Kering links with LCF's sustainability centre on Governance for Tomorrow programme
©Kering
Kering and the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at London College of Fashion, UAL (University of the Arts London), announced the launch of a groundbreaking new programme called Governance for Tomorrow (GFT) on Wednesday. This innovative initiative aims to tackle governance in the luxury fashion sector, which remains one of the most potent yet unexplored avenues for fostering sustainable transformation within the industry.
The GFT programme is designed to convene leading experts from various sectors along with visionary change-makers. Together, they will research, apply, test, and implement new alternative governance models that prioritize the earth and equity at the core of decision-making in the fashion industry. The partners emphasized that the launch of GFT comes at a pivotal moment for the fashion industry, which has made some progress but still lags in addressing key sustainability concerns such as responsible production and consumption, decarbonizing supply chains, and ensuring living wages for garment workers.
Industry reports cited by the partners highlight the urgent need for alternative governance frameworks. These reports indicate that extreme climate events could jeopardize an estimated $65 billion of apparel exports by 2030. Furthermore, recent news of investors divesting from numerous fashion companies due to slow progress on environmental and social issues underscores the imperative for the fashion industry to explore new governance models.
Over three years, GFT will bring together experts and other stakeholders to develop interdisciplinary knowledge, practical demonstrators, and a leading industry education programme that explores alternative governance models. Combining speculative design and participatory methodology, the programme will research, apply, test, and realize new governance models based on academics' calls for interspecies, intergenerational, and intragenerational (3I) justice to serve as the foundation for realizing a safe and just earth system boundaries.
The 3I non-executive experimental board will explore governance through the lens of 3I justice, emphasizing the importance of justice, fairness, and equity for all communities and species as essential to maintaining the balance of Earth's natural systems. The Centre for Sustainable Fashion has issued an open call to visionary change-makers from across industries, inviting them to join GFT's Stewardship Board. These boards will serve as platforms for transformation, bringing together a diverse range of change-makers to co-create bold solutions that address the complex challenges of the fashion system.
