The Future of Fashion | Stitching the Gaps Between Sustainable Ambition and Business Reality

 The Future of Fashion

Stitching the Gaps Between Sustainable Ambition and Business Reality

Wednesday 25th November | 6:30pm | Science Gallery, London

For the first time, EDHEC Business School and King's Business School are joining forces through their respective sustainability centres, the Centre for Net Positive Business and the Centre for Sustainable Business, to host a flagship event bringing together leading researchers and industry practitioners to challenge conventional thinking about fashion's future. 

Seven years on from the Fashion Pact*, the industry remains built on overproduction and overconsumption. More than 100 billion garments** are produced globally each year, while 92 million tonnes of textile waste are generated worldwide annually***.

At the same time, new technologies, materials, circular business models and changing consumer behaviours are disrupting the industry. The challenge now is to harness these forces of disruption and turn them into lasting positive transformation: rethinking how value is created, how consumers engage with fashion, and how researchers, businesses, entrepreneurs and policymakers can reshape the system together.

Join us for a unique opportunity to:

• Learn from leading academic research: hear directly from researchers at EDHEC Business School and King's Business School as they set the scene and challenge established thinking.  
• Hear from industry practitioners: discover how established fashion businesses, entrepreneurs and emerging players are experimenting with new models and turning bold ideas into action.  
• Connect with the ecosystem shaping fashion's future: meet researchers, business leaders, entrepreneurs, alumni and other practitioners during the networking reception. 

The discussion will be followed by an open Q&A and a networking reception.


SPEAKERS:

Welcome remarks and panel moderation by Dr Gillian Brooks, Senior Lecturer in Strategic Marketing, King’s Business School.

Academic keynote

• Professor Arne De Keyser, Professor of Marketing, EDHEC Business School
• Dr Catherine Tilley, Impact Director, Centre for Sustainable Business, King’s Business School

Industry panel

• Tommaso Sica, Head of Circularity & New Business Models, Chloé 
• Julie Tyrrell, Head of e-Commerce & Retail Sustainability, Oxfam
• Katharine Beacham, Head Of Materials and Sustainability, Marks and Spencer
• Romain Liot, Entrepreneur, author of Reset Fashion (EDHEC 2004)

Tickets are complimentary and spaces are limited. Save your seat today!

Practical information 

• Date : Wednesday 25th November, 6:30pm 
• Location: Boland House, Great Maze Pond, SE1 9GU London
• Tube stations: London Bridge 
  
• Image rights: By registering for this event, you authorise EDHEC Alumni to take photos during this event in which you may appear and to use this image on its communication media for a period of 3 years.

If you need help to register for the event or any information, please contact Anaëlle Léost, Engagement and Operations Coordinator in London: anaelle.leost@edhec.edu


COMMUNITY PARTNERS

* Fashion pact, 2019 
** GFA’s Pulse Reports (2017-2019)
*** Ellen MacArthur Foundation, A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future 2017