Two events in one

After the amazing experience in Copenhagen last summer, The ID Factory flew to the other side of the world to attend the first edition of the Global Fashion Summit in Singapore.

This is our diary of those days.

This edition was even more special because, before the Global Fashion Summit (November 3rd), the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) was held on November 1-2.

What is it about?

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition is an industry-wide group of leading apparel and footwear brands, retailers, manufacturers, non-governmental organizations, academic experts, and government organizations working to reduce the environmental and social impacts of apparel, footwear, and textile products around the world.

Members collaborate to develop the Higg Index, a suite of tools that enables brands, retailers, and facilities of all sizes — at every stage in their sustainability journey — to accurately measure and score a company or product’s sustainability performance.

In this annual meeting, whose theme was Collective Action on Common Ground, around 500 representatives from the global fashion industry, from brands and retailers to manufacturers and affiliates, came together to find common ground on sustainability issues.

Bringing together the entire apparel sector value chain at a critical moment in the escalation of the climate crisis and human rights violations, the event focused on a collective commitment to drive urgent actions.

“We will not succeed in solving systemic challenges if we are stuck in the same loops, unwilling and unable to move forward from entrenched positions. Instead, we need to learn how to embrace feedback and transform it into opportunities, always moving towards our shared objectives – creating the delicate balance between advocating and listening.”

Amina Razvi, CEO at Sustainable Apparel Coalition

To read more about this year’s edition of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, click here.

The importance of data: measurement, data accuracy, and data scarcity

After the SAC, on November 3rd, we took part in the new edition of the Global Fashion Summit, for the first time an international event.

The program featured bold panels, case studies, masterclasses, and leadership roundtables reflecting on topics including Data Scarcity: A Crisis of Measurement?, Disruption for Better Wage Systems, Community and Circularity, Connecting the EU Textiles Strategy with the Value Chain, and Our Energy Transformation Moment.

Over 50 speakers have discussed and based their speeches on the issue of the importance of data.

It is necessary to pay new and greater attention to measurement, both in terms of the supply chain and of qualitative evaluation of the data, because a number is a number and in order for it to acquire value, it must be explained.

“[…] From our new alliance with the BBC Storyworks Commercial Productions and discussions around robust data to vital conversations about better wages and kickstarting the Global Circular Fashion Forum in Vietnam and Cambodia. As the focus shifts from words to deeds, we look forward to witnessing the ambitious and much-needed actions we inspire from the Summit, that not only reduce harm but also deliver positive impact for the environment and societies.”

Federica Marchionni, CEO at Global Fashion Agenda

This edition of the Global Fashion Summit was set in a super welcoming space, which gave way to talking with all the brands present.

The ID Factory was, in fact, one of the four innovation providers present at the forum, and for us, it was an opportunity to illustrate our technological solutions, as well as to tell our mission to make the fashion industry as traceable and transparent as possible.

Below you can find just a few highlights.

Global Fashion Summit: highlights

• Global Fashion Agenda announced a new alliance with BBC Storyworks Commercial Productions to launch a film series on BBC.com, which is currently in the early stages of development. The new series will present human-centric stories focusing on both social and environmental sustainability in the fashion industry. It will be released to a wide audience in 2023.

• Federica Marchionni outlined the crucial need for accurate and robust data to substantiate sustainability claims and credentials but acknowledged that the focus on finding ‘perfect’ data cannot be allowed to stifle progress.

• The session Establishing circular fashion systems in Cambodia & Vietnam outlined the first steps taken by the Global Circular Fashion Forum to establish circular fashion systems in Vietnam and Cambodia with regional stakeholders, government, and brand and manufacturer representation.

• Throughout the Summit, the Innovation Forum connected fashion companies with sustainable solution providers. Exhibitors included Better Work, Circular Fashion Partnership, Compreli, Kno Global, Planatones by Noyon Lanka, Redress Design Award, and us.

• Through conversations such as Disruption for Better Wage Systems and Empowering the Worker Majority, there was a resounding message for people to consider the real people in the value chain. Ensuring dignified livelihoods for these workers should have the same sense of urgency as emissions reductions.

For more information, we refer you to the article on the Global Fashion Summit by Global Fashion Agenda.

Our main takeaways

And about the speeches that followed during the Global Fashion Summit, here’s what we took home:

“One of the challenges we’re facing in the fashion industry today is that we are very good at looking at data from a digital perspective. But a lot of the most meaningful data is collected in an analog way. If we can find a way to converge the data science we have on the digital side with the collection and integrity of analog data, this would provide us with more information to make better business decisions, and better choices regarding the production of materials, garments, and sourcing decisions. And, at the end of the day, better investment decisions. Only by investing in those decisions, we can create the change we all want to see in the fashion industry.”

Sean Cady, Vice President, Global Sustainability, Responsibility and Trade, VF Corporation

This is one of the speeches that we appreciated the most because it fits with what we do: talking about the collection of analog data in factories and support for digitization even in developing counties.

“[…] don’t look only at the quality of data, but also at the context and how these data are taken.”

Jeffrey Hsu, Data Product Lead at Apollo.io

This intervention underlines how important is not only data accuracy but also transparency in communicating and contextualizing data. An example above all is the digital product passport.

“[…] System integration and data interoperability are key to INCLUDE ESG data measurement throughout the supply chain and digitalization plays a key role to achieve this purpose.”

Pamela Mar, Managing Director at Digital Standards Initiative

Finally, the importance of digitization is emphasized here, the concept of data integration and support for the digitization of the supply chain, which are the pillars of what we do.

If you are looking for a solution to the traceability problem, you want to know how to collect data properly and you want to map all your tiers, book a free demo call with us.