Happy 2020! Starting off the year thinking of how to make this year better than past ones. One major focus is sustainability which encompasses many things including climate change and human rights.
I had the pleasure of attending last month a sustainability press conference at the United Nations Headquarters in NY with Texpertise Network of Messe Frankfurt, the Conscious Fashion Campaign and the United Nations Office for Partnerships (UNOP) about their commitment to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the fashion and textile industries. With its Texpertise Network Messe Frankfurt supports SDGs within the framework of the cooperation with the Conscious Fashion Campaign and UNOP. The goals will be presented at the more than 50 textile events organized by Messe Frankfurt at venues around the globe. The speakers were the Executive Director of UNOP Robert Skinner; Detlef Braun, Member of the Executive Board at Messe Frankfurt; Kerry Bannigan, Founder of the Conscious Fashion Campaign and Ambassador Jürgen Schulz, Deputy Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations.
Sustainability encompasses not only raw materials and transportation impacts on the environment but also the human cost on how products are produced. Especially in the creative industries we all need to be more mindful of the people making these beautiful products and be sure they are making a living wage, treated fairly and not being abused. And we all need to do our part even in small increments to promote more sustainable processes and practices, every move in the right direction helps.
Featured image: Arnaldo Pomodoro – Sphere Within Sphere, 1991/3. Gift of Italy 1996.
