6 Key Takeaways From the 2023 Global Fashion Summit to Inspire Action

While the conversation around sustainability in fashion has grown exponentially in the past five years, action is still far too slow. That’s why “Ambition to Action” was the theme of this year’s Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen, an annual meeting of major brands that aims to push the industry towards a greener future.

“Now is not the time to say we’re going to do [this] in five or 10 [years], or whatever the goal is that they want to create,” Federica Marchionni, CEO of the Global Fashion Agenda—the non-profit organization that arranges the summit—tells Vogue. “It’s about what they’re going to do, and what they are already doing; sharing their practices and the challenges.”

To kick off proceedings, Jonathan Anderson, creative director of Loewe and JW Anderson, and Antoine Arnault, LVMH’s head of image and environment, discussed their approach to sustainability. Other brands that featured on the main stage included the likes of Nike, Gucci-owner Kering, and Inditex, the parent company of Zara.

In keeping with the theme, this year also saw the addition of three smaller stages, including one featuring case studies from the likes of Allbirds, which unveiled the prototype for its first carbon-zero shoe, and Chloé and Vestiaire Collective, which partnered together to launch instant resale earlier this year. On the innovation stage, Ganni spotlighted Rubi Laboratories, a California-based start-up that captures CO2 from manufacturing waste and turns it into textiles.

Below, see six key takeaways from the Global Fashion Summit.

Textiles waste remains a major issue

One of the most powerful discussions of the summit came via The Or Foundation, a non-profit in Ghana that works to tackle the enormous textiles waste problem at Kantamanto Market in Accra. There, 15 million garments arrive every single week, with young girls and women risking their lives transporting enormous bales of clothing on their heads. “People are dying; the local textiles industry is almost dead,” Sammy Oteng, the non-profit’s senior community engagement manager, says of the desperate reality of the situation on the ground. “It’s not the time to debate this anymore; we need action.”

At last year’s summit, The Or Foundation revealed it was receiving $15 million in funding from ultra-fast fashion brand Shein in order to help tackle the issue. As we wait for the European Union to announce its proposal to implement extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulation—which would make brands financially responsible for the collection, sorting, and recycling of goods at the end of their life—Oteng called for brands to introduce voluntary EPR initiatives to speed up action.