THE INDUSTRY UNITES AT PURE LONDON TO SUPPORT #POWEROFONE AND OFFER SOLUTIONS FOR CHANGE
What pledge will you make?
The fashion industry united at Pure London this week, the largest festival of fashion that included sourcing and manufacturing expo Pure Origin, to champion the Power of One campaign advancing the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development. The three-day event at London Olympia welcomed thousands of buyers and influencers, new sectors and new brands, inspiring speakers and leading change-makers putting the future and how to make it sustainable, circular and inclusive top of the agenda.
Retailers including John Lewis, House of Fraser, ASOS, Topshop, Miss Selfridges, Quiz, Matchesfashion.com, White Stuff, Paul Smith, and Victoria Beckham attended, while across the three stages topics including diversity, body shape, ethics and environmental issues were discussed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Professor Caryn Franklin MBE, Hilary Alexander OBE, Scarlett Curtis, Orsola de Castro, and Tamsin Lejeune – each one making their Power of One pledge
The Power of One is designed to galvanise the fashion industry into making it more ethical, sustainable and inclusive – championing individual actions and powerful steps to collectively create a better, more sustainable future for our world. Pure London invited everyone to adopt one of five simple pledges – Get Dirty, Turn It Down, Pass It On, Ethicool, and Actually I Can to advance the UN’s Global Goal 12 for Responsible Consumption and Production. The Power of One organic pledge t-shirts made by I Dress Myself were available with a £3 donation per t-shirt going to charity Labour Behind the Label.
A huge increase in brands with an ethical standpoint and environmentally-made collections exhibited this season as part of the new Pure Conscious section, demonstrating the pace of growth and interest in this sector as it drives to become the norm.
Future trends by WGSN were brought to life on the catwalk with a special appearance from Graduate Fashion Week winners and graduates, including Aurelie Fontan who showcased a collection made from home-grown biomaterials to demonstrate the possibilities for sustainable design in the future.
However, we’d rather let the brands, visitors and speakers do the talking so here’s a snapshot of what they said…
Hilary Alexander OBE; “Come clean! Get Dirty and make baby steps to a sustainable future. We invite the consumer to back sustainable brands, think carefully about your choices, and give the world a chance by collectively making a difference.”
Natalie Lee, StylemeSunday: “Power of One is designed to galvanise the fashion industry into making more ethical and sustainable choices. It may seem overwhelming, but small steps make a massive difference. Brands can be more representative of our society and the role they play in changing our perspectives on body image and the beauty standard. The pledge I’ve chosen is Actually I Can – and it represents empowerment to make a stand and make a change. No voice is too small. Which pledge will you be making?”
Professor Caryn Franklin MBE: “The global marketplace is changing, culturally, geographically and politically. Change can take time, it requires tenacity, consistency and requires us to be fixed on the vision, to become a stakeholder in the things that matter to you…whatever that is and no matter how small. All it takes is the power of one to drive change.”
Orsola de Castro, Founder, Fashion Revolution: “I want to be at the forefront of change, seeing the designers and consumers creating solutions and having the patience to see this vision become a reality. We need more disruption, change, creativity and common sense to finally achieve sustainability and transparency at a grand scale.”
Laura Balmond, Ellen MacArthur Foundation: “There should be no bad choices for the consumer when shopping. Everything should be a good choice, from repairing products to lengthen their lifecycle, sharing, leasing and re-selling clothes, to re-manufacturing and refurbishing materials and designing clothes that can de disassembled and made into something else.”
Jenny Hulme, Head of Buying, People Tree: “I really enjoyed the exhibition and felt it was much improved. There was more to see, with a better atmosphere. I was happy to see a greater emphasis on sustainable brands, and hope this can continue for future shows. I found the Origin section very helpful and made contact with two potential new suppliers, DEEPS and China Eco Fibre, both of who I will be following up with.”
Christian Daniels, New Business Executive, ASOS: “Pure London was great, a little different with the new entrance and music playing was a nice treat. We ended up heading into the WGSN talk in the VIP suite which was great, a real insight into top trends for GenZ – very useful.”
Lara Oyedele, Owner, Empress Lounge: “Highlights for me were some great networking with other business attendees. The lovely sea of colours and variety. Meeting new Turkish, South African and Nigeria vendors I intend to work with. One of which has a great community project they are supporting in Istanbul which works well with my personal ethics.”
And a final word from Julie Driscoll, Managing Director of Pure London and Pure Origin: “As we start looking forward to the February 19 show the focus will remain on collaboration across the industry to continue to offer visitors and exhibitors a better experience, to ensure we make sure the issues facing our industry are top of the agenda, and to celebrate and enjoy the incredibly exciting, creative, inspiring and fun world of fashion. Our Power of One campaign doesn’t end here; it is just getting started! We will continue to champion the power of individual change, to be an advocate for better practice in the fashion industry. Please make your pledge and start making a difference.”
The next Pure London and Pure Origin takes place at London Olympia from the 10th – 12th February 2019.