MILAN — As the fashion industry faces the volatility of a deflated economy and declining consumer confidence, the third edition of the Venice Sustainable Fashion Forum will further highlight how the resilience and survival of global supply chains depends on advances in sustainability.
The summit, which will take place at the Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice on 24 and 25 October, is titled “Leading Regeneration” and is organized by Sistema Moda Italia, Confindustria Veneto Est and the consultancy company The European House — Ambrosetti.
More from WWD
The two-day event is set to unveil the ongoing eco-journey for the sector, with an agenda covering key issues in the ESG approach and the latter’s intersection with economic sustainability.
Organizers said the forum will highlight the challenges faced by small and medium-sized fashion businesses in promoting innovation and eco-transformation, as well as what brands can do to support this process and what is expected from policymakers.
“The third edition demonstrates the continuity of the forum as a corporate meeting,” said Sergio Tamborini, president of Sistema Moda Italia. “We need to make sustainability an important goal again. Over the years, sustainability has become a bureaucratic issue due to greenwashing.”
For the first time in its three-year history, the forum will host representatives of fast fashion players; In addition to spokespeople from Shein, sustainability executives from Prada Group, Tod’s Group and the CEO of LVMH Métiers d’Art will also join the conversation. officer Matteo de Rosa.
“To neglect fast fashion today would mean deliberately ignoring a part of the world that is very attractive to consumers,” Tamborini said. “I also believe fast fashion players will allow the supply chain to manage sustainability. [journey] “From a recycling perspective, the luxury segment will continue to remain committed to durability and repairability.”
The SMI president also emphasized that jobs in the fashion supply chain are largely created by non-luxury players, especially fast fashion companies, and that although the Italian pipeline has built its reputation on high-end production, it remains to some extent dependent on the industry. other segments of the fashion market.
As in previous editions, the event’s agenda, covering a variety of topics such as the latest regulations, consumer trust in sustainability claims, circular economy and more, is shaped around the findings of the “Just Fashion Transition 2024” survey conducted by The European House. — Ambrosetti.
The second, also in its third edition, analyzed approximately 2,900 Italian and European fashion companies, specifically 374 supply chain units, the 100 largest European fashion companies and 30 global retailers, from a sustainability perspective on 775 data points taken from published draft laws and regulations. By the European Commission and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The survey’s key findings will be announced on the first day of the summit – followed by keynote speeches and roundtables – but Carlo Cici, partner at the consultancy and head of sustainability practice, stressed that the sector is at least eight years behind in the transition: it can no longer be pushed back.
Scale has once again emerged as one of the key hurdles in the green journey, with the significant margin gap between brands and supply chain companies and larger and smaller-scale production players impacting the industry overhaul.
“We need to rethink and reinvent the industry to break the direct relationship between size, productivity, marginality and sustainability investments,” Cici said.
“We need more reciprocity between upstream and downstream of the supply chain, between manufacturers and brands,” said Andrea Crespi, SMI vice president of sustainability initiatives. “We have progressed very quickly so far, but very soon we will need to go as far as possible, and this requires mutual cooperation.”
Compared to previous versions, the 2024 survey compares collected reviews with historical data to try to understand where the fashion industry stands in its journey to meet the European Union’s mandated 2030 green targets.
Flavio Sciuccati, partner at The European House – Ambrosetti, said: “I believe that the choices made for the sector will largely depend on our country’s weight in this sector in Europe, especially since Italy’s footprint in fashion is largely related to the production line.” and director of global fashion.
The full list of speakers at the Venice Sustainable Fashion Forum will be announced closer to the event.
The best of WWD
Sign up for the WWD Newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest news.