Global Fashion Agenda and Chalhoub Group Partner to Accelerate Fashion’s Global Sustainability Transformation

September 03, 2026

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Global Fashion Agenda and Chalhoub Group are collaborating to accelerate impact across the fashion value chain. Announced during Global Fashion Summit: Copenhagen Edition 2026, the new partnership will see Chalhoub Group – the leading luxury retailer in the Middle East – join GFA as an Associate Partner.

 

Federica Marchionni ● Chief Executive Officer
"The Gulf region is no longer on the periphery of fashion’s transformation: it is at its centre. Chalhoub Group has earned the trust of this market over seventy years, across some of the world’s most complex value chains and most discerning consumers. That is not just a credential. That is leverage. And combining that leverage with GFA’s global ecosystem of leaders, policymakers, and innovators, built over fifteen years of turning insight into collective action, is how we move from ambition to measurable, systemic change."

Through the partnership, Chalhoub Group will contribute its regional perspective, luxury expertise and experience navigating complex value chains to GFA’s global ecosystem of brands, manufacturers, innovators and policymakers. By convening stakeholders across the industry through thought leadership, impact programmes and forums such as Global Fashion Summit, GFA works to turn insight into collective action on the environmental and social challenges no single organisation can solve alone.

 

As sustainability efforts across fashion and luxury continue to evolve, attention is increasingly shifting beyond direct operations and towards value chains, where a significant share of environmental impacts occur. Addressing these impacts requires greater collaboration across suppliers, partners, and wider business ecosystems, making collective action increasingly important.

 

This focus is reflected in Chalhoub Group’s recently launched Planet FWD, a strategic environmental platform introduced as part of the Group’s Sustainability Report 2025.

 

Florence Bulté ● Chief Sustainability Officer, Chalhoub Group
"In a context marked by rapid transformation and increasing complexity, sustainability is becoming an essential driver of long-term resilience, responsible leadership, and business evolution. At Chalhoub Group, we see sustainability not as a standalone initiative, but as a collective and continuous effort that must be embedded into governance, decision-making, and everyday operations across the organisation.
Our Sustainability Report 2025 reflects the progress achieved over the past year across governance, human rights, and climate action. In 2025, the Group continued strengthening ESG integration across the business while advancing key initiatives to reinforce responsible business practices across our operations and value chain. Most notably, the launch of Planet FWD marked a significant acceleration of our decarbonisation journey, focused on closing the gap toward our Science Based Targets initiative-aligned 2032 carbon reduction targets in line with our Net Zero 2040 roadmap.
As we move forward, we remain committed to accelerating measurable progress while strengthening collaboration across our ecosystem. Partnerships such as our engagement with Global Fashion Agenda play an important role in fostering dialogue, sharing knowledge, and advancing collective action towards a more sustainable future for our industry."

Designed to accelerate progress on decarbonisation, circularity, and nature-positive impact, Planet FWD aims to strengthen environmental action across Chalhoub Group’s value chain through three interconnected pillars: Net-Zero FWD, Circularity FWD, and Nature FWD.

 

Together, the three pillars provide a framework for embedding environmental action across the Group’s operations and wider value chain. Through Planet FWD, Chalhoub Group aims to advance its Net Zero 2040 ambition, strengthen circular business practices, and support nature-positive outcomes, while deepening collaboration across its supplier and partner ecosystem.

 

Chalhoub joins GFA’s established partner network alongside organisations spanning luxury, retail and e-commerce, committed to advancing collective action on the industry’s most pressing environmental and social challenges. Bringing more than seven decades of experience and a unique perspective from the Middle East’s dynamic luxury landscape, the Group will contribute insights that help shape more resilient and inclusive approaches to transformation.

 

The partnership was announced during the session Building the Future: From Leadership to Legacy, where Federica Marchionni, CEO of Global Fashion Agenda, and Patrick Chalhoub, Executive Chairman of Chalhoub Group, explored how responsible, partnership-led growth can help build long-term value in an increasingly complex global landscape.

View the full discussion here.

Learn more about Chalhoub Group’s Sustainability Report 2025 and Planet FWD here.

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