2022 Reflections and Seasons Greetings
Dear GFA Community,
As we usher in 2023, I want to take a moment to extend my warmest wishes for the new year and to thank you for your unwavering support throughout 2022. It is thanks to your dedication and commitment to our cause that we have continued to build a thriving and global GFA community.
2022 marked a pivotal year for GFA; we hosted our Summit outside of Copenhagen for the first time in its 13-year history, announced landmark alliances and partnerships, launched new impact programmes and published collaborative reports.
Amidst GFA’s breakthrough announcements and developments, 2022 was undeniably also shadowed by extreme weather events, uncertain economic landscapes, geopolitical strife, and both environmental and social challenges. These adversities exemplified the need for GFA to keep working towards its mission of a net-positive fashion industry, that gives back more to the natural world, people and societies and the economy than it takes out. Every industry is navigating the repercussions of such turbulent times, but it is imperative that we remain strong-minded and united in our ambitions for a better future.
As we look ahead to 2023, I want to emphasise that the changes you now make, individually or collectively, can have impact well beyond the fashion industry. Let’s lead by example and inspire other industries by demonstrating the many opportunities that can be created when we steer our impact strategies with a net-positive mindset and collaborate with actors across the value cycle.
I wish you all a wonderful festive period full of gratitude and hope. We very much look forward to continuing to inspire, educate and mobilise the industry in 2023 to generate even greater impact.
Best wishes,
Federica Marchionni, CEO
Read our latest article exploring what happened in the fashion industry in 2022 here.
Copenhagen Edition
Hosted in the grand setting of the Royal Opera House, Copenhagen, on 7-8 June, the event convened over 900 leaders to drive urgent action.
Attendees heard from over 100 speakers including HRH The Crown Princess of Denmark and representatives from Kering, Bottega Veneta, GANNI, UNFCCC, Vestiaire Collective and many more.
Multiple companies chose to announce their latest sustainability measures at the landmark event including Ralph Lauren Corporation, Apparel Impact Institute, Fashion Revolution, Mulberry and more.
Ticketholders had the opportunity to meet with 24 in-person and 51 digital Innovation Forum exhibitors. Over 450 business meetings between fashion companies and sustainable solution providers were facilitated.
Read more here and relive the content in our on-demand library here.
Singapore Edition
Building on the learnings from Copenhagen, on 3 November, Global Fashion Summit assembled over 300 stakeholders representing manufacturers, garment workers, retailers, brands, suppliers, NGOs, policy, and innovators in Singapore and online to spur industry impact.
Attendees heard from over 50 speakers including representatives from PUMA, Zalando, StandUp Lanka, Singapore Fashion Council and many more.
The Summit’s first international edition facilitated even more conversations with manufacturer and supply chain voices to discuss crucial challenges and opportunities around working collaboratively with brands on equal terms.
Ticketholders had the opportunity to meet with 7 in-person Innovation Forum exhibitors.
Read more here and relive the content in our on-demand library here.
The Fashion Industry Target Consultation
Formally announced at COP27, GFA and its new partner; the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), launched the Fashion Industry Target Consultation (FITC)- seeking public input on cohesive and measurable fashion industry impact targets according to the five priorities of the Fashion CEO Agenda.
The consultation’s official survey is now open until February 2023 for feedback. A series of five online regional workshops co-hosted by GFA and UNEP will also run between January and February 2023 in Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, Latin America & the Caribbean, and West Asia for regional participation.
We invite you to take part in the consultation. Find out more and how to participate here.
The GFA Monitor
This year saw the unveiling of The GFA Monitor – a new resource designed to guide fashion leaders towards a net positive fashion industry by 2050. It presents consolidated guidance according to the five core sustainability priorities of the Fashion CEO Agenda.
Building alliances through shared industry knowledge, over 30 partners and organisations were consulted to form a cohesive resource that presents expert insights on the status of the industry, available solutions, clear actions, case studies, and proven best practices. Higg also partnered with GFA to present aggregated performance data across the five sustainability priority areas.
Download The GFA Monitor here.
The Global Circular Fashion Forum
GFA launched the Global Circular Fashion Forum (GCFF), a global initiative, supported by GIZ, to spur local action in textile manufacturing countries to accelerate and scale recycling of post-industrial textile waste. The GCFF will bring together circularity programmes from different organisers to exchange knowledge, pool efforts and share best practices across regions and moreover produce a blueprint to replicate upstream circularity initiatives. It will launch in Viet Nam and Cambodia in 2023 through 2024.
Find out more about the GCFF here.
The Circular Fashion Partnership
The GCFF builds on the Circular Fashion Partnership (CFP) in Bangladesh which facilitates circular commercial collaborations between textile and garment manufacturers, recyclers and fashion brands. Bestseller, Benetton, Teddy Group, H&M Group, Usha Yarns, C&A, Inditex, Kmart, Peak Performance, Cyclo, OVS and Primark are supporting partners that are actively engaged in the Circular Fashion Partnership.
This year, technology partner, Reverse Resources, tracked 6,910,155 kg of textile waste segregated and collected from manufacturers to recycling solutions and onboarded 81 manufacturers to its platform in Bangladesh.
GFA worked to establish funding from UNIDO Switch to Circular Economy Value Chains to continue activities in Bangladesh through 2025.
Find out more about the CFP here.
COP27
GFA worked to place fashion firmly on the COP27 agenda during the conference in Sharm El Sheikh.
To mark the launch of the FITC, GFA and UNEP facilitated two events at COP27 speaking to the importance of holistic, inclusive industry targets to establish an industry-aligned route of travel towards net-positive for both people and planet.
GFA also hosted an event discussing the alliances to decarbonise the fashion value chain. This event built on GFA’s research into cross-sectoral collective action opportunities to finance the increase of renewable energy in manufacturing countries.
Continuing GFA’s partnership with UN Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC), Federica Marchionni also contributed to UNFCCC’s Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action event.
Read more about GFA’s activities at COP27 here.
Policy
Following the launch of the EU Textiles Strategy, our CEO, Federica Marchionni and our Public Affairs Director, Maria Luisa Martinez Diez, took part in two high-level roundtables hosted by the European Commissioner in charge of the Environment Virginijus Sinkevičius. Both the Global Fashion Summits in Copenhagen and Singapore have given increased attention to policy and the forthcoming EU Textiles Strategy – with a total of four dynamic policy segments.
Additionally, GFA joined the European Fashion Alliance in June of 2022 as well as the EU Pact for skills. When it comes to the Policy Hub-Circularity for Apparel and Footwear, we lead two EPR roundtables as well as a transparency media masterclass. This was also done alongside a daily follow up, analysis and advocacy actions around seven policy work streams.
New Alliances & Partnerships
In March, GFA forged a new alliance with UN Climate Change secretariat (UNFCCC) to accelerate the fashion industry’s climate action, which was activated around the organisations’ prestigious forums including GFA’s Global Fashion Summit and the UNFCCC’s annual Fashion Charter meeting and Conference of Parties (COP). Read more about the alliance here.
At Global Fashion Summit: Singapore Edition, Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) announced a new partnership with BBC Storyworks Commercial Productions to launch a new branded film series on social and environmental sustainability in the fashion industry, which will be released to a wide audience on a dedicated BBC.com microsite in 2023. Members of the GFA network are invited to share their stories for potential inclusion in this commercial series. Read more about the project here.
Building further alliances, GFA partnered with Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) to host the SAC Annual Meeting and Global Fashion Summit back-to-back in Singapore in order to complement each organizations strengths, build greater synergy and ensure a more compelling experience for attendees to accelerate greater impact. Read more about the alliance here.
This year, GFA was also delighted to be an official Nominator for the 2022 Earthshot Prize, the most prestigious and ambitious global environment prize in history, designed to incentivise change and aid in the repair of our planet over the next ten years. Explore the winners here.
Furthermore, GFA welcomed three new Associate Partners: Neiman Marcus Group, PUMA, and Vestiaire Collective; a new Data Partner: Higg; five new impact partners: Fair Labor Association, the Social & Labor Convergence Program, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Apparel Impact Institute, and Textile Exchange, and a Summit Media Partner: FT Live.
Explore all of our partners here.
Throughout the year, Global Fashion Agenda has paid close attention to industry developments, noteworthy days and core themes.
To learn more about these explore our latest news page here.
Learn more about members of Global Fashion Agenda’s Innovation Forum paving the way for industry-wide transformation across the five priorities of the GFA Monitor.
As we observe Earth Day on April 22, it is crucial to acknowledge the significant impact of the fashion industry on our planet.
Prevailing trend categories have always existed, but historically these notions defined decades as opposed to a singular week on social media. We are now in the era of micro trends.
