Whilst news of the G7 summit has largely circulated around the behaviour of American president Donald Trump, there has been something positive to take away, and it’s fashion-related.
The host of this year’s summit, France’s president Emmanuel Macron, made headlines across the industry when he announced his Fashion Pact, a sustainable set of goals for the fashion industry which aim to avert the climate crisis largely caused by the industry by promoting a safer future for our environment as well as consumers.
The shared set of objectives has been long deliberated and is highly considered by key figures within the industry. The Pact was announced three months after Macron selected Kering CEO and chairman François-Henri Pinault to work on the project, commissioning him to assemble the 150-strong coalition at Copenhagen’s Fashion Summit.
As elaborated by Pinault to American Vogue, “Despite what we’re doing [to reduce our impact alone], things are not moving. We really need to define targets together. The first stage is to choose three or four objectives that are top priority for the industry and commit to working towards them together to find solutions. I’m [confident] we will reach a level that none of us individually could reach by working alone.”
Whilst the market is rooted on competition, Pinault urges brands to work together, with a particular focus on utilising shared resources instead of resorting to secrecy and PR deception. None of the brands included are from Kering’s rival LVMH group, although Stella McCartney signed into the coalition, after recently leaving LVMH for Kering. The influential brands to join the Pact include Gucci, Chanel, Tapestry (owners of Coach and Kate Spade), Nike, Alexander McQueen, Prada, Hermès, Ermenegildo Zegna, Burberry, Gap, Zara, Nordstrom, and Capri Holdings (which owns Michael Kors, Jimmy Choo and Versace).
And the Pact is not just a marketing ploy. Developed around three science-based targets, the Pact aims to have a direct positive impact on our environment rather than primarily targeting industry gain.
The Pact aims to address global warming with the objective of achieving zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, restoring biodiversity with a particular focus on materials and protecting species, and preserving our ocean through reducing fashion’s strenuous use of single-use plastics (already practiced by Stella McCartney who up-cycles materials and has eliminated the use of virgin plastics). The Pact is highly promising – and we can only hope that it carries through its promise into practice.
