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LONDON, United Kingdom — "There is always opportunity in a crisis, but it depends on your mindset, it depends on your actions and it depends on your ideas," BoF Founder and Editor-in-Chief Imran Amed told educator and activist Sinéad Burke during a special edition of the BoF Podcast, hosted for students by Istituto Marangoni.

This is not the first time Amed, who founded The Business of Fashion in 2007 ahead of the Great Recession, has faced an upended global economy.

“BoF was actually forged and found its real sense of purpose in that moment of crisis back in 2008,” Amed said. More than 10 years later, in the midst of a global pandemic that has already caused a great deal of upheaval in the global fashion industry — resulting in widespread store closures, disruptions to supply chains, cancellations of major industry events and increasing unemployment — Amed said BoF is more focused on its original purpose, to help guide people through change, than ever.

As government-imposed lockdown measures continue and millions across the globe are staying at home, Amed believes this is the time to use technology to inform and connect the global fashion community. “[When]...you take a moment like this where we’re forced to innovate and find ways of staying true to our mission, that’s when really magical things happen,” he said.

“Our whole team has been operating under this mindset that we can find a way to make our business work.” Over 100,000 people have tuned into BoF’s virtual masterclasses, Q&As and discussions over the past several weeks, indicating to Amed that now more than ever it is important to continue to foster inclusive environments that spark conversations about the issues facing the fashion industry. “BoF is a platform that has the eyes and ears of the industry,” he said. “It's become very important to me and my team that we use that platform for other people as well.”

Tune into this episode of the BoF Podcast, where the duo delve into what fashion may look like beyond the coronavirus pandemic and discuss how conversations that were rippling below the surface are now rising to the foreground.

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To contact The Business of Fashion with comments, questions, or speaker ideas please e-mail podcast@businessoffashion.com.