Fashion Summit 2019 To Be Held To Achieve The United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals

CHINA – 4 September 2019 – Asia’s largest sustainable fashion event, Fashion Summit (HK) 2019 (“the Summit”), will be held on 5^th and 6^thSeptember at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. With a theme of “Achieving the Goals”, the Summit will bring together guest speakers from around the world to present the latest achievements regarding sustainable development in the fashion industry, and explore practical solutions and future directions for further promoting sustainable development.

Announcement of the survey results on the progress of fashion brands in attaining the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals
The theme “Achieving the Goals” of Fashion Summit (HK) 2019 takes its inspiration from the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”) laid down by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations in 2015. The goals address various global challenges including poverty, inequality and environmental protection, and urge nations to take action.

This year, the Summit has conducted the ” Effectiveness and Transparency of Fashion Brands’ Sustainability Measures” survey with KPMG to assess the progress and achievements of fashion brands with regard to the 17 SDGs. The survey results will be announced on the opening day of the Summit (5 Sep) and are expected to drive discussions and evaluations of the results of these sustainability measures and the way-forward for sustainable fashion.

Signing of the UN’s “Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action” by Hong Kong manufacturers
The Summit will also witness a momentous occasion in which a group of Hong Kong garment manufacturers will put their signature to the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action that was launched at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poland (“COP24”) last year.

Joining over 40 global fashion brands such as Adidas, Burberry, Esprit, H&M and Hugo Boss as signatories to the Charter, these Hong Kong companies include American & Efird (HK) Limited, Clover Group International Limited, Hanbo Enterprises Limited, Lever Style Inc. and Sustainable Fashion Business Consortium (SFBC). Their signatures will signify Hong Kong’s commitment to this important international charter.

Active discussion on key issues by industry members
The 2-day conference will present a series of keynote speeches and panel discussions for addressing key topics of fashion’s sustainable development, such as “Enabling Sustainability in Global Supply Chains”, ” Sustainable Tech Development from a Brand Perspective” and “The Way-forward to Achieve the Sustainability Goals” on Day 1; and “Techstyle for Sustainability”, “Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Sustainable Fashion Education”, “Getting Sustainable Fashion to Market” and “Small Steps, Big Impact, Act Together!” on Day 2.

On the opening day (5 Sep), Ms. Karen Ho, Head of Corporate and Community Sustainability of WWF Hong Kong, Ms. Jennifer Tam, Business Development Director of Chickslifestyle and Mr. Amit Gautam, CEO & Founder of TextileGenesis, will share the example of local brand Chickslifestyle as a successful case of blockchain’s application in the tracing of a product’s material supplies and production process , in the panel discussion “Collaboration for Nature and People — A Blockchain Pilot Case Sharing”.

Besides, in the first panel discussion on Day 2 (6 Sep) “The Positioning of Asia-Pacific in Fashion Sustainability”, Dr. Alison Gwilt, Associate Professor of Design, University of New South Wales will summarize the successful experience of Australia and discuss the way-forward for Hong Kong’s sustainable fashion together with other fashion industry representatives.

Fashion Summit (HK) is organized by the Clothing Industry Training Authority (CITA) , the Office of Hon . Felix Chung Kwok-pan, Member of Legislative Council, The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA), Redress, Sustainable Fashion Business Consortium (SFBC) and WWF-Hong Kong, and funded by CreateHK.

Appendix: Fashion Summit (HK) 2019 Programme
Day 1: 5^th September 2019 (Thursday)

Day 2: 6^th September 2019 (Friday)