Plans for the upcoming IAF World Fashion Convention are starting to take shape, with this year’s event due to take place in Belgium and address the theme ‘Transition in the Global Fashion System.’
The 36th event, organised by the International Apparel Federation (IAF), will take place in Antwerp on 9-11 November.
For this edition, the IAF has changed the format to better cater to the theme of transition. One day will be devoted to plenary sessions with top speakers from across the globe, while on the second day, participants will discuss major topics driving transition such as circular textiles and implementing new technologies in parallel workshops.
According to the IAF, this year’s theme recognises the fact that demand from societies and from consumers, the restraints posed by the earth’s ecosystem, and the possibilities offered by technology, converge to create a necessity for transition.
“Merely adapting does not seem to be enough in 2020. Adapting is too slow,” it says. “New successful companies based on entirely different business models shape the industry’s transition, as do existing companies embarking on bold programmes of change. Transition will not involve the industry alone but requires all in the entire fashion ecosystem to work together. It requires a good and close collaboration with governments, creating regulatory environments that are supporting transition without stifling entrepreneurial drive. Educational institutes are engines of transition not only by training new employees, but also by actively nurturing new business.”
As part of its theme, organisers hope to address four objectives: the future of apparel, circular economy, legislation and harmonisation, and education and training.
Click here to access just-style’s coverage of the 35th World Fashion Convention, which took place last year in Lahore, Pakistan.
