The fashion industry continues on its journey towards a more sustainable future as industry leaders band together to improve transparency and develop new technologies designed to reduce impacts of everyday products.
Ahead of the annual Copenhagen Fashion Summit, the world’s leading business forum on sustainable fashion, more than 100 students from around the world will come together in the Danish capital for the fourth edition of the Youth Fashion Summit May 9 – 10, where they will draft and negotiate the first-ever UN resolution on sustainable fashion.
The students will present their resolution on stage at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit on May 11 to inspire the industry to take action and this fall will present their work to the UN General Assembly.
The Youth Fashion Summit is a collaboration between Global Fashion Agenda and Copenhagen School of Design and Technology (KEA) in partnership with Swarovski. During last year’s event, students explored how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) present companies with the unique opportunity to align their sustainability goals with broader societal aims. For the 2017 Summit, the same group of students has been invited back to transform their ideas and demands for corporate action on the SDGs into a proposed UN draft resolution.
As one of the principal sponsors of the Copenhagen Fashion Summit 2017, Swarovski will open the Youth Fashion Summit with Dax Lovegrove, Global VP of Corporate Sustainability and Social Responsibility, providing a keynote speech and fashion and sustainability experts from Swarovski will assist the students in drafting their resolutions to be presented to the UN.
“This year we are truly proud to support the Youth Fashion Summit, to empower the voice of future generations, who will continue to lead this fight for a sustainable fashion industry,” said Nadja Swarovski, a member of the Swarovski Executive Board.
The draft resolution is well-timed with the theme for this year’s Copenhagen Fashion Summit, “Commitment to Change.” One of the expected outcomes of the 2017 Summit is the signing of a concrete call to action put forward by Global Fashion Agenda to rally fashion brands and retailers in accelerating the fashion industry’s transition to a circular system.
This year’s Summit will also see the launch of the first edition of the Pulse of the Fashion Industry report, a combined effort between Global Fashion Agenda and The Boston Consulting Group, which will provide a common fact base on the current sustainability performance of the industry, quantify the potential of sustainability in fashion and provide recommendations for companies across the supply chain.
“Since last year’s Summit, we've been busy reshaping and evolving the format of the event. One of the major changes that I’m especially pleased with is the intensified focus on commitments and outcomes. By putting forward a call to action, which is already receiving substantial backing by key industry players and by launching the Pulse of the Fashion Industry report, the Summit is proving that it is able to take leadership and help unite the industry towards a better future,” said Eva Kruse, CEO and President of Global Fashion Agenda.
Meanwhile, PUMA has harnessed a new waterborne polyurethane technology to reduce the impacts of its evoPOWER Vigor 1 football boot.
Utilizing its Accufoam technology, which consists of three-dimensional, diamond shaped dots called Topaz-DOTS, applied on both sides of a spandex upper material, PUMA has set new standards in design, precision and comfort. Accufoam features Topaz-DOTS, the coating technology from Trans-Textil, is based on INSQIN waterborne polyurethane technology from Covestro and gives the shoe its unique design and playing features.
In partnership with PUMA, Covestro, a high-tech polymer materials supplier; and Trans Textil, a specialist in functional textile lamination, coating, transfer printing and special finishing; have developed both the coating formulation and the textile processing technology, creating a broad portfolio of technical properties and design options, including temperature resistance, wear and waterproofness.
INSQIN has significantly improved the evoPOWER Vigor 1’s sustainability, reducing the product’s water consumption by 95 percent and its energy consumption by 50 percent. An independently verified environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study showed a 44 percent lower carbon footprint.
“I am particularly proud of this development,” said Nick Smith, Global Head of Textile Coating at Covestro. “We have Covestro technology that has delivered a beautiful, highly technical and sustainable product. Furthermore, it was only made possible by a great collaboration between Covestro, Trans-Textil and PUMA. This is the very essence of what Covestro stands for.”
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Published May 5, 2017 10am EDT / 7am PDT / 3pm BST / 4pm CEST