textiles who contacted FashionUnited beforehand presented a different view. She decided to stay home after four visits, noting: “With hope I went to Copenhagen in the early years, but soon I noticed that the sponsor decides. Critical sessions are not that; everyone agrees with each other. Networking is different, but it is fleeting. We know each other. And yet I am glad GFS is here. It is the only summit in Europe that focuses solely on fashion and sustainable steps.”

Representation problem

GFA keeps an eye on those themes, and an interview with the organisation reveals a strong motivation to help the sector accelerate the transition. Thus, the feeling that producers were not getting enough attention was answered with a long list of panels to represent their views at the 15th edition [including “Scaling Tier 4 Best Practice” and “Building Circular Systems For India.”]. Themes became more mature and delineated in recent years, to push for depth and concrete solutions. The bigger problem is the face of the summit: surely it is mainly the global North, with outliers from Southeast Asia, Africa or Latin America, who in reality represent most of the chain. They have to account for the “global” in GFS.

GFA is aware of this issue. Robinson noted: “We work hard to improve the representation of producers and garment workers at our events. Besides the various Summit editions, GFA is also driving programmes to improve the recycling infrastructure in Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia.” As an example, she cites the 100 million dollar investment by fashion companies and GFA partners in the first scaled offshore utility-scale wind project off Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, “initiated by the GFA Assembly meeting at the 2022 Summit. We expect a substantial increase in jobs, stabilisation of energy, and an annual reduction in emissions by 725,000 tonnes.” Another concrete example is the Global Circular Fashion Forum, a post-consumer recycling initiative through which GFA and partners collected and sorted 10.6 million kilograms of textile waste in Bangladesh since November 2023.

Between progressive and positive

The Summit audience is unanimous on the urgency of transitioning the fashion sector. Yet the tone of the conversation is professionally regulated by the organisation: not too progressive. Emma Hakansson, who positions herself on the activist side of the spectrum with her charitable organisation Collective Fashion Justice, understands. “For me, it could be more radical and “pushy”, but it is difficult to get all these people in one room. That’s where compromises have to be made.” After counting the number of times animals were mentioned last year, which only came to a meagre six, she stepped up to GFA CEO Federica Marchionni [since 2021] with a pitch on the importance of animal materials in the carbon debate. She was invited to deliver that story in front of an audience during edition 15 – an example illustrating that GFA is indeed doing something with feedback. “In this building [DR Koncerthuset] run a lot of people with power in the industry. For someone like me with a small charity, this is a great platform.” She noted that attendees are far from agreeing on exactly what needs to change about the fashion system, something once again to do with own agendas. “Those conversations also take place during the Summit – off-stage – and that’s incredibly important,” she explained.

Many visitors struggle with the light-hearted atmosphere at the Summit, in the context of natural disasters and human rights violations, but there is also added value in ensuring a positive, collaborative mood. Designer Cecilie Bahnsen talks enthusiastically about the 2019 summit, during which Nike organised a workshop with smaller sustainable fashion brands and designers to discuss and demonstrate sustainable material use and upcycling. “For me, that was very connective, because our shared obstacles were made discussable. As a designer, you sometimes tend to do everything alone, instead of being open to the fact that you can do much more together.” During the 15th edition, she sat on a panel herself for the first time. “I am proud to be sitting next to the Eileen Fisher team today because I find the way they think about circularity and how they have always communicated about it inspiring. That is also what the Summit is about: having the courage to go up to someone you admire and ask: how did you approach it?”

Discomfort over money

The business-like nature of GFS sometimes overshoots the mission. Speakers are also sponsors, honest questions are not always asked and answers regularly sound like a sales pitch. Attendees often already have illustrious careers behind them. The ticket price further signals the target audience. It starts at 450 euros excluding VAT for benevolent students and peaks at 1,620 euros for premium ticket holders. Only they get access to exclusive roundtables, where vague themes become concrete and dilemmas are discussed with less fuss. These financial choices call into question GFA’s mission to be a “leading forum [public place to exchange ideas] for sustainability in fashion”. It produces uneasy feelings among visitors. “During the Summit, one comment that I found rather “off” was dropped: we need money. Go have a go at the CEOs. There is an awful lot of money, especially in the luxury market,” said a service provider in blockchain technology.

Network value

It would be naive to expect that the only major sustainability meeting for fashion professionals is simply about impact and that two filled programme days can solve their shared challenges. Conferences of the same calibre as GFS are also there for a piece of leadership recognition, keeping relationships warm, chasing prospects, generating leads, and – not least with sustainability as a complex theme – to inspire.

Heidi Van Dyck, CEO of data startup Athena Studio, said: “I have generally become quite sceptical of sustainability conferences, as it often boils down to a listing of brands’ published ESG strategies, too little focus on the real challenges and a lack of supplier representation. I come here not for the panels or break-out sessions, but for the networking value. Compared to other conferences, I met an unparalleled group of potential customers and partners [technology providers, NGOs] at the summit. They also come back again, so you can create new opportunities through warm introductions.”

At the same time, you can expect a high-profile event full of C-suite representatives and senior experts to produce identifiable results that accelerate organisations’ sustainable journey every year: a new collaboration, pilot, an investment. Lydia Brearley, consultant and owner of the Sustainable Fashion School, noted: “The message of this edition was powerful and I felt its resonance in the room: it will cost the industry more if we don’t act than if we do. Although everyone listened with that ready-to-go attitude, it was also palpable that we talk too much. We don’t need more innovations. We need to help commercialise them now.” For that, parties need to go through pilots together and make risky investments. And that doesn’t happen at the Summit.

This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.NL. Translation and edit by: Rachel Douglass.