The Fashion Institute of Technology’s 18th annual sustainable business and design conference will kick off on Tuesday and aims to address the key pillars of sustainability in both design and business.
The event, dubbed “Reimagining Our Future,” will focus on reshaping the industry’s future, highlighting practices and partnerships that disrupt the global supply chain. Industry leaders will discuss solutions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and overall global sustainability benchmarks, with sessions and keynotes illuminating collaborations that marry science with manufacturing.
“Within this year’s theme, it was really important for us to talk about the importance of reimagining all pieces of our design-related supply chain — looking at not just production or design, but looking at these intersections,” Karen Pearson, professor and chairperson, department of science and mathematics, and chair of the FIT Sustainability Council, told WWD sister publication Sourcing Journal. “One of the really special things important to note when we talk about sustainability is that it gives us a great opportunity to talk about cross-disciplinary collaborations.”
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With that in mind, the New York City school put together this program, organized by four key areas: the supply chain and business of the future, communication and global commitments in sustainability, design and eco-responsibility and collaborations and partnerships for change.
“This event is not just designed for the FIT student,” Pearson said. “This is designed because FIT is an innovation and thought leader hub for how the fashion industries are supporting our future; this event is really about that.”
The conference starts with a live recording of an episode for the “Dressed: The History Fashion” podcast, where executive producer and special collections associate/curator of manuscript collections/adjunct instructor, Gladys Marcus Library | Goodman Resource Center, April Calahan, will interview Rachel Slade, author of “Making It in America.” Following that, designer Hillary Taymour will discuss how Collina Strada and fashion itself is a tool for societal reflection during the “Environmentally Conscious Design” panel, before Gabriele Camozzi of the Albini Group will explore how textile mills can support sustainable solutions and production within the fashion industry during the “Supply Chain and Businesses of the Future” panel.
After lunch, Stacy Flynn, CEO and cofounder of Evrnu and FIT alum, will deliver the opening keynote. Flynn will discuss the Nucycl and Christoper Bevans hoodie partnership in a conversation moderated by Whitney Crutchfield, associate professor at FIT.
The next panel, “Reimagining our Future by Taking Care of the Present,” will see activists Rajiv Joshi, Vic Barrett and Sophia Kianni discuss the importance of “cultivating inner resilience” and connection to nature as a way to “deepen one’s work” in the climate crisis, moderated by FIT’s sustainability ambassador Amber Valletta.
Day One wraps with a conversation focusing on making global commitments before the last panel, “Building a New Business: Sustainability in Beauty and Fashion,” featuring Jesper Gudbergsen, editor in chief of Submission Beauty and Tania Ali, founder and CEO of Cadre Style, discussing how to disrupt the standard model.
Day Two will discuss innovation and collaboration and explore how the industry is developing, building and producing new materials.
“Innovation for Eco-Design” will see Aleks Gosiewski of Keel Labs and Chui-Lian Lee of Werewool discuss material innovation before Melody Serafino, cofounder of No. 29 Communications will, in conversation with Dana Davis of Mara Hoffman, chat about the importance of collaboration between businesses, brands and communications.
“No. 29 Communications is so unique because they’re only accepting brands in their portfolio that are hitting sustainability targets in a meaningful way,” Pearson said. “That was part of why we wanted to showcase that story and talk about how they built a brand with those missions and continue to promote that.”
The subsequent panel, “Designing Eco-Inspired Spaces,” will see Dr. Tuwanda Green of Virginia Tech College and Robert Hammond of the Therme Group discuss biophilic building principles, highlighting the tenets of the architectural style that emphasizes a building’s natural qualities.
The lunchtime session for Day Two is “really a focus group,” Pearson said, “where we have people coming to talk in sort sessions about partnerships and collaborations with big brands.”
Following that, Kimberly Jenkins of the Fashion and Race Database and Julie Mastrarrigo of ReMade New York will have an “important conversation” on the intersections between clothing, politics, race, psychology and anthropology.
Next on the docket is the “Fashion Innovation Center” panel, which will highlight collaborations and partnerships that drive change and the importance of supporting this consortium, which New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced last September.
American model Cameron Russell will be the conference’s closing keynote speaker, discussing her book “How to Make Herself Agreeable to Everyone” as well as her work within the industry —and how she used her first-hand experiences to push for change and activism within the space.
“Attendees will come to hear these perspectives and to hear how people are making change,” Pearson said. “My hope is that somebody could look at this and see that many industries are represented, that it’s not just fashion design.”
Since 2006, FIT has organized and hosted a sustainable business and design conference, sharing student projects, cross-institutional research and industry partnerships to explore solutions to the industry’s most pressing challenges. Every year, FIT picks a thematic that focuses on a specific topic, Pearson said. This year’s case was about looking at the circularity and partnerships across the entire supply chain.
“But in many cases, it turns out that over the last few years, you could find similarities in many of our thematics — that they’re all driving toward this need to be an agent for change,” she continued. “We really want to be having a contribution. We need to be actually having these conversations and thinking about these things in ways that are accessible, tangible and possible.”