The Commonwealth has launched a sustainable fashion project, the Commonwealth Fashion Exchange, to bring together fashion designers and producers from across the 52 member nations in supporting sustainable fashion
The Commonwealth has launched a sustainable fashion project, the Commonwealth Fashion Exchange, to bring together fashion designers and producers from across the 52 member nations in supporting sustainable fashion.
The Fashion Exchange will showcase a range of items during London Fashion Week at Buckingham Palace, and again at Australia House and other London locations during the run-up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in April 2018.
As well as offering the chance to celebrate the Commonwealth and its artisan workforce, the event is also designed to increase access to sustainable methods of production.
The project was created by Eco-Age, a brand and marketing consultancy that specialises in sustainable development, and is supported by the Commonwealth Fashion Council, the non-profit organisation which promotes education and youth and gender empowerment in emerging fashion industries.
Founder of Eco-Age Livia Firth said: “This is a chance to showcase and really celebrate the Commonwealth that we have, using a workforce of artisans and workers that people often don’t talk about.
“To have the opportunity, thanks to the help of the Commonwealth, to revitalise and relaunch these small and medium-scale enterprises that are a vital spine of the fashion industry and give them a platform again is incredible – this is what true sustainability is.”
Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland said: “Sustainability is a challenge and an opportunity for all involved in the fashion sector, which is estimated to be worth more than £120bn across the Commonwealth.
“That’s why the Commonwealth Fashion Exchange project will focus on supporting designers and artisans with access to sustainable and equitable methods of production, as well as our Commonwealth priorities of gender equality, ethical production and supply chains, innovation, economic growth and poverty reduction.”