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The next generation of fashion leaders from around the globe will gather for this year’s Copenhagen Fashion Summit, where young talents will draft and negotiate the first-ever United Nations resolution on fashion.

In the days prior to the world’s leading event on sustainable fashion, Copenhagen Fashion Summit, students from around the world will gather in the Danish capital for the fourth edition of Youth Fashion Summit taking place on 9-10 May 2017. Young industry talents will engage in discussions about the challenged industry they will soon inherit and about how to address the major problems of fashion manufacturing and consumption.

Drafting the first-ever UN resolution on fashion
At last year’s Youth Fashion Summit, the students explored how the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent opportunities for companies to align their sustainability goals with broader societal aims: from gender equality and poverty reduction to responsible consumption and climate action. This year, the same students have been invited back to transform their ideas and demands for corporate action on the SDGs into a proposed UN draft resolution — the first-ever concerning fashion.

The resolution will be negotiated with industry leaders such as H&M and Swarovski, and NGOs such as Greenpeace on 10 May 2017 before being presented on stage at Copenhagen Fashion Summit on 11 May. Later this year, the resolution will be presented to the UN in New York.

Leading fashion industry players supporting the youth
The Youth Fashion Summit is a collaboration between Global Fashion Agenda and Copenhagen School of Design and Technology (KEA) in partnership with Swarovski. As one of the principal sponsors of the Copenhagen Fashion Summit 2017, Swarovski will open the Youth Fashion Summit with Dax Lovegrove, Global Vice President of Corporate Sustainability and Social Responsibility, providing a key note speech; and fashion and sustainability experts from Swarovski will assist the students in drafting their resolutions to be presented to the UN.

Nadja Swarovski, Member of the Swarovski Executive Board, says: “This year we are truly proud to support the Youth Fashion Summit, to empower the voice of future generations, who will continue to lead this fight for a sustainable fashion industry in the years to come.”

Also fighting for a sustainable fashion industry are renowned fashion industry names like Susie Lau (also known as Susie Bubble), who is the Youth Fashion Summit ambassador, and Simon Collins, the former dean of the School of Fashion at Parsons School of Design, who will give inspirational talks at the Youth Fashion Summit.

Educators and academic leaders also gather
Not only students but also educators and fashion education leaders will meet prior to Copenhagen Fashion Summit for their respective events, Educators Summit and Academic Leaders Roundtable.

While the Educators Summit is a platform for teachers to exchange ideas and experiences on how to effectively teach sustainability and to build a strong international network around it, the Academic Leaders Roundtable convenes the most influential decision-makers from across fashion education, industry and non-governmental organisations for an intimate discussion informing the development of sustainability in global fashion.

Both events, which will take place on 10 May 2017, are being held in partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Fashion.

For more information about Swarovski, please visit www.swarovskigroup.com

For more information about Copenhagen Fashion Summit, please visit copenhagenfashionsummit.com/join-in

Practical information
Copenhagen Fashion Summit
Date: 11 May 2017
Location: Copenhagen Concert Hall

Swarovski

Swarovski

Swarovski delivers a diverse portfolio of unmatched quality, craftsmanship, and creativity. Founded in 1895 in Austria, Swarovski designs, manufactures and markets high-quality crystals, genuine gemstones and created stones as well as finished products such as jewelry, accessories and lighting. Now run by the fifth generation of family members, Swarovski Crystal Business has a global reach with approximately 2,560 stores in around 170 countries, more than 25,000 employees, and revenue of about 2.33 billion euros in 2014. Together with its sister companies Swarovski Optik (optical devices) and Tyrolit (abrasives), Swarovski Crystal Business forms the Swarovski Group. In 2014, the Group generated revenue of about 3.05 billion euros and employed more than 30,000 people. A responsible relationship with people and the planet is an integral part of Swarovski’s heritage. The global Swarovski Waterschool education programme has reached 257,000 children on the world’s greatest rivers, and the Swarovski Foundation incorporated in 2013, works to support culture and creativity, promote wellbeing, and conserve natural resources to achieve positive social impact.

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