On the second day of Europe’s largest responsible sourcing show, thousands of attendees from various brands and retailers such as Clarks, French Connection, Lyle & Scott, Paul Smith, PepsiCo, Reiss, Jaded, River Island, Sainsburys, Very Group, AX Paris, Debenhams, Hunter, Boden, Amazon, and many more gathered at Olympia London. Source Fashion ready to source from a world of responsible fashion and listen to industry leaders.
Setting the Agenda
With a strong emphasis on trends, regulation, and big brand ideology, the seminar program covered a wide range of subjects, such as the effects of artificial intelligence, updates on important laws and policies, cooperation and fashion integrity, and big-brand approaches to sustainability with Next Retail and PepsiCo.
Suzanne Ellingham, Event Director of Source Fashion says, “An amazing day of discussions revolved around the notion that improving the fashion industry requires cooperation, sharing best practices, education, and storytelling. There is a need and a want to conduct much better business, and I am fairly certain that these changes are becoming more and more likely in light of new legislation and the chance to have candid discussions. We are establishing an environment at the show where the industry can come together and discuss the big concerns as well as the success stories in a safe space, which excites me about the interest our guests have in listening and learning.
Attendees crowded the stage to listen to fashion campaigner Caryn Franklin MBE speak with Nick Beighton, the former CEO of ASOS, providing us with an exclusive look into a private area. “Leadership isn’t a right, it’s a privilege, you have to do something with it,” Beighton stated in reference to his leadership approach. When he was originally appointed CEO of ASOS, he stated that he wanted the company to be mission-led and values-driven; he also wanted the company to think differently about how to use skills, motivate employees, and operate as an ethically-minded fashion brand.
Asked how to educate shareholders out of profit greed, he responded, “I’m an unashamed capitalist but capitalism creates problems and issues. Conscious capitalism overall gets better results. I reconcile it with creating a purpose for a brand. Purpose should drive profit, not profit driving purpose. We can use capitalism to change the agenda and future-proof business. It can enrich and change the ecosystem.”
Pressed on the subject of degrowth and the idea that we need to produce less, Beighton responded saying, “I don’t think we should make less, I think we should make better. Make garments in a transparent way where you know where the materials are grown, you know the conditions of the factory. Imagine the farm and factory had glass walls – if you could see everything going on in there would you still want that garment?”
He added, “There is no competitive advantage to abusing the planet. We need to collaborate for better solutions on everything from packaging to plastics.” Franklin invited Beighton to comment on proximity sourcing, he said, “The P&L works, the agility works, there’s nothing faster than UK sourcing.
The morning sessions began with an intriguing trend presentation by Insider Trends’ Jack Stratten, who discussed the value of storytelling, history, and tradition in reaction to the rise of AI-fueled fast-fashion. Consumers that engage in polarized spending choose smaller, more ethically-minded businesses in addition to inexpensive ones like Shein and Temu, but they become confused by the abundance of options. According to Stratten, there is less brand loyalty the more brands there are. Numerous brands are competing in the market to reach consumers. Brands that are successful make narrative investments. Clients seek more than just lower prices. Cheap doesn’t convey any meaning.
Mike Coates, Assistant Director of Fashion Retail Enforcement at the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) delivered a comprehensive presentation on tackling greenwashing, the Green Claims Code guidance, and their fashion investigations. He said, “Businesses are going to have to come together and collaborate to achieve the step changes they need to make. It is the holy grail to be able to show the consumer an entire product journey.”
The big brand approach continued in the afternoon with a fireside chat with Jo Mourant, Head of Sustainability and Product at Next Retail. Mourant shared hers and the retailer’s responsible sourcing journey and discussed the challenges and opportunities facing the business and the industry as a whole, from legislation and the need for accurate data to sharing best practice and collaborating.
Hayley Shore, Design Director at PepsiCo followed, also highlighting the need for collaboration, with learning and shared knowledge around traceability and transparency transferable between FMCG and fashion brands. Shore proudly displayed pieces from a new Pepsi fashion collection which has mostly been produced in the UK or Europe, with offcuts and waste being re-used in the next collection. She says on the creation process, “It’s important to ask ‘who’s making it, what’s the footprint, what’s the products lifecycle, is it fit for purpose, why are we making it, and are we giving ourselves enough lead times to create it in a better way. It’s also about educating our partners to invest more in the process of making things better.”
Shore also shared her experience of the show, “Source Fashion has provided so much information to us already around the sustainable fashion space. From the first event we attended in February, to now, we see that the whole space is constantly growing, and we are really excited to grow with that.”
Caryn Franklin returned to the stage for a conversation with Tina Wetshi, Creative Director of Colechi. Wetshi is dedicated to displaying the intersection of culture and politics through art and fashion. In this session, Caryn and Tina discussed the roles and relationships that fashion symbolises by forming new connections across the fashion supply chain including re-establishing the link between agriculture and fashion. Wetshi says, “We understand the link with food, that what we eat affects us, but it’s not an open topic in fashion. Fashion needs to operate within nature, and we need to re-humanise it.”
