Meet the 2025 Next Gen Assembly

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Global Fashion Agenda’s Next Gen Assembly, in partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Fashion’s Fashion Values programme and supported by Target, amplifies and empowers the voices of talented students and young professionals dedicated to driving impact and championing the next generation of fashion practitioners and leaders.

 

We are delighted to reveal the eight Members that will form the 2025 Next Gen Assembly.

 

The 2025 cohort will be exploring the theme, ‘How Can Fashion Value the Rights of Nature?’ The theme will engage the Members with the fundamental life forces—air, water, soil, and biodiversity—that sustain both the planet and the materials that shape fashion. Rather than treating nature as a resource to extract from, the theme aims to reimagine fashion’s role in protecting, restoring, and regenerating natural systems. Considering the value of nature not only in economic terms but also in emotional, cultural, political, social, aesthetic, and technical ways, the theme asks: how can fashion evolve to exist in true reciprocity with the natural world?

These remarkable students and young professionals will be supported in developing advocacy and communications skills to foster their development as sustainability changemakers through a year-long programme, during which they will:

Amongst other activities throughout the year.

    Bronte Contador-Kelsall

    Strategic Designer & Graduate, MA, Design, University of New South Wales

    Bronte Contador-Kelsall is an interdisciplinary designer and strategist dedicated to driving positive social change. With a background in political science and design, she combines curiosity, analytical rigor, and creative problem-solving to investigate complex, interconnected challenges. Contador-Kelsall views design as a powerful tool for systemic transformation and is passionate about fostering collaboration among diverse stakeholders to tackle pressing issues - particularly within the fashion industry. She values building meaningful relationships and embraces learning and experimental approaches to drive innovation. Her experience spans the not-for-profit, education, private, and public sectors. Most recently, Contador-Kelsall has worked as a consultant, using co-design, strategic communication, and collaborative practices to drive transformation in the public sector.

    Elise Giselle Dauterive

    Student, Master of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara

    Elise Giselle Dauterive is a master's student in Environmental Science and Management specialising in Business and Sustainability. She has a background in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with a focus on plant sciences, and worked in native California plant protection for almost 2 years. Combining her scientific expertise with her life-long interest in fashion, Dauterive is focused on tackling textile waste through corporate sustainability initiatives and environmental policy. Her work explores circular economy solutions, material innovation, and waste management strategies to reduce the industry's environmental impact.

    Maya Caine

    Student, Master of Environmental Management, Yale School of the Environment

    Maya Caine is a Master of Environmental Science candidate at the Yale School of the Environment, specializing in Industrial Ecology and Green Chemistry. With a background in corporate strategy, she has spent the past seven years building slow and circular fashion solutions. Caine co-founded Mive, a made-to-measure slow fashion marketplace, which later evolved into Mive Labs, a design consultancy advancing the circular fashion economy in her hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Currently, she is developing Helix, a circular fashion marketplace that traces the human memories and movement of garments with the mission of extending the life of pre-owned clothing.

    Mel Corchado

    Designer, Artist, & Founder, Master of Fashion Design and Society, Parsons School of Design

    Mel Corchado started designing clothes before she could even string together a full sentence. As Corchado pursued a career in fashion, she wrestled with how to reconcile her artistic and professional ambitions with an industry built on exploitation. A Brooklyn-based Boricua fashion designer, Corchado explores how fashion can challenge dominant narratives and shift consciousness in service of decolonisation. Her research-driven practice builds alternatives to the fashion industrial complex through participatory methods like upcycling, skill-sharing, and relationship-building. Rooted in collaboration, care, and transformation, Corchado uses fashion as a vehicle for political education and social connection.

    Rory Frost

    Student, Master of International Relations, King’s College London / Sciences Po Paris

    Rory Frost is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in International Relations at both King's College London and Sciences Po Paris. His research focuses on Environmental Policy and Global Governance, with a keen insight for exploring the links between political behaviour and climate change. Alongside his background in international affairs, Frost is an active sustainability advocate within the fashion industry. Falling in love with fashion through modelling and professional experience in the UK and abroad, he is especially interested in how nature inspires all forms of fashion from couture shows to our everyday wear. Frost has gained valuable experience within key aspects of the industry including communications and project management. He is determined to amplify his voice and platform to inspire real change in an industry that he is truly passionate about.

    Sanya Singh

    Creative Strategist at Schbang, Bachelor of Mass Communication & Media Studies, Symbiosis Centre for Media & Communication (SCMC)

    Sanya Singh has always believed in the power of a well-told story. She first witnessed its impact in second grade, when a classmate shared that he prevented workers from cutting down a century-old banyan tree—by quoting words from a speech Sanya had delivered. That moment shaped everything that followed. As a Creative Strategist with a strong background in mass communication, Singh uses storytelling to drive change. She’s explored how advertising influences behavior, from environmental campaigns to branding strategies. Her heart lies in fashion—not just as an industry but as a narrative woven through culture, identity, and sustainability. Singh has traveled across India, tracing the journey of textiles from artisan workshops to factory floors, seeing the beauty and the consequences of fashion's footprint. She wants to reshape these stories, creating campaigns that shift mindsets, inspire action, and make sustainability more than a buzzword. Because if words can save one tree, imagine what they can do for an entire industry.

    Thu Le

    Creative Director, XAVAN Inc.

    Thu Le is an expert, public speaker, and educator of sustainable fashion, and the Vietnamese representative of Redress – an environmental NGO on a mission to accelerate the transition to a circular fashion industry. From 2021 to 2024, Le founded and operated her sustainable menswear label, and showcased her collections in Hong Kong FW and Shenzhen FW. Her scope of work extends beyond sustainable fashion: in 2024, Lecofounded XAVAN Inc. - a design & communication consulting firm focusing on Vietnamese local systems and resources. Heading for lasting changes, XAVAN Inc. explores, connects, and facilitates Vietnam’s incredible wealth in culture and people.

    Vibhuti Amin

    Student, Master of Material Futures, Central Saint Martins

    Vibhuti Amin is an MA Material Futures student at Central Saint Martins, where she explores material innovation and biodesign for a sustainable future. In 2024, she graduated from Boston University as a Trustee Scholar with a Bachelor's in Chemistry with Honors and a minor in Visual Arts. With her interdisciplinary background in science and design, Amin explores how innovative materials and technologies can drive regenerative solutions for fashion. Through the Women@Dior and UNESCO program, her initiative, Recycle Rani, aims to combat climate change colonialism by improving recycling infrastructure and empowering female workers in Panipat, India. Amin’s current work focuses on climate adaptation, exploring biomaterials that support resilient futures in disproportionately affected communities. She is passionate about bridging grassroots action with systemic change and is committed to challenging extractive practices, drawing from nature’s cyclical systems to foster a circular, equitable fashion ecosystem.

Find out more about the Next Gen Assembly programme here.

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