The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
The fashion industry has 10 years to do its part to avoid catastrophic climate change and an urgent duty to improve the welfare of the workers who make it tick. But while fashion brands have stepped up their sustainability commitments, measuring progress in a comparable, standardised way has been elusive, until now.
The inaugural BoF Sustainability Index benchmarks the performance of fashion’s biggest companies against ambitious environmental and social goals across six of the most important topics for sustainable innovation in the coming decade.
What progress have fashion companies made in living up to their rhetoric in these sustainability categories? What does fashion need to achieve next over the next decade to truly clean up its act?
Starting at 14:00 BST / 09:00 EDT / 06:00 PDT on April 14, 2021, BoF will convene leading global experts, thought leaders and activists in sustainability and workers rights for a 4-hour live broadcast of interactive conversations and panel discussions. We’ll unpack the findings from the BoF Sustainability Index and outline the steps that need to be taken over the coming decade to align the industry with global climate goals and social imperatives.
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The BoF Professional Summit will showcase speakers and moderators from across the industry, from C-suite executives and entrepreneurs, to sustainability experts, thought leaders and government officials. New speakers will be announced on a weekly basis. In the meantime, read the Index here.
As an all-access BoF Professional member, register now to reserve your spot.
If you are not a member, you can take advantage of our 30-day trial to experience all of the benefits of a BoF Professional membership, including the Summit.
Linda E. Greer is a specialist in industrial chemical pollution, currently working as a Global Fellow with the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, the leading environmental NGO in China. A PhD toxicologist by training, Linda has worked extensively to improve US environmental law and policy as well as on voluntary corporate sustainability initiatives. She created Clean by Design, a green supply chain initiative to reduce the impact of the apparel sector with money-saving efficiencies.
Boma Brown-West leads the Environmental Defense Fund’s efforts to eliminate toxic chemicals from consumer products. She works closely with major retailers and consumer brands, advocating for smart chemical policies, ambitious corporate sustainability programmes and increased value chain transparency. She launched EDF reports The Five Pillars for Safer Chemicals Leadership and The Roadmap to Sustainable E-Commerce. Boma has over 15 years’ experience in product sustainability and degrees in mechanical engineering and technology policy from Yale University and MIT respectively.
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Daniela Ibarra-Howell is the co-founder and chief executive of the Savory Institute, an international non-profit facilitating the large-scale regeneration of the world’s grasslands through Holistic Management. She has led the design and implementation of Savory Institute’s revolutionary global impact strategy to tackle food and water security, and address climate change, including the Land to Market Program, the first verified regenerative sourcing solution for food and fashion brands. SI’s network has successfully regenerated over 13 million hectares of land worldwide. She is a co-founder of Grasslands LLC, a for-profit company that manages extensive livestock operations.
Edwin Keh is the chief executive officer of The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel. He teaches supply chain operations at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Edwin was formerly the senior vice president and chief operating officer of Walmart Global Procurement. Prior to Walmart, he managed a consulting group that worked with companies, nonprofits and charities on supply chain, manufacturing and product design. He has also held executive positions at several US consumer goods and retail companies.
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Sanjeev Bahl is the founder and chief executive of Saitex, a system of apparel development, innovation and manufacturing in Vietnam. The facilities and systems are all built on environmental impact reduction technologies, with a core philosophy of creating positive social impact. His IT venture — SAI Digital, is spread over five countries and builds software solutions in the e-commerce and digital space.
Bahl splits his time between Vietnam and New York. His future initiatives include bringing manufacturing back to the West and a venture into post-consumer recycled products to further his exploration into sustainable manufacturing.
Ayesha Barenblat is a social entrepreneur with a passion for building sustainable supply chains. With over a decade of leadership promoting social justice and sustainability within fashion, she founded Remake to ignite a conscious consumer movement through advocacy campaigns, transparency ratings and citizen education focused on making fashion a force for good. Prior to Remake, she led brand engagement at Better Work, a World Bank and International Labor Organization partnership to ensure safe and decent working conditions within garment factories.
Dawn McGregor leads think tank China Water Risk’s work to help corporates navigate increasingly disruptive and material water and climate risks, as well as transitional risks in the supply chain arising from new regulations in China. Dawn helped build CWR’s reach and engages extensively with the global fashion industry, delivering on-ground workshops in China, as well as keynotes and strategic input at European headquarters. Dawn previously worked in a global investment bank assessing geo-political risk, crisis management and business resilience.
Ritu Sethi is the founder-trustee of the Craft Revival Trust and the editor of Global InCH, the online international journal of intangible cultural heritage. In addition she oversees the Asia InCH Encyclopaedia on the traditional arts, crafts, textiles of South Asia.
She serves on the advisory board of IRCI UNESCO CAT II Centre, Japan. In India she is on the Advisory Committee of several institutions including the ICH committee (ABICHU) Ministry of Culture; National Crafts Museum and Hast Kala Academy, New Delhi.
Laila Petrie is the chief executive of 2050, an independent consultancy working to support a rapid transition to a sustainable future at some of the world’s largest organisations through research, innovation and strategic planning. Laila previously held roles with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Marks and Spencer, including WWF Global Lead on cotton and textiles. She is the Joint Chair of the UNFCCC Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, and works with a range of brand, NGO and governmental clients on fashion and sustainability.
Michael Sadowski works across the apparel and footwear industry to advance circularity and climate solutions. Previously, Michael led strategy and external partnerships on Nike’s Sustainable Business & Innovation team, and also led the company’s work on circularity. Prior to Nike, Michael was a Vice President at SustainAbility, Inc. where he advised clients across sectors and helped develop multi-stakeholder collaborations including the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals platform and the Closed Loop Fund. Michael has been featured in a number of publications including BoF, Vogue Business, and Sourcing Journal.
Anannya Bhattacharjee is the International Coordinator of Asia Floor Wage Alliance, an Asia-led international alliance of trade unions and labour rights activists that campaigns to address poverty wages, gender discrimination and freedom of association for garment workers in Asia. She is President of Garment and Allied Workers Union in North India. She is one of the few female trade union leaders in India and has helped build grassroots labour-related collaboration between organisations in North America, Europe and Asia.
Nina Marenzi is the founder of The Future Fabrics Expo, the largest dedicated showcase for innovative sustainable textiles, with educational background information on sustainability in textiles and fashion displayed throughout, plus a seminar series running alongside the expo, visited by thousands of fashion professionals every year. The expo was born out of her dissertation “Organic Cotton: Reasons Why the Fashion Industry is Dragging its Heels” for her MSc in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development at Imperial College. Marenzi has previously worked as a consultant on various environmental policy initiatives.
Hannah Phang is the head of marketing and advocacy at Futerra, the global change agency on a mission to make sustainability so desirable it becomes normal. Futerra is fiercely independent, majority-owned by women and a founding B-Corp. Phang is on the steering committee of the UN Fashion Charter for Climate Action, co-chairing the working group on promoting broader climate action. She holds a BBA from Parsons the New School for Design in Strategic Design and Management and a MFA from the School of Visual Arts in Design for Social Innovation. Phang has an entrepreneurial background in building communication and sustainability initiatives for start-ups, non-profits and Fortune 500 companies.
14:15 BST / 09:15 EDT / 06:15 PDT
Waste: Chasing the Holy Grail of Circularity
Edwin Keh, CEO, The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel
Lauren Sherman, Chief Correspondent, The Business of Fashion
14:40 BST / 09:40 EDT / 06:40 PDT
Water & Chemicals: Solving Fashion’s Pollution Problem
Boma Brown-West, Director Safe and Healthy Products, Environmental Defense Fund
Dawn McGregor, Business Unusual Lead, China Water Risk
Sanjeev Bahl, CEO, Saitex
Sarah Kent, London Editor, The Business of Fashion
15:10 BST / 10:10 EDT / 07:10 PDT
Workers Rights: Devising a New Social Contract
Ayesha Barenblat, Founder & CEO, Remake
Sanjeev Bahl, CEO, Saitex
Ritu Sethi, Founder-Trustee, Craft Revival Trust and Editor, Global InCH
Anannya Bhattacharjee, International Coordinator, Asia Floor Wage Alliance
15:35 BST / 10:35 EDT / 07:35 PDT
Materials: Reimagining Fashion’s Materials Mix
Daniela Ibarra Howell, Co-Founder & CEO, Savory Institute
Nina Marenzi, Founder, Future Fabrics Expo
Nishanth Chopra, Founder, Oshadi
16:00 BST / 11:00 EDT / 08:00 PDT
Emissions: Solving Fashion’s Climate Crisis
Laila Petrie, CEO, 2050
Michael Sadowski, Independent Sustainability Advisor
Hannah Phang, Head of Marketing and Advocacy, Futerra
Brian Baskin, Deputy Editor, The Business of Fashion
16:30 BST / 11:30 EDT / 07:30 PDT
Transparency: Tackling Misinformation and Bad Data
Linda E. Greer, Global Fellow, Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs
Sarah Kent, London Editor, The Business of Fashion
17:00 BST / 12:00 EDT / 08:00 PDT
Closing Remarks
The BoF Professional Summit: Closing Fashion's Sustainability Gap
On April 14 2021, BoF will convene leading sustainability experts and global thought leaders for a 3-hour live broadcast of interactive conversations and panel discussions, in which we'll unpack findings from The BoF Sustainability Index and outline the steps that need to be taken over the coming decade to align the industry with global climate goals and social imperatives. Space is limited.
As a BoF Professional member, register now to reserve your spot. If you are not a member, you can take advantage of our 30-day trial to experience all of the benefits of a BoF Professional membership, including the Summit.
Explore all categories from this year's report:
France is pressing ahead with a ‘game-changing’ bill that would impose a ‘sin tax’-style penalty on fast-fashion products as high as €10 per item by 2030.
In the weeks since one of the industry’s most promising recycling start-ups filed for bankruptcy, big brands have put more money and more commitment into bringing innovations to market.
Thirty years of providing the world’s finest wool to the fashion house Loro Piana has done almost nothing for the Indigenous people of the Peruvian Andes.
The fast-fashion giant has joined Vargas and TPG to back a new polyester recycling venture following its failed bet on Renewcell.