Thursday 9 June: Hosted in the grand setting of the Royal Opera House, Copenhagen, on 7-8 June, the event convened over 900 leaders from brands, retailers, NGOs, policy, manufacturers, and innovators to drive urgent action. The Summit was presented by Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), the non-profit organisation that is accelerating the transition to a net positive fashion industry, under the patronage of HRH The Crown Princess of Denmark.

The Summit was centred around the theme ‘Alliances for a New Era’. Under the theme, the event brought together leaders to foster pre-competitive collaboration within the fashion industry and examined atypical cross-industry alliances, in a bid to accelerate the transition to a net positive industry.

The programme content was the boldest yet and focused on challenging topics and honest discussions with more diverse voices. The programme covered topics from ‘What even is a sustainable brand?’ to ‘subverting fashion’s historical exclusion’, to ‘supercharged storytelling’ to the ‘metaverse impact and decentralised futures’.

Speakers

Attendees heard from over 100 speakers including HRH The Crown Princess of Denmark; Marie-Claire Daveu, Chief Sustainability & institutional Affairs Officer, Kering ; Leo Rongone, CEO, Bottega Veneta; Thierry Andretta, CEO, Mulberry; Lily Cole, Author & Podcaster on climate solutions and Advisor for UNECE; Nicolaj Reffstrup, Founder, GANNI; Maximillian Bittner, CEO, Vestiaire Collective; Paul Polmon, Co-Author, Net Positive; Bobby Kolade, Fashion Designer; Halide Alagöz, Chief Product Officer, Ralph Lauren Corporation; Aditi Mayer, Sustainable fashion blogger and labor rights activist; Lindita Xhaferi Salihu, Fashion Charter Lead, UNFCCC; and many more. View all speakers.

Federica Marchionni, CEO, Global Fashion Agenda, says: “Fashion is about change, you can let it happen, or you can make it happen. The Summit sparked many very promising alliances and we saw key stakeholders announce a flood of encouraging sustainability improvements. There has been so much knowledge shared and attendees now need to take what they have learned and share it with others, and – most importantly – implement it, diligently.”

Key Outcomes

Leading brands, retailers and organisations unveiled new alliances and initiatives:

Multiple companies chose to announce their latest sustainability measures at the landmark event.

Highlights include:

• GFA published The GFA Monitor – a new report to guide fashion leaders towards a net positive fashion industry. It presents consolidated guidance according to five core sustainability priorities. Building alliances through shared industry knowledge, each priority includes expert insights from GFA’s Data Partner, Higg, and its Impact Partners including: Fair Labor Association (FLA), the Social & Labor Convergence Program (SLCP), Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Apparel Impact Institute, and Textile Exchange.

Innovation Forum

This year’s Summit also presented an Innovation Forum, enabling small and large companies to meet with 24 sustainable solution providers – equipping them with the tools to turn words into meaningful actions. More than 300 facilitated business meetings between fashion companies and sustainable solution providers took place during the two days of the Summit.

Side Events

Going beyond the Royal Opera House, the Summit facilitated connections through stimulating side events. We kicked off the Summit activities with a GFA Monitor Masterclass, which explored the underlying insights behind our latest report. We also held a Welcome Reception at Villa Copenhagen, co-hosted by our Strategic Partner, Ralph Lauren. The Summit Dinner, co-hosted by Henkel, took place at Hotel Skt. Petri, and provided unique socialising and networking opportunities for attendees. Summit activities were rounded off with a Celebration Dinner at Langelinie Pavillonen, which was co-hosted by Kering.