Marking the 10th anniversary of Kering and University of the Arts London's Centre for Sustainable Fashion collaboration, the “Governance for Tomorrow” initiative seeks to use governance as a powerful yet often overlooked lever for driving sustainable change in fashion.
The three-year programme will unite experts from academia, luxury fashion, and NGOs to explore models centred on sustainability, equity, and social justice. Governance for Tomorrow leverages creative approaches to address barriers to sustainable transformation by convening industry leaders and changemakers to research, develop, and test governance models that prioritise environmental integrity and social equity.
The Centre for Sustainable Fashion's director Dilys Williams emphasised the importance of reshaping the industry's cultural approach to sustainability, stating: “We will prototype frameworks and practices based on the true rules of prosperity, and thus shift from the rules we invented that missed out nature and the commitment to living better, as the basis of a thriving luxury fashion sector.”
Through participatory methods and interdisciplinary knowledge exchange, Governance for Tomorrow aims to craft models that embody interspecies, intergenerational, and intragenerational justice to ensure earth’s system boundaries remain safe and just.
Kering's chief sustainability and institutional affairs officer Marie-Claire Daveu highlighted the milestone in Kering's journey toward responsible luxury governance: “At Kering we believe that integrating sustainability at the highest level of governance models is essential to addressing the environmental and social challenges facing the fashion industry."
Launching amid escalating environmental concerns, the programme reflects the urgent need for fashion to accelerate progress on sustainability issues such as decarbonising supply chains and ensuring fair wages.
The Centre for Sustainable Fashion has issued an open call for changemakers to join the programme’s Stewardship Board, a platform intended to co-create transformative solutions and drive industry-wide adoption of alternative governance practices.
By fostering collaboration among diverse leaders, Governance for Tomorrow seeks to establish a legacy that will shape luxury fashion governance for a sustainable future.
