Virtual Fashion Event Examines SDGs to Drive Sustainability

Virtual Fashion Event Examines SDGs to Drive Sustainability

During the pandemic, many fashion companies have been focused on survival. But even with the added pressures of 2020, the industry cannot lose sight of sustainability.

Recognizing the need for progress, this year marks the Decade of Action launched by the UN Secretary-General, centered on delivering the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The Conscious Fashion Campaign was founded in 2019 to support the Decade of Action in the apparel industry by creating connections among a network of members with more than $4.7 billion in collective annual revenue. The campaign also drives awareness of the SDGs as a potential framework for fashion companies’ sustainable commitments and strategies.

This December, the Conscious Fashion Campaign is hosting a virtual educational event centered on the SDGs. Presented in collaboration with the UN Office for Partnerships, “Discover the Sustainable Development Goals – To Power the Decade of Action” kicked off Dec. 1 and will run through Dec. 30.

“Given its global reach, the fashion industry is uniquely positioned to increase collaboration and engagement around the SDGs,” said Conscious Fashion Campaign founder Kerry Bannigan. “With the pervasiveness of the Covid-19 pandemic, the industry has seen unparalleled disruption to its operations and supply chains. As the fashion sector revises and adapts priorities, now is the time to ensure that this disruption can serve as the catalyst for a new sustainable era for all stakeholders involved.”

In a conversation with Carved in Blue, Kerry shares an inside look at the event and discusses the most crucial aspects of sustainability that need to be addressed by fashion right now.

Carved in Blue: What can participants expect during this month-long series? Why should fashion industry insiders attend?

Kerry: Discover the SDGs—powered by Arch and Hook, Artistic Milliners and Lenzing, and supported by Interwoven, ITL Group and Orta—serves as a catalyst for a new era of fashion, exploring the intersection of the SDGs and fashion business, including climate action, gender equality, industry innovation, digitization, life of land and responsible production and consumption.

The online exhibit will feature a wide range of SDG informational tools along with fashion sector-focused on-demand discussions with industry leaders, United Nations officials and advocates, including Kering, Lenzing, Allbirds, PVH, Vogue Business, CFDA, the British Fashion Council, Messe Frankfurt, Collina Strada and the Swarovski Foundation.

No matter what stage a fashion business is at with their sustainability actions, they will be able to access useful SDG downloadable artwork, statistics, facts and information as well as hear from industry insiders on their journey and insights, including fashion designers Anyango Mpinga, Gabriela Hearst, Maria Cornejo and Tracy Reese; Marsha Cooke, senior vice president impact at Vice Media Group; Emily Chan, sustainability editor at Vogue Global Network; Dominic-Madori Davis, reporter at Business Insider; Sara Maino, deputy editor-in-chief at Vogue Italia and head of Vogue Talents; Jill Martin Wrenn, business reporter at BBC; and Fiona Sinclair Scott, global editor at CNN Style. Industry supporters also include Drapers, Fashinnovation, Kingpins, Transformers Foundation and Raw Assembly.

Featured voices will also include United Nations representatives from the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, United Nations Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory on Climate Change, United Nations Capital Development Fund, UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe/Food and Agriculture Organization and United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Carved in Blue: What effect are you hoping this series has on sustainability action in the fashion industry?

Kerry: Annemarie Hou, acting executive director of the United Nations Office for Partnerships, shared, “This is a critical time to accelerate partnerships to address the world’s biggest challenges—from eliminating poverty, hunger and inequalities to reversing climate change and unsustainable consumption and production practices. The fashion industry is an important ally for the United Nations in this Decade of Action to deliver the SDGs by 2030.”

With this in mind, we hope that as the fashion sector is looking at Covid-19 response and recovery that the Sustainable Development Goals can be a framework that aligns the industry to speak a unified language and collaborate to advance change as well as build systems that do not fail people and planet.

Carved in Blue: From your perspective, what is the most urgent sustainability issue that fashion needs to address right now?

Kerry: For me personally, it is about the treatment of the garment workers. Covid-19 not only has deepened inequalities; it is devastating the already vulnerable. These workers have no protection or rights in the workplace, leaving them to be hit the hardest by this crisis. The crisis did not cause this unjust system; it exposed it further than what people were paying attention to before. This is a humanitarian crisis. The fashion industry has to do better for the people that hold up the sector and ensure they are fairly paid and have access to essential services and social protection.

Carved in Blue: Why is it more important now than ever to support the SDGs?

Kerry: The Covid-19 pandemic has negatively affected billions of lives around the world. It has unveiled the fragile and unjust system that the fashion industry is built on—a system that is responsible for many social, economic and environmental issues. The Sustainable Development Goals offer a roadmap that interconnects solutions to the world’s most pressing issues. The fashion industry has a responsibility to uphold the people and planetary resources it uses to recover better together and lay the foundation for a just, equitable and healthier industry that no longer is founded on devastation and greed.

Carved in Blue: How do you expect Covid will impact the industry’s engagement with the goals?

Kerry: There are several tiers to this. There are fashion stakeholders that now place sustainability at the forefront of their plans whilst others want to do so; they have to focus first on the economic fallout of Covid-19 and what that means internally. There are also the throwaway fashion companies that are capitalizing on the pandemic and online shopping, which highlights the need for sector regulations and legislations from government bodies.

Idealistically, I would like to say that Covid-19 will place sustainability at the center of the conversation for fashion. Realistically, this takes the continued work of advocates and industry bodies to push this for implementation.

Continued education, raising awareness and call to action along with accountability and metrics, is required to encourage sector engagement. Discover the SDGs aims to provide an educational platform for those from studying fashion to the C-suite can unpack the SDGs and learn about the importance of the 169 targets as well as the 17 goals.

Learn more about Discover the SDGs and register here.