From Ambition to Action: Global Fashion Summit 2023

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to change. It’s not.”

— The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

*Image: Global Fashion Agenda | Global Fashion Summit 2023*

What does Ambition to Action mean to you?

And if you say it aloud, “Ambition to action,” how does it taste on your tongue? What comes to mind?

If you have your answer ready so fast, I envy you. It took me an hour-long, fast-paced walk and over ten awkward voice notes to come up with something cohesive. And then I realized that I simply dislike the word ambition. It’s stale, it’s stagnant, and it just sits there with you, making you feel like you’re doing something and being productive when in fact, your ambition is useless without action.

To me, ambition is all about big words and nothing to back it up. And action is about doing the next right thing —often without waiting for the pigs to have wings.

So taking our individual ambition to collective action was the theme of Global Fashion Summit 2023, which I was invited to attend in Copenhagen and imperfectly communicate about.

Assuming that most of my readers don’t know, GFS is the leading international sustainable fashion forum, presented by a non-profit organization, Global Fashion Agenda, working hard to make the fashion industry net positive.

This blog post is not a comprehensive report (if you want to dive really deep, I recommend following @globalfashionagenda on IG, where you can find related articles reshared) but rather the “Summit through my eyes” kinda thing. To be honest, I don’t know how anyone can recap the information they heard from 137 speakers and 26 sustainable solution providers + everyone else they met while networking.

So today, my purpose is to show you the people and organizations that have impacted me most during this exciting trip and also what you and I can do today to make the fashion industry more just and fair — to everyone.

Shall we?

“I don’t think there has ever been a partnership [between the Global North and the Global South] because if you are dumping things on someone, it’s not a partnership. If you partner with someone, you are caring about each other’s *prosperity*.”
— Sammy Oteng, The Or Foundation

Image: Global Fashion Agenda | Global Fashion Summit 2023

Who should you support right now?

The most impactful panel was about Textile Waste and the Global Circular Economy, moderated by Franck Gbaguidi. After all the talk about policy power and logistics (undoubtedly important but harder to relate for most), it was refreshing to hear Sammy Oteng and Cynthia Avena Essoun from The Or Foundation, the organization behind the #StopWasteColonialism campaign.

Not that the topic was any lighter because seeing the beautiful coast of Ghana poisoned by textile waste shipped from the EU, where I happily live, was very confronting. I say refreshing because no statistics and dry reporting can cause as much impact as powerful storytelling can. Sammy and Cynthia even provided physical evidence of the clothes the Global North calls a donation and ships “away.” And although I don’t feel competent enough to educate you about waste colonialism at this point of my journey, I can tell apart a quality item from a sh¡tty one. And those clothes I touched were not something I’d ever buy.

Image: Global Fashion Agenda | Global Fashion Summit 2023

The saddest part is that even after listening to the panel’s recording again, I didn’t hear the member of the EU Parliament answer the questions that Amelia Hoy, the host, asked: “What has been the main obstacle in not getting this [anti waste colonialism] legislation passed? Who has been shutting it down?”

And while there has been no clear answer to that, and most likely will never be, there are things you and I can do to make a difference and contribute.

Take action:

Sign this petition (no ID required, takes 30 seconds) to stop the EU from writing Waste Colonialism into law.
Follow @theorispresent to learn more about the work this organization does and how you can contribute to a real partnership between the Global North and the Global South.
If you are a brand, check out this page and consider starting a voluntary EPR program (Extended Producer Responsibility) to step up your ethics and sustainability game.
If you can, donate to The Or Foundation here to expand its programs in Ghana.
Follow @tifannybopha, a fashion designer from Cambodia whose country suffocates in textile waste too—Tifanny upcycles textile trash from the rivers into INCREDIBLE garments you’ll want your hands on (I saw them IRL!)

“The tons and tons of textile waste we found is crazy…Why we need to clear the mistakes of some other brands that dump clothes in our country?”
— Tiffany Bopha, Revivre Studio

Image: Global Fashion Agenda | Global Fashion Summit 2023

What should you read & watch next?

On My Shelf: The Big Dress Energy Book

Have I talked to you about the Big Dress Energy book by Shakaila Forbes-Bell? Because I’ve talked about it to everyone this year.

Shakaila is the first Black person in the world to earn a master’s degree in fashion psychology. She is an author, consultant, Founder of Fashion is Psychology, and she was a speaker at the What Comes Next for Communicating Sustainability panel. I was really looking forward to this one not only because I’m Shakaila’s big fan but also because communicating sustainability is what I do every day, both online and offline. And I struggle. The green talk lands hard on people who don’t already know about the issue.

so pumped we have a selfie together!

got the book signed obviously

For me, communicating sustainability in the fashion space starts with assessing your own wardrobe’s impact first. And you can’t do it without a profound understanding of why you wear what you wear, why you buy what you buy, and how you can continue dressing up every day while minimizing your closet’s impact on the planet and its people.

That’s why I started this part of the blog post with Big Dress Energy instead of focusing on the conversation held at the panel. Shakaila’s book teaches you authentic self-expression through clothing. It aligns the internal you with the external you. And I truly believe that the better you know yourself, the less you shop because overconsumption often stems from you trying to be someone else.

This book, although it doesn’t seem so at first, is a powerful tool for making the fashion industry more sustainable as it educates consumers in a fun and easy way to do better. Everyone who wears clothes should read Big Dress Energy.

Find out where you can get your copy of BDE here:

The Big dress Energy Book

“We need to take a step back and think about what’s driving consumers to act in the ways they do.”
— Shakaila Forbes-Bell, Fashion is Psychology

Image: Global Fashion Agenda | Global Fashion Summit 2023

Currently Reading: The Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook

My current read and the resource I’ve been waiting for so long!

Created by UNEP and UN Climate Change, this guide was presented on the second day of the Summit by Rachel Arthur and Danielle Magalhaes. It enables all kinds of fashion communicators (from brand managers and marketers to stylists and influencers) to redirect their efforts toward a conversation addressing circular solutions and empowering consumers to demand greater action from businesses and policymakers.

Perhaps, it sounded a bit complex, so let’s put it this way: how do you know if you need to read The Playbook?

you are tired of greenwashing, and you want to take action against it;
you want to reduce messages promoting overconsumption and instead encourage a mindful approach to shopping;
you want to inspire your friends and family to demand accountability from brands and live sustainably.

Sounds like you? You can download The Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook below:

Get the free playbook

“The danger is that the consumer, the audience, feels disempowered with all these big things happening around them…We can educate and empower consumers to make better choices, show them options that are more sustainable, as well as empower the industry.”
— Mark Gavhure, BBC StoryWorks

Image: Global Fashion Agenda | Global Fashion Summit 2023

Must-Watch List: Fashion Redressed Series

Let’s watch it together! Fashion Redressed is a film series launching in September 2023. Presented by the GFA and produced for them by BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions, this series explores how our relationship with clothes can put back more into society, the environment, and the global economy than it takes out.

Fashion Redressed aims to empower consumers disheartened by big changes happening around them and educate them on making more sustainable choices. There isn’t much to add about the series just yet, but I’d like to encourage you to try Fashion Redressed Clothing Calculator to find out how your wardrobe impacts our planet.

According to the calculator, my “wardrobe is approximately sufficiently sized.” And yours?

The fun calculator

Who to follow for more?

I can’t write a blog post about Global Fashion Summit and not to mention these two powerhouses I got to meet, spend time with, and learn from. And in case you are wondering, yes, it is the same blazer in both photos. Amma kindly gave it to me for the celebration dinner so that I, totally unprepared for a night out, didn’t have to shop.

That’s a wrap!

The Summit gave me a lot to process, and I wasn’t sure how to write about everything I learned and everyone I met because it’s very different from the content I usually share on my platforms. So that’s what I settled on — a personal perspective to guide you through the actions I myself took last week. I hope that you found it practical and interesting (and that you considered supporting the people and organizations featured in this blog post.)

On this note, I’ll leave you with a Copenhagen photodump and three Reels I created to capture the Summit’s atmosphere.

Thank you for reading this special article. And now, it’s time to act!

— Alisa