The Global Fashion Agenda gathers fashion actors from all aspects of the industry in the name of Ambition To Action. If you are not familiar with it, the GFS is hosted by the Global Fashion Agenda, a non-profit organisation that fosters industry collaboration on sustainability in fashion to drive impact. With the vision of a net-positive fashion industry, it accelerates action by mobilising, inspiring, influencing and educating all stakeholders. It is a bold mission that requires bringing together fashion representatives from all fronts to tackle the industry’s complex issues.

Recently, Bed Stuy Clothes Swap (BSCS) and Black Girl Environmentalist (BGE) held a collaborative event at the Brooklyn Museum called “Waste No More: Brooklyn Museum Clothing Swap”. This event was one installment of many events the Brooklyn Museum held to highlight its Africa Fashion exhibit.

London College of Fashion (LCF) in East London is among these pockets of hope. Here, the intersection of fashion and social change redefines what it means to welcome refugee communities into London through an innovative, action-driven research project. In 2022, LCF’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion, led by Dr Francesco Mazzarella, a Reader in Design for Social Change, embarked on a pivotal participatory action research exploring cultural sustainability and community resilience. The research project, titled  “Decolonising Fashion and Textiles,” involved storytelling sessions and textile-based co-creation workshops that aimed to understand the realities of refugees in London.