Words from Federica Marchionni, CEO, Global Fashion Agenda and Amina Razvi, CEO, Sustainable Apparel Coalition:

In the coming weeks, apparel and footwear stakeholders across the globe will be convening at landmark events including the SAC Annual Meeting, Global Fashion Summit, COP27, G20 Leaders’ Summit, and the Textile Exchange Conference, to act on the urgent social and environmental challenges we face today and in the future. All eyes will be on the outcomes from the upcoming events and we, as leaders, have a responsibility to ensure that our forums facilitate concrete action and impact fast.

The fashion industry is advancing towards a more sustainable, more inclusive, and more resilient future, but the current efforts will not suffice to align the industry with the target to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees in alignment with the Paris Agreement and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals laid out by the United Nations. But it’s not too late. If we act together, we can transform bold commitments into decisive actions, and rigorous follow-through.

As CEO’s of organisations committed to leading industry transformation, we have a shared vision of sustainability. SAC envisions a consumer goods industry that gives more than it takes – to the planet and people, while GFA strives for a net positive industry for people and the planet. Both organizations work towards collective action on common goals. 

We know that the efforts required to transform the industry exceed the power of any individual agent or company. Apparel stakeholders must work towards a new pre-competitive and cooperative approach focused on demonstrable change at all stages of the value cycle. 

That’s why we’ve chosen to host the SAC Annual Meeting and Global Fashion Summit back-to-back in Singapore, as we believe that by connecting our events, we can compliment each organizations strengths, build greater synergy and ensure a more compelling experience for attendees to accelerate greater impact. 

But why Singapore? We appreciate the strategic role that the APAC region plays in driving and sustaining the apparel and footwear industry. Moreover, we need to highlight the vital role that manufacturers and suppliers play in our shared success. Our programmes will represent even more manufacturer and supply chain partner voices in order to form a deeper understanding of sustainability challenges, differences, and opportunities to collaborate across the value chain towards common goals. 

Across the three days, we will address important topics such as decarbonisation, wage systems, circularity, and materials. Together, we will also explore the use, definition, and future of data, and discuss how to close the data gaps that currently exist in the industry to support meaningful progress.

By working together to create complementary programmes, we can build on conversations during the SAC Annual Meeting and delve deeper during Global Fashion Summit. We also appreciate the practical value of our partnership for attendees. Not only does it avoid the travel emissions that would have been caused if the events were in separate locations, but it is also an efficient use of attendees’ time and resources – allowing more time for discussion, collaboration and acceleration of necessary actions.

Our activities in Singapore mark the start of a constructive alliance that we will continue to build upon in 2023 and beyond. We hope to combine our leadership experience and knowledge to accelerate industry transformation, and plan to collaborate around key impact initiatives and forums in the coming months. Our next stop following the Summit will be COP27 where we will continue to collaborate to maximise our impact.

We are positive that November 2022 will be a momentous month for the industry, and we look forward to sharing reflections and outcomes from the events as they unfold.

In-person and online ticket packages are available for SAC Annual Meeting (1-2 November 2022) and Global Fashion Summit: Singapore Edition (3 November 2022).