Fashion professionals puzzle at the Global Fashion Summit: How do we unlock the next level of sustainability?

What was Global Fashion Agenda's (GFA) intention with the theme of the 15th Global Fashion Summit (GFS), ‘Unlocking the Next Level’? The promise was a balanced, evidence-based overview of successful and less successful experiments for a more sustainable fashion sector to learn from for the crucial years ahead. But as often happens with ‘sustainability’, the conversation took a distorted positive form, with a focus on fledgling partnerships and hopeful future scenarios, rather than honest reflections on failed pilots and extinct consortiums. Concrete proposals were rarely linked to industry-wide climate targets and the division of roles - who should solve what part of the puzzle - remained in the middle. New priorities were set, however, and the growing urgency for action was omnipresent in the Danish concert hall.