As the fashion industry faces the urgent need to redefine its values and practices, the 2024 Next Gen Assembly brings together voices from across the globe to explore, promote, and communicate diverse economic values and alternative models for the fashion ecosystem under the theme of ‘Economies of Wellbeing’.
This playbook introduces the Wellbeing Spiral, a unique framework that emphasises the iterative and deeply personal nature of systemic transformation. By centring the interconnected stages of Unlearning and Relearning, Ideating, and Shifting, the spiral provides actionable pathways for individuals and organisations that advocate for climate, social, and racial justice in both global and local contexts.
Next Gen Assembly is an impactful advocacy programme for talented students and early-career professionals, led by Global Fashion Agenda and the Centre for Sustainable Fashion‘s Fashion Values programme.
Hannah Lauren Riley is a sustainability-focused fashion practitioner, designer and researcher. She graduated with a Distinction in the MA Fashion Futures Course at the London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, in 2024. Riley is fascinated by clothing's ability to tell stories and aim to explore how these stories can connect us to our personal fashion practices and the wider story of Fashion to foster sustainable fashion engagement. Her work exudes joy and imagination while being underpinned by meaningful messages that challenge prevailing paradigms and engage audiences in provocative ways. In Riley's practice, she works with young people to interrogate Fashion, exploring alternative and speculative Fashion scenarios and engagement. Her designs, whether tangible fashion and textile explorations or playful fashion pedagogies, wish to provoke and inspire the wearer or player, challenging in them pre-conceived beliefs and evoke emotion when worn or played. Riley graduated with a BA with First-Class Honours, in Fashion and Textiles Design from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), in 2020. She was awarded a sponsorship with Liberty of London for her Honours collection in 2020, was a nominee for the Australian Fashion Design Graduate of the Year Awards (GOYA) in 2021 and was a finalist for the Carla Zampatti Foundation Design Award in 2022.
Tanya Singh is an economics graduate based in Bangalore, India, currently working as a Growth Associate at Good Business Lab. In her role, she focuses on scaling up our worker wellbeing tools and raising awareness about our solutions. This work has given Singh valuable insights into diverse perspectives and challenges within the realm of social sustainability. She is passionate about driving awareness around these complexities and advocating for the development of more nuanced solutions.
Priydarshini Gouthi is a Ventures Associate at Good Business Lab, a research and innovation organization, where she works to scale evidence-based worker wellbeing solutions to help meet social sustainability goals in the apparel and textile industry. Gouthi has previously worked in investment banking and is an alumnus of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business where she majored in finance and psychology. An avid reader, Gouthi is always on the lookout for learning more about different ideas whether in fashion, business or something else entirely like how AI and related innovations can be harnessed for impact. She enjoys exploring new cafes, conversations and cups of coffee.
During Maisie Porter's time studying Geography at the University of Manchester, she became engrossed by the fashion supply chains that cut across the world, and the systems that maintain them. Porter began exploring understandings of value within the fashion industry and how it perpetuates exploitative feedback cycles. Following graduation, she jumped right into the world of fashion sustainability and ethical trade, and since then she has had the opportunity to witness the intricacies of the industry up close. Engaging with the garment supply chain and gaining practical experience has underscored her feelings of passion and urgency surrounding the way we must reimagine our approach to fashion.
Harry Wine is currently working in the textile technology sector to provide solutions for brands to reduce their Scope 3 emissions. He has an academic background in engineering and MSc focussing on engineering interventions in an international development context, carrying out community-driven development projects to prioritise positive socio-economic and environmental impact. Wine was drawn to working in the fashion sector due to the large scope for positive change globally.
Joy Obiageri Dimgbah is a fashion entrepreneur and advocate, with over a year of practical experience in the industry. She participated in the Africa Young Fashion Leader Fellowship (AYFL) 2023, hosted by the Council for International and African Fashion Education (CIAFE) where she developed skills in fashion research, writing, and media. Dimgbah holds a BSc in Computer Science from Institut régional Supérieur des Beaux-Arts de la Culture et de la Communication(Irsbaccom University) and a mini MBA certi2cate in Professional Executive Development in Entrepreneurship from the International School of Management (ISM) Lagos. Her expertise includes digital marketing, project management, and personal branding, which she incorporates into her work. As the creative director for The Next Fashion Scholar (TNFS) project, Dimgbah spearheaded a successful Black History Month campaign in 2023, highlighting the achievements of Nigerian fashion pioneers. She currently serves as an Editor for the Journal for African and Diaspora Fashion(JADF), a collaboration between CIAFE and STADIO School of Fashion to advance fashion discourse. Her commitment ties in driving positive change and fostering inclusivity within the fashion ecosystem
Ana Sofía Vargas is a passionate advocate for sustainable fashion with a background in nonprofit work and collaborative design with indigenous communities in Mexico. A recent graduate of Polimoda’s Master’s programme in Sustainable Fashion, Vargas is dedicated to driving positive change within the fashion industry. With experience in marketing, social media, and project management, she is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion while advancing sustainability initiatives. Vargas’s unique perspective and dedication reflect her belief in collaborative change in the future of the fashion industry.
Aerielle Rojas is a researcher, advocate and current master's student dedicated to innovating the fashion future. Her research interests include business model innovations, degrowth, and decoloniality. Rojas aims to continue thought provoking conversation and data driven research, challenging leaders and inviting all to the fashion table.
GFA provides in-depth analysis, masterclasses and reports based on the latest industry data. GFA specialises in communicating complex sustainability content in a compelling and actionable manner and is responsible for leading industry publications such as the Fashion CEO Agenda, Fashion on Climate and Scaling Circularity.