Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges: Global Fashion Leaders Descend on Copenhagen to Unveil New Sustainability Insights and Initiatives
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, June 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- From 3-5 June, Global Fashion Summit: Copenhagen Edition 2025 convened over 1000 influential leaders from brands, retailers, NGOs, policymakers, manufacturers, innovators, and adjacent industries to advance collective action on fashion's sustainability challenges and opportunities. Presented by Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), the non-profit accelerating the transition to a net positive fashion industry, the forum was held at the iconic Copenhagen Concert Hall, with side events hosted at prestigious cultural venues around the city.
Building on 16 years of industry leadership, this year's Summit explored the theme 'Barriers and Bridges', shining a spotlight on the current obstacles holding the industry back and the collaborative solutions to mobilise action. The content addressed five key forces shaping fashion's future: Innovation, Capital, Courage, Incentives and Regulation. View the full programme here. Her Majesty The Queen of Denmark, a long-standing patron of GFA, attended the opening sessions and visited the Innovation Forum.
Attendees were inspired by over 100 speakers, including representatives from Kering, RE&UP, eBay, VEJA, the European Commission, GANNI, The Lycra Company, Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity, H&M Group, ExpectAI, Visa Europe, UN Environment Programme, Zalando, United Repair Centre, Target, and Artistic Milliners. See the full speaker list here.
Prominent brands and organisations unveiled new insights and initiatives at the event. Highlights include:
- Global Fashion Agenda, in collaboration with PDS Ventures, revealed the winner of the 2025 Trailblazer Programme, spotlighting an early-stage innovation with the potential to transform the fashion and textile industry. The winning company, Refiberd, will receive significant equity investment along with commercial and operational support to scale its solution. Read more.
- RE&UP revealed that it has become the first fibre producer globally to earn Cradle to Cradle Certified® for Product Circularity, validating its recycled cotton and polyester as fully circular. This industry-first milestone affirms RE&UP's leadership in scalable, credible fibre-to-fibre recycling, setting a new benchmark for circularity in fashion at industrial scale. Read more.
- The LYCRA Company in collaboration with Qore® will soon bring to market the world's first large-scale commercial production of bio-derived LYCRA® fibre made with QIRA®. By using dent corn as the feedstock, The LYCRA Company will replace a finite resource traditionally used to make LYCRA® fibre. Read more.
- Launched on 3 June, 'It takes many' is Zalando's second consumer sustainability behaviour report, exploring the persistent gap between consumer intentions and actions in fashion. Based on surveys and expert interviews, the report highlights key barriers and calls for collective, system-wide action from brands, policymakers, platforms, and consumers to enable more sustainable choices. Read more.
- Bio-design company Modern Meadow revealed INNOVERA™, a high-performance, animal-free material made from plant proteins, biopolymers and recycled rubber. With more than 80% renewable carbon content, it mimics leather's look and feel while reducing environmental impact. Ideal for fashion, automotive and more, INNOVERA™ is scalable and adaptable, blending innovation with tradition. Read more.
- With almost three decades of experience championing recommerce and the circular economy, eBay has built a suite of solutions to enable fashion brands to drive resale – from its brand outlet for excess inventory, to Imperfects for items that are slightly damaged but never-worn, to pre-loved take back solutions for brands, including its new partnership with Nobody's Child.
- WBCSD launched the Circular Transition Indicators (CTI) Sector Guidance for Fashion and Textile v2.0 to empower textile and fashion value-chain actors to unlock business value by embedding circular performance measurement into decision-making. It helps companies translate ambition into action, prepare for regulatory compliance and demonstrate tangible progress to investors and stakeholders. Read more.
- Fashion for Good and Arvind Limited announced the launch of Future Forward Factories, an ambitious initiative with two interconnected components: developing a comprehensive open-source blueprint for sustainable textile manufacturing and constructing a groundbreaking physical facility in Gujarat, India that proves these innovations work at commercial scale. Read more.
- One year on from the launch of The Fashion ReModel at Global Fashion Summit, The Ellen MacArthur Foundation released 'Scaling circular business models: a guide for fashion leaders', which equips fashion leaders with the insights and tools to embed circular business models into core strategy, make a compelling business case, and unlock financial and climate benefits. Read more.
With even more focus on innovation this year, the Innovation Forum returned with a dynamic showcase of 30 solution providers spanning the value chain, from next-generation materials to cutting-edge end-of-use technologies. Through guided tours and a tailored Matchmaking programme, more than 400 introductions were facilitated between relevant stakeholders and innovators.
The Summit also hosted 18 exclusive Leadership Roundtables, fostering frank, solution-focused dialogue among top decision-makers across public and private sectors. Highlights included 'Driving Decarbonisation: Corporate Financial Engagement', 'A People-Centric Transition', 'Climate Adaptation in Luxury Value Chains' and 'Local Solutions to a Global Problem', generating actionable insights and new collaborative pathways.
During the opening of the Summit, Federica Marchionni, CEO, Global Fashion Agenda, urged: "The only certainty in this uncertain world is climate change. Leadership is needed most in times of adversity. Now is the time for leadership to step up, assert your vision and courageously drive action on sustainability. Now is the moment to support tenacious leadership that breaks barriers and shows what's possible - remembering that true transformation comes from collaboration and collective courage."
For more information about the Summit visit globalfashionsummit.com. Learn more about Global Fashion Agenda at globalfashionagenda.org.
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