Fashiondex and LIM College’s annual fashion and sustainability summit will move to a weekly series format from a one-day, on-campus event, organizers said today, adding that 20 weekly sessions will be done via Zoom and run from July 9 through Nov. 19 from 1 to 2 p.m. EST.
Organizers said the “Fashion and Sustainability Summit 2020 Series” will feature solutions-focused sessions in which fashion companies will share their actions, approaches and lessons learned when running a business with environmental and social responsibility in mind.”
The series will showcase speakers such as Amy Hall, vice president of social consciousness at Eileen Fisher; Rachel K. Lincoln, director of sustainability at PrAna Living; Sara Kozlowski, director of education and sustainable strategies at the CFDA; Lewis Perkins, president of the Apparel Impact Institute; Megan Stoneburner Azim, director of sustainability and sourcing at Outerknown; Lisa Diegel, senior sustainability manager at Marc Jacobs, and Elizabeth Pulos, who works on social responsibility and sustainable supply chains at Macy’s, among others.
Related Galleries
LIM College faculty members will serve as presenters of the series, which the organizers said will cover “best practices and tangible solutions such as supply chain transparency, green chemistry, advances in technology and zero-waste design.”
The series will also explore sustainability “not only from an ethical perspective, but also from a business point of view, as consumers have demonstrated that they want to do business with companies that take the health of the environment seriously.”
Moving the event — which is in its third year — to a virtual format follows other event organizers and businesses who have shifted plans amid the COVID-19 outbreak. And in regard to the summit’s themes around sustainability, the pandemic has not slowed the pace of efforts by companies to implement better, greener practices.
Andrea Kennedy, founder and sustainability lead at Fashiondex and a professor at LIM College, said actions toward “sustainability in fashion are urgent.”
“Even a pandemic cannot stop the work needed to transform our industry,” Kennedy said. “Our weekly series will showcase brands, innovators and agents of change who are working in the sustainable fashion realm successfully and profitably. Even though we are not able to hold this annual event on campus, the speakers and topics still need to be heard.”
Fashiondex is a publisher of various trade books, directories and resource guides. The offerings also include books formerly published by Fairchild Fashion Group, parent of WWD.
The summit said the event offers a chance for students to practice experiential learning. Elizabeth S. Marcuse, president of LIM College, said consistent with the college’s “philosophy of learning by doing, our students will take on very active roles in the Fashion and Sustainability Summit 2020 Series, both as moderators and attendees. As future leaders of the fashion business, we expect our students to put the knowledge they gain from these conversations into action when they launch their own careers.”