CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT

CONCEPT

Whilst sustainability is high on the global agenda for policy makers, business and citizens, the speed and scale of change is far from adequate. This is particularly true in the global fashion and clothing system that faces growing market, government, industry and technological drivers for change. Sustainable, structural and systemic change in global fashion and clothing sectors is now paramount and presents both challenges and opportunities for innovation. Sustainable Innovation 2021 will provide an insightful and critical platform to discuss issues associated with accelerating sustainability in the fashion and clothing system. Pioneers, innovators, thought-leaders and change-makers from academia, brands, businesses and industries across fashion, clothing, textiles, sportswear, accessories, retail, and technology sectors are invited to explore policy changes, new business models, circular processes, product-service design, supply chain traceability, technological solutions and consumer behaviour shifts focused on radical change that advances sustainability in the global fashion and clothing system. Sustainable Innovation 2021 will include invited and refereed papers from academics, business leaders, policy makers, entrepreneurs, innovators, designers, scientists and technologists. The international conference will create a unique space for learning, thinking and networking. Delegates will come globally from international brands and corporations, SMEs and start-ups, as well as academia, government and NGOs. The conference is supported by an international Advisory Board.

CONTEXT

Market

• Clothing waste is increasing worldwide. It is estimated that 60% of all clothing produced ends up in incinerators or landfills within a year of being made. The UK fashion industry sends over 300,00 tonnes of clothing waste to landfill each year and the US has doubled its clothing waste from 7 to 14 million tonnes in the past two decades; and both UK and US consumers throwaway over 32kg of clothing per person per year.
• Youth-driven climate change activism worldwide is bringing issues to the public conscience. Yet youth is also the key consumer of fast fashion and brands continue to feed the demand for newness in the age of social media, where some items of clothing last for 1 Instagram post.

Government

• European and other national policy makers are waking up to the challenge. In March 2020, the European Commission announced a proposed Strategy for Textiles in the Circular Economy Action Plan 2.0 that aims to address fast fashion and boost the EU market for sustainable and circular textiles, including textile reuse.
• The French government announced a ban on the destruction of unsold non-food stock including all clothing and accessories, coming into force by 2023, obliging retailers and manufactures to increase re-use or recycling.

Industry

• Fashion uses 25% of all chemicals produced worldwide, is responsible for 20% of all industrial water pollution, accounts for 10% of carbon emissions (more than aviation and shipping combined) and every 1 kg of cloth generates 23 kg of greenhouse gas. Yet the scale and speed of production is not reducing, which means that the sector’s contribution to climate change remains extremely high.
• Resulting from increased NGO activity, brands, retailers and manufacturers are now required to pass more stringent chemical management requirements through global supply networks.
• The plastics crisis is driving the search for new sustainable materials and we are witnessing a significant increase in the innovation and commercialisation of textiles made from recycled, natural and bio-based raw materials. Despite new textile innovations, driven by start-ups and material innovators, the industry needs to provide better financial support and investment to scale these up into commercially viable solutions

Technology

• Big data analysis and artificial intelligence is being used to increase targeted sales. However, it isn’t being used for more precise forecasting to reduce excess supply and over-production that is resulting in growing clothing waste.
• The adoption of wearable technologies is increasing. This has sustainability implications along entire supply chains, with increased ‘end of life’ waste issues if products are not designed to enable separation and disassembly.

TIME FOR ACCELERATION

To accelerate sustainability in Fashion, Clothing, Sportswear & Accessories sectors there is a growing need for:

• Systemic view of the fashion and clothing business to understand the complexity of global value chain networks.
• Implementation of demand-side and supply-side public policy instruments that drive product sustainability.
• The emergence and up-scaling of new disruptive eco-innovators.
• Learning from other sectors approaches to product sustainability and circularity.
• Commercialisation, range-widening and up-scaling of renewable material manufacturing.

CONFERENCE TOPICS

Sustainable Innovation 2021 welcomes conceptual and research-based papers from academics, business leaders, policy makers, entrepreneurs, innovators, designers, scientists and technologists in the Fashion, Clothing, Sportswear & Accessories sectors. Papers should cover sustainability, business models, products, services and/or technology design and development, and commercialisation in the Fashion, Clothing, Sportswear & Accessories sectors, and focus on one or more of the following topics:

• Foresight, forecasting, futures & insight
• Radical change & innovation
• Market transformation
• Organisational dimensions & change
• Sustainable consumption & production
• Circular economy & design
• Business & product sustainability
• (New) business models
• Product-service-systems (PSS)
• Product design & development
• Design management & strategies
• Ecodesign & sustainable design
• Eco & low carbon innovation
• Biomimicry & biofabrication
• Product, retail & manufacturing policies
• Materials development & innovation
• Agriculture & sourcing
• COVID-19 responses

• Supply chain networks & management
• Supply chain accountability
• Re-use, repair & remanufacturing
• Repair Cafes & Makerspaces
• Consumer behaviour
• Sharing & collaborative consumption
• Consumer-brand relationships
• Retail & e-commerce models
• Social media & online marketing
• Couture & craftsmanship
• Fashion & luxury brands
• Industry 4.0 & enabling technologies
• New technologies
• Wearable technologies
• Crowdsourcing & crowdfunding
• Decision-making tools & techniques
• Methodologies
• Case studies

BENEFITS TO SPEAKERS AND DELEGATES

Sustainable Innovation 2021 will provide a range of benefits to speakers and delegates:

• Unique: 
• Leading-edge: 


• Content: 
• Networking: 


• Track-record: 

Forum for new thinking, ideas, concepts and pilots.
Presentations from key international researchers, practitioners and policy makers.
New research, results, methodology and strategies.
Opportunities to meet leaders from business, industry, government and academia.
Over 2700 delegates from over 50 countries have attended previous events.

SUBMISSION DETAILS

Email abstracts (up to 500 words) to rcarruthers@uca.ac.uk describing your proposed paper by 21st September 2020. The abstract will then be sent to the Advisory Board for evaluation and authors will be given feedback. The highest ranked papers will be invited to present at the conference. All accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings that will have an ISBN. Please only submit abstracts if you have budgets to attend the conference.

Contact

For more information on Sustainable Innovation 2021   please contact:

Professor Martin Charter
Director
The Centre for Sustainable Design ®
University for the Creative Arts
UK
Tel: + 44 (0) 1252 892772
Fax: + 44 (0) 1252 892747
Email: mcharter@ucreative.ac.uk
Website: cfsd.org.uk

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Sustainable Innovation 2021 is a partner event of the United Nations International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development, 2021