Pure London, the largest festival of fashion in London taking place next month, puts the future of fashion firmly on the agenda throughout its three-day content programme. The event features a line-up of speakers from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Ethical Fashion Forum, Fashion Revolution, The London College of Fashion, WGSN, and Professor of Diversity Caryn Franklin M.B.E. MSc (Psych) MBPsS headlining as keynote speaker on 23 July.

“As sustainability shifts to being an integral part of the entire fashion value chain, Pure London is keen to take the lead as a disruptor in the industry, to probe the key issues facing us, and to offer visitors an inspiring and educational content programme that helps guide brands and retailers towards alternative business models and new concepts centred around sustainability,” said Julie Driscoll, Managing Director of Pure London.

“Come to Pure not just for our exciting mix of brands but to see some of the leading champions driving a better future for fashion, discover the commercial advantages of putting sustainability at the heart of your business, and learn about the new technologies making this new era possible.”

The programme kicks off on 22 July with Laura Balmond from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation taking to The Origin Stage located in Pure Origin – a new section launched last season for garment and fabric sourcing, designers, innovators, and supply chain logistics providers.

Through its initiative Make Fashion Circular, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation is redesigning fashion’s future and driving the industry away from the “take-make-dispose” approach towards a circular economy for textiles.

Reshaping fashion industry

Monday morning leads with an Innovation session on the Spirit Stage with Matthieu Guinebault from Fashion Network looking at how technology will reshape the fashion industry and how to adapt to this era of technological acceleration. While on the Origin Stage Helen Palmer, Director of Materials, Textiles and Knitwear at WGSN will share perspectives on the materials and fabrics that will be huge in Autumn/Winter 2019.

Tamsin Lejeune, CEO of Common Objective and Founder of Ethical Fashion Forum, takes to the Main Stage to discuss growth in the sustainable fashion sector, while on the Spirit Stage, Keely Stocker, Editor of Drapers, chairs a panel discussion examining the stores of the future, the role of technology, customer experience, international expansion and Brexit.

She will be joined by Adam Mansell, Managing Director of UKFT; Retail Analyst Natalie Berg; and Alex Schlagman, Co-Founder of Save the High Street. Championing Pure London’s own Power of One campaign to drive change and advance the UN’s Global Goals for Sustainable Development, product development, sourcing and production guru Thea Speechley will discuss how to work in line with the Global Goals to reach the UN’s 2030 targets.

Ethics and sustainability

This topic continues on The Origin Stage with a panel discussion addressing Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion with Professor Caryn Franklin, Orsola de Castro, Founder and Creative Director of Fashion Revolution, and Omi, Co-Founder of Vin + Omi.

Professor Caryn Franklin then takes to the Main Stage to deliver her keynote address on Creating a More Sustainable Fashion Future, embracing diversity as well as how kindness in the workplace can increase productivity.

More Innovation sessions follow with Seetal Solanki, Founder and Director of Matter discussing the use of new materials to help sustain the planets resources from growing your own materials to designing smarter systems. Anne Prahl, Sustainable Design Consultant talks on The Origin Stage about bio-based textile innovation for fashion and sportswear. On the Main Stage Matthew Drinkwater, Head of the Fashion Innovation Agency at London College of Fashion, will discuss how immersive technologies are shaping the fashion industry.

www.purelondon.com