As part of 2022’s Clean Fashion Summit: aGREENculture, we explored the link between fashion and farming and invited guest speakers at the forefront of sourcing in fashion.
At Colèchi’s Clean Fashion Summit, we gathered an eclectic mix of industry professionals to present an entirely new perspective on the relationship between fashion and farming. From food marketing managers, to biomaterial developers and fibre consultants; the combination of industries provided a rich blend of perspectives on the current fashion crisis.
Our panel included Vlora Salihi, the Head of Commercial at Tony’s Chocolonely, who provided an invaluable insight into the parallels between the food and fashion industry, and how fashion supply chains can be inspired by the legislations present in food. Vlora put forward some really rich points about the importance of transparency within the supply chain, in light of Tony’s Chocolonely’s discovery of child labour in their supply chain. Following the talk, Colèchi’s Aaliyah wrote an article on why we chose not to cancel Tony’s, which can be read here.
Aurélie Fontan also joined us – the CEO and co-founder of the design lab Osmose. Her company (founded with Ashley granter, a mycelium expert) is remodelling the supply chain through farming material locally, with a focus on mushroom (mycelium) materials.
Maz Smith also joined the panel as someone who was previously a designer, and now is a sustainability consultant who is striving to change our attitudes toward fashion. Maz was inspired to pursue this industry after being faced with the challenges in sourcing and supply transparency when she was a designer. After lengthy amounts of research, she is now a strong voice in the fashion research world, and an advocate for transparency and traceability in fabrics.
Our final guest was Kaela Katz, the founder and CEO of FibreLab, a textile recycling start-up and sustainable fashion consultancy based in east London. Kaela was recently awarded the Mayor’s Entrepreneur Award for the Creative Industries for her innovative processes at Fibre Lab and has since been working closely with the industry to deliver an array of circular material solutions.
The discussions that stemmed from putting together this diverse group, led to some astute observations of what needs to be done to repair and progress our relationship with fashion and farming. To learn more, find the whole conversation below, led by Colèchi’s Tina Wetshi.
