Inspiring change in the fashion industry

Andreu David, Vice President, SOURCING at MAGIC, Informa Markets Fashion shares an extract from the Informa 2023 sustainability report.         

I know the fashion industry well. Before joining the Informa Markets Fashion team, over four and a half years ago, I was a fashion designer for 27 years. I wanted to align my personal values with my work and realised that, at Informa , I had a platform and that I wanted to use it to inspire change in the industry. Fortunately this aligns with Informa’s goals too!  

The fashion industry is not known for its environmentally friendly practices due to the waste, water pollution and GHG emissions it generates. Human Rights issues and poor working conditions are also well-documented challenges in the industry.  

Influencing customers to make more sustainable choices at the point of sale is very difficult, but what if we could affect product development? If we can convince companies, factories, suppliers and brands to manufacture responsibly, then the residual effect would manifest at the consumer level.  

At SOURCING at MAGIC , an international gathering of fashion manufacturers, suppliers and service providers, we have this opportunity. Our goal is to help our exhibitors on their sustainability journey. We’ve partnered with Hey Social Good to assess the sustainability credentials of our exhibitors, tackle greenwashing and help buyers find more sustainable suppliers. We have also created a sustainability-focused community where exhibitors can learn from and be inspired by one another.

Hey Social Good independently assesses the exhibitors that chose to participate in the programme based on the United Nations’ 17 SDGs and reviews their data and documentation. For the three events we produced in 2023, out of 2,671 exhibitors, 1,024 self-declared as sustainable and were assessed, 304 provided satisfactory documentation and 56 were verified for their positive business practices. Those exhibitors who are assessed by Hey Social Good as meeting the highest standards of sustainability are awarded a plaque on their stand to demonstrate this commitment and help buyers find them more easily. Hey Social Good can work directly with the exhibitors that did not achieve verification status to continue their sustainability journey and become verified.  

Our sustainable gallery at Sourcing at Magic showcases these exhibitors and provides sustainability information. The gallery doubled in size between 2021 and 2023 and includes verified sustainable exhibitors and philanthropic organisations as well as sustainability programming and activations. Sourcing at Magic’s focus on sustainability will move to the forefront in 2024 at our Las Vegas event, where our ongoing collaboration with Hey Social Good goes front and centre greeting visitors with information about how our industry can be kinder to our planet and each other as they come in the door. The success of the programme with our customers at this event has now led to it being extended to all of our other fashion events. 

Andreu David, Vice President, SOURCING at MAGIC, Informa Markets Fashion, Santa Monica, shares an extract from the Informa 2023 sustainability report. You can read more about sustainability here.