According to THEA’s (The European House-Ambrosetti) permanent observatory “Just Fashion Transition 2024” on fashion, apparel, footwear and leather goods, one-third of Europe’s top 100 companies have already reduced direct and indirect emissions faster than required by EU decarbonization targets. That’s good news, but there are still a lot of clarifications about the macro-issue of sustainability.
An opportunity to take stock of the situation is the third edition of the Venice Sustainable Fashion Forum, scheduled to take place at the Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice on October 24 and 25: a summit dedicated to the sustainable transition of the fashion supply chain, which will bring together the main stakeholders of the fashion and luxury sectors and which is led by Sistema Moda Italia, The European House-Ambrosetti and Confindustria Veneto Est (Venice Padua Rovigo Treviso Metropolitan Area).
The event, titled “Leading Re-Generation,” aims to propose new solutions to rethink the approach to sustainability with a view to “regenerating” the entire sector, appealing to the protagonists of the supply chain-from manufacturing of excellence to SMEs. The goal is to share best practices and identify common actions for the future.
The first day of the summit will address topics such as the new corporate reporting standard (CSRD) and on the obligation of value chain due diligence (CSDD), with updates also on the new ways of making products according to ecodesign principles (ESPR and manufacturers’ responsibilities regarding the end of life of post-consumer products (EPR).
Finance, digitization and circular economy will also be discussed, as well as analyzing the conclusions of the “Just Fashion Transition 2024” study, which involved more than 500 companies including global retailers, European biggies and realities of the Italian supply chain, with economic-environmental projections up to 2030, based on time series counting more than 775 datapoints on the European territory. There is also an in-depth look at market expectations, based on a global sample of more than 26 thousand consumers.
Among the topics to be probed on October 25 are the role of collaboration between upstream and downstream in the supply chain, prospects related to digitization and AI, and a look at two sectors at opposite ends of the spectrum but both grappling, albeit in profoundly different ways, with the challenges of the ecological transition: luxury and fast fashion.
“Difficult times like the current one are also fertile ground for implementing new revitalization arrangements,” SMI President Sergio Tamborini said.
“The Venice Fashion Forum represents an important opportunity for Sistema Moda Italia to emphasize the urgency of a sustainable agenda and new measures for the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry. One fact is certain: sustainability is much more than just bureaucratic,” he added.
“We are convinced that the challenge of sustainability must be embraced and can only be met through the close cooperation of three strategic elements: large brands, small brands and the entire manufacturing supply chain whose upstream part, for obvious reasons of fragmentation and available means, represents today the weakest link, which must be supported and preserved,” said Flavio Sciuccati (partner at The European House-Ambrosetti and director Global Fashion Unit).
“If Europe fails to become more productive, we will be forced to choose. We will not be able to become, at the same time, a leader in new technologies, a beacon of climate responsibility and an independent player on the world stage,” he added.
Andrea Crespi (vice president of Sistema Moda Italia Sustainability) also attended the Milan meeting. “Without innovation today a company cannot exist, but innovation costs money and it is necessary to transform this cost into value. We need to invest in efficiency, doing better with less and changing the paradigm: upstream and downstream need to dialogue more and the supply chain, which is still disjointed, to be able to put up a united front,” Crespi commented.
The entire market must be ready to face the new challenges of the moment. “Not everyone can afford to buy a shirt for €500. So it would be unrealistic to ignore fast fashion. Even this sector cannot escape the challenges of sustainability, focusing for example on recycling, while for luxury this word is more synonymous with durability of garments,” Tamborini stressed.
Among the speakers present in Venice will be Matteo de Rosa (ceo of Lvmh-Métiers d’Art) to Barbara Cimmino (vice president of Euratex) to Michela Gioacchini (Sustainability & CSR lead of Tod’s Group), Matteo Magnani (senior Policy analyst-Policy & Institutions of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation), Luca Solca (managing director Luxury Goods of Sanford C. Bernstein) and also a representative of Shein, global head of Strategy & Corporate Affairs Peter Pernot-Day.
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