The Telegraph’s Responsible Fashion Forum

As fashion and its unsustainable practices hit the media headlines once again today (18^th June 2019, with the government rejecting the suggestion of a 1p surcharge on every garment sold in order to help fund clothing recycling and collection schemes), FashionCapital’s CEO Jenny Holloway joined 35+ leading speakers at The Telegraph’s Responsible Fashion Forum.

Taking place at Jumeirah Carlton Tower in London, the forum provided a unique opportunity to connect with the entire supply chain – brands, retailers, senior policy makers, suppliers, manufacturers – and explore best-practice, address the lack of benchmarking and how educating a new generation of designers can ensure a more ethical and sustainable future for the fashion industry.

Bethan Holt, Fashion News and Features Director at The Telegraph opened the day-long event, while Arizona Muse, Model and Sustainability Advocate added her keynote address on ‘acting beyond the awareness in the public consciousness.’ It was then Jenny’s turn to have her say alongside Chris Turner, Executive Director, B Corp and Aruna Kashyap, Senior Counsel, Women’s Rights Division, Human Rights Watch for the first panel discussion of the day. Jenny was frank and forthcoming voicing her opinion on what the industry needs to do to ensure better practice and to set a global standard for fashion sustainability. The group also discussed the need for accountability and how the industry needs to up its game in terms of suppliers or brands that are working unethically.

The highly informative and pro-active day really covered some leading issues affecting today’s fashion industry from supply chain transparency to economic, environmental, social and cultural impacts. It was fantastic to see so many influential figures taking part in this lively discussion from Baroness Lola Young of Hornsey, Sara Thornton, Independent Anti-slavery Commissioner, Alan Wheeler, Director, Textile Recycling Association to Tamara Cincik, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Fashion Roundtable, Orsola de Castro, Co-founder, Fashion Revolution amongst many others.

Jenny Holloway said: “Fast fashion does not mean throw away fashion.  At Fashion Enter it’s about speed of response. Speed of response is perfect for such a volatile market such as the one we are in right now. Risk is lowered with more styles, more often, but reduced quantity so retailers sell out, there is no need to discount or have piles of unwanted stock. What does ethical really mean?  For us it’s transparency and that’s Galaxius. There is no excuse not to know who made my clothes in the UK. Thanks to the Galaxius System we know who created every stitch at our ethical factory based in North London.

“I am amazed more retailers are not vertically integrating backwards and buying manufacturing companies.  That’s where the skills are. With Brexit uncertainty anything could happen. Delayed transport. Tariffs.  Admin and bureaucracy. The industry can work in an ethical, sustainable manner, the problem is many have a system in place that is outdated and change is needed across the board.”