PARIS — Five years ago, a small but important group of industry stakeholders came together to create Paris Good Fashion with the aim of pushing the Paris-based fashion industry towards more sustainable practices. It had around 10 founding members, including LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Galeries Lafayette, and had an initial roadmap to conclude ahead of this year’s Olympic Games.
“We set ourselves the challenge of becoming the sustainable capital of fashion and we think we have achieved our mission,” former fashion journalist Isabelle Lefort, co-founder of Paris Good Fashion, said ahead of an event earlier this week to outline the project’s achievements and highlights. road map for the next half decade. “More than 100 companies are now members of the association; Our members represent approximately 60 percent of industry revenues,” Lefort said.
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The aim is to share best practices, concrete initiatives and co-create new ideas to enable the industry as a whole to reduce its environmental impact. From startups to luxury conglomerates, each member’s voice carries the same weight, making it easier to make even trades. The approach has resulted in about 40 different concrete actions over the past five years, Lefort said. “By working together on specific, concrete issues, we can move the needle on the industry.”
For example, a pilot to reduce and recycle plastic bags and coat hangers in retail sales in the Paris region led to a reduction of 21 tonnes of plastic waste. Members also created a sustainable fashion dictionary of 355 definitions agreed upon by all members to ensure everyone speaks the same language. Information from the initiative is available to both members and non-members through the organization’s website or through open source tools. “There are a lot of things we can leverage and share,” Lefort said.
The organization also has the support of the mayor of Paris, IFM, Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, creative platform Eyes on Talent and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Chanel, Etam, Kering and Richemont are also among its largest corporate members.
While Lefort believes that the organization has achieved its initial goals, it now plans to go even further and draw a new roadmap for 2030. One of its first initiatives will be the creation of a method called the “ACT Methodology” for similar fashion and luxury industries. A framework that will help those created for the energy or paper industries, for example, provide concrete measurement tools for industry players to reduce their environmental footprint.
“This is an internationally recognized methodology for measuring the reliability of companies’ decarbonization strategies,” Lefort explained. “It has been done in sectors such as energy, paper, and it has happened for the first time in fashion. Today, about 12 companies are working on this, including LVMH, Chanel, Richemont, Etam, Galeries Lafayette and La Poste. Starting in February, we will hold public consultation for two months so that all companies in France and abroad can participate. “The second part in April and May will feature around 15 international companies who will trial the methodology to make it available internationally,” he continued.
This is particularly vital given that new European regulations on traceability and sustainability reporting will leave their mark on fashion players operating across Europe in the next few years.
“A year ago, we conducted a survey on the progress of all our members. In five years everyone will be familiar with eco-design, traceability etc. made progress on these issues. But there was no common framework, there was no harmony,” said Lefort. “Today, traceability and measurement with the ACT Methodology means everyone has to be compliant. If we want to move forward, we need to be able to measure. “We need to be able to provide concrete evidence of our actions.”
He continued: “To convince people, you need to be able to measure the impact of the transition, how much it will cost, what the return will be, what the added value of the products will be.”
Following a survey of members, one of the top priorities for the next five years will be to work on inclusivity, with the potential implementation of educational programs to help the industry better approach the issue.
Another 2030 goal is to be an example to the rest of the world. “We aim to make Paris the capital of sustainable fashion,” Lefort said. Sustainable fashion expert François Souchet, who previously worked at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, began working with the organization in January with just this in mind. “We must promote and strengthen these tools internationally,” Lefort said.
“There is extraordinary dynamism in France, thanks in part to legislators who are among the most encouraging compared to the EU and the rest of the world, and large French companies that are strongly represented in the luxury goods industry, which means financial instruments.” and there are reporting obligations,” Lefort said. “We need to be able to create valid metrics for everyone, not just in France but also internationally. That’s why Paris needs to lead by example.”
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