When Copenhagen Fashion Summit kicks off next month, it won’t be the only fashion sustainability event in town. Numerous international companies have decided to schedule their events to take place in Copenhagen simultaneously with the Summit. Among those showing their presence are big industry players like C&A Foundation, Better Work, Apparel Impact Institute, Sustainable Apparel Coalition and Centre for Sustainable Fashion. A slew of our own side events, such as Youth Fashion Summit and the Pulse masterclass, will also take place the week of the Summit.
YOUTH FASHION SUMMIT
Eighty students from world-leading design and business schools will return to the Youth Fashion Summit to challenge the established industry with critical solutions on how to move forward, based on their demands made last year. Youth Fashion Summit is a sustainability programme put together by Global Fashion Agenda and Copenhagen School of Design and Technology, which for a two-year period has been in a unique collaboration with United Nations Global Compact and PANDORA. The students will engage in a case competition focusing on Sustainable Development Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Working in collaboration with PANDORA, students will dive deep into the jewellery supply chain and deliver a guiding principles document on how the industry can drive gender equality across operations and society.
When: 13-16 May 2019
Where: Copenhagen School of Design and Technology (KEA), Guldbergsgade 29N, 2200 Copenhagen
THE SUSTAINABLE FASHION RESEARCH AGENDA
Through evidence-based presentations and active workshops Design School Kolding and Copenhagen Business School will explore the current state of affairs on sustainable fashion and set an agenda for future research. In the last decade numerous fashion brands, industry associations and private consultancies have celebrated the concept of sustainable fashion. At the same time, there is often an absence of concrete information about the actual progress towards sustainability. The Sustainable Fashion Research Agenda (SFRA) hopes to remedy this neglect by facilitating a research-based discussion on the current scale and scope of sustainable fashion initiatives. The target audience for the event is researchers, designers, brands, associations, NGOs, journalists and other reflective scholars/practitioners with an interest in sustainable fashion.
When: 13 May 2019 at 9 AM – 5:30 PM
Where: Carlsberg Academy, Gamle Carlsberg Vej 15, 1799 Copenhagen
Register by 20 April 2019
TACKLING MODERN SLAVERY IN INDIA THROUGH INNOVATION, COLLABORATION AND BEST PRACTICE
Thomson Reuters Foundation, C&A Foundation and Copenhagen Business School invite you to attend a session on Tackling Modern Slavery in India through Innovation, Collaboration and Best Practice. The session will discuss the legal and business context in India, focusing on supply chain, forced labour and anti-trafficking issues. The speakers will highlight the innovative approaches they have taken to tackle these issues, with a specific focus on supply chains. The discussion will be followed by a brainstorming session on synergies and collaborations on the work to be done during 2019.
When: 13 May 2019, 1:30 – 5 PM
Where: Copenhagen Business School, room SC033, Dalgas Have 15, 2000 Frederiksberg
Register by contacting Saira Latif Mian: [email protected] by 10 May 2019
FILM SCREENING: THE PRICE OF FREE
C&A Foundation and Participant Media are proud to host the film screening of the winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at Sundance 2018, The Price of Free, a suspenseful, yet intimate, look at one man’s ground-breaking struggle to liberate every child possible from slavery. From director Derek Doneen and Oscar-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth), the film follows Kailash Satyarthi and his team of leaders around the world through gripping secret raids and quests for missing children in the hopes of ending the cycle of poverty that forces them and their families into dreadful circumstances. Refusing to be daunted by the impossible, they have succeeded in rescuing over 88,000 children and created a global movement, which has resulted in legislation that helps protect young children. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion.
When: 13 May 2019 at 7 – 9 PM
Where: The Grand Theatre, Mikkel Bryggers Gade 8, 1460 Copenhagen
Register your free spot by 6 May 2019
THE FUTURE OF DESIGN
Industry designers and teams will be introduced to Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), the Higg Index and, more specifically, the Higg Product Tools. You will explore how the Higg Index addresses the increasing social and environmental industry risks in the industry by using the suite of sustainability tools developed by SAC. Through group discussions and exercises, designers and peers will learn how to best engage their teams to further integrate these tools into product design and business operations. The event, hosted by SAC, ASOS and Centre for Sustainable Fashion, is open to the public and is ideal for apparel industry stakeholders, including product designers and developers, sustainability experts, apparel and product designers, sourcing professionals in the apparel and footwear industry, academics and students.
When: 14 May 2019 at 8 AM – 5 PM
Where: Copenhagen School of Design and Technology (KEA), Guldbergsgade 29N, 2200 Copenhagen
Register by 14 May 2019
BETTER WORK EUROPEAN BUSINESS FORUM
Join Better Work on the morning of 14 May to discuss how to be part of the programme’s success in protecting workers rights, boosting productivity and creating long-term improvements in the global garment industry. A flagship programme of the UN’s International Labour Organization, jointly led by the World Bank Group, Better Work uses its on-the-ground presence in key sourcing markets to create scalable solutions to endemic issues. To date, Better Work has joined forces with industry players and 150+ brands to improve worker pay, enhance workplace safety and reduce sexual harassment, while also boosting factory profitability by up to 25%, helping to strengthen labour laws and shape business practices. All brands, retailers and manufacturers are invited to the Forum to build on this impact.
When: 14 May 2019 at 9 AM – 1 PM
Where: IT University of Copenhagen, Rued Langgaards Vej 7, 2300 Copenhagen
Register and for any questions reach out to [email protected]
EDUCATORS SUMMIT
Visionary minds from all over the world gather to discuss how education can help accelerate the sustainable fashion transition. Educators Summit 2019 will continue the trajectory begun in 2016 by inviting educators, academics and industry to Copenhagen for a day of knowledge sharing and creation about education for sustainability in the textile and fashion industries. We look forward to taking you through a day of presentations, discussions, workshops, networking and much more. Following the Educators Summit, an e-book will be published gathering all the experiences, knowledge and commitments shared by participants.
When: 14 May 2019 at 9 AM – 6 PM
Where: Copenhagen School of Design and Technology (KEA), Guldbergsgade 29N, 2200 Copenhagen
LABOR RIGHTS ISSUES IN EMERGING MARKETS: LESSONS LEARNED FROM BANGLADESH AND ETHIOPIA – THE NEW FRONTIER
Join NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights to examine global supply chain labour challenges facing garment brands sourcing in emerging markets, with a particular focus on Bangladesh and Ethiopia. This panel will draw on the original research that has been undertaken over the last five years by the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. We will address the broader political and social content in these countries and the associated risk to global brands. Furthermore, we will focus on best practices relating to purchasing practices, factory safety issues, managing subcontracting relationships and other topical issues and explore lessons learned in Bangladesh and how these lessons can be applied in frontier markets like Ethiopia.
When: 14 May 2019 at 1 – 2:30 PM
Where: Hotel Skt. Petri, Krystalgade 22, 1172 Copenhagen
Register by contacting [email protected]
COPENHAGEN FASHION SUMMIT PRESS CONFERENCE
The official Copenhagen Fashion Summit press conference will take the press through a one-hour session of key highlights and important news, presented by representatives from Global Fashion Agenda and key partners. Taking place the day before the Summit, the event will provide the press with an opportunity to gain a solid overview of the two-day event and its multiple components, as well as a chance to ask the organisers questions.
When: 14 May 2019 at 2:30 – 3:30 PM
Where: Hotel Skt. Petri, Krystalgade 22, 1172 Copenhagen K
Register by contacting [email protected] (for Summit accredited press only)
THE GLOBAL GOALS WORLD CUP
The Global Goals World Cup is a street football tournament for women, which uses the power of sport to raise awareness of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and engage women in the sustainable development agenda. On 14 May the tournament touches down in Copenhagen as part of its world tour, which spans multiple continents and will culminate in a global final in New York City during the UN General Assembly. Co-hosted by Global Fashion Agenda, this tournament awards teams points not only for scoring goals, but also for taking action on their chosen sustainable development goal, for engaging their peers and the crowd and for creatively reinterpreting the conventional sports uniform, turning it into a powerful message of identity and sustainability.
When: 14 May 2019 at 4 – 10 PM
Where: Bryghuspladsen, 1473 Copenhagen
Read more about this open event
FASHION FUTURES 2030
Centre for Sustainable Fashion and Forum for the Future invite you to participate in a workshop to launch a new open-source toolkit for industry and education, Fashion Futures 2030. Hosted at the Natural History Museum, alongside the Fashioned from Nature exhibition, Professor Dilys Williams, Director of Centre for Sustainable Fashion, and Dr Sally Uren, Chief Executive of Forum for the Future, will present four possible scenarios for life in 2030. Through the futures thinking workshop you will work with fashion educators and industry professionals to explore fashion’s relationship with nature and society and speculate on the fashion products, services and systems that we might be designing in 2030. The Fashion Futures 2030 toolkits, kindly supported by C&A Foundation, will be freely available to stimulate new thinking and practice in fashion education and industry.
When: 14 May 2019 at 5 – 7 PM
Where: Natural History Museum of Denmark, Gothersgade 130, 1123 Copenhagen
Register your free spot (does not include entrance to the Fashioned from Nature exhibition)
2020 COMMITMENT SIGNATORY EVENT
Global Fashion Agenda invites all signatories of the 2020 Commitment to an informal networking event to take part in in-depth discussions on each of the Commitment’s action points. This year the Signatory Event will take place one day prior to the Summit to allow more time for interaction and shared reflection. Signatories will have the unique opportunity to share experiences, knowledge and key learnings related to the targets of the 2020 Commitment. One or more curated speakers will address key challenges signatories put forward in this year’s Status Report survey. Learnings from the event will help shape the future of the 2020 Commitment.
When: 14 May 2019 at 10 AM – 12 PM
Where: Hotel Skt. Petri, Krystalgade 22, 1172 Copenhagen
By invitation only
KERING AND BSR LUNCH ON ANIMAL WELFARE
Kering and BSR invite Summit fashion brand participants to an intimate lunch during the second day of the Summit to discuss “Fashion & Animals”. Fashion draws on nature for inspiration and imitation, and for the precious materials that are transformed into beautiful products. As an industry we need to re-define our relationship with animals. We need to set better guidelines on how we treat and respect animals throughout our supply chains, and beyond, to include the wildlife that live around them.
Join co-hosts Kering and BSR at the lunch to discuss topics like: Best approaches for animal welfare, challenges we can address collaboratively and information about the interface of fashion and wildlife.
ACHIEVING MEANINGFUL TRANSPARENCY FOR CONSUMERS
The morning after Copenhagen Fashion Summit, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is hosting a round-table discussion together with GlobeScan, to transparently share research findings and to discuss the objectives and criteria for meaningful consumer-facing transparency. Improving traceability and accountability in the apparel value chain and empowering consumers to make informed purchasing decisions are key objectives that the SAC and its partners and members are working towards. Over the last two years, the SAC has conducted global consumer research to learn more about consumer needs and to test approaches for consumer-facing transparency. Grounded on the findings, topic discussions will include consumer and industry objectives, information granularity and level, disclosure ambitions and responsibilities, and the way forward.
When: 17 May 2019 at 10 AM – 12 PM
Where: Hotel Skt. Petri, Krystalgade 22, 1172 Copenhagen
Register by contacting [email protected] by 19 April 2019