Global Fashion Summit 2023 Held in Copenhagen: ‘Less Talk, More Action needed”

Copenhagen was once again filled with more than 1000 representatives from fashion brands, retailers, NGOs, policy makers, and manufactures this week, for the 2023 edition of the Global Fashion Summit.

Some of the World’s biggest fashion conglomerates like PVH and VF Corp, luxury groups LVMH and Kering, sportswear giants Nike and Puma, and smaller innovative textile start-ups like Circulose were assembled at this event.

To tackle the fashion industry’s most pressing issues concerning social and environment sustainability, the summit was first set in motion by Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) back in the year 2009. This year’s summit was dominated by the talk of new laws and regulation looking to crack down on bad practices across supply chains.

The summit’s CEO Federica Marchionni spoke with optimism against a bleak backdrop of mounting environmental disasters globally, such as wildfires and flash floods, o the very first day of the event. The event was held from 27th to 28th June in the Danish capital’s expansive Concert Hall venue.

She said, “We are presented with an opportunity to reimagine and innovate the entire value chain, from sustainable sourcing and manufacturing practices, to ethical labour standards and conscious consumerism, so we can subvert our current path.”

Whilst fostering much-needed conversations about the industry’s many damaging practices, the summit also served as the launch pad for various tools and frameworks to help guide the fashion industry towards sustainability.

For example, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and UN Climate Change launched The Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook, while Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) launched the Global Textiles Policy Forum, a platform to help companies and governments align on a sustainability pathway for the industry and global policy frameworks.

“Net carbon show” was the new sustainable initiative taken by footwear turned apparel brand Allbirds, along with a toolkit to all rivals to draw inspiration from its innovation.

This idea of sharing ideas and innovations was one of the most prevalent themes at this year’s summit amid mounting pressure from consumers, investors, and policymakers for more environmental action.