Saudi Gazette report
RIYADH — Fashion Futures, one of the key initiatives of Saudi Arabia’s newly created Fashion Commission, was relaunched on Thursday as a digital platform with a live event "Fashion Futures Live: Moving Towards Sustainability, Diversity and Innovation"
Streamed online to participants through a specially designed, interactive virtual platform, the event featured the fashion world’s most inspiring leaders, digital distributors and a selection of influential leading figures, led by Princess Reema Bint Bandar, the Saudi ambassador to the United States.
She participated in rather unusual conversations related to innovation and sustainability in fashion through dialogue sessions covering a wide variety of topics and trends.
Princess Noura Bint Faisal Al Saud, Sector Development Director at the Fashion Commission, started the sessions at exactly three o’clock in the evening, through the Fashion Futures’ live broadcast at https://fashionfutures.com/en/home.
The first session was held by Chantal Line Carpentier, who spoke about fashion’s and creative industries’ roles in supporting Sustainable Development Goals.
The second session hosted Morten Lehmann, who tackled the global fashion agenda and sustainability as fashion’s first priority.
The third session featured Katia Beauchamp and the moderator Stephanie Cartin who spoke about entrepreneurship as a collective.
In the fourth session, Aizel Trudel talked about the entrepreneurship mindset inspiring the fashion industry. The fifth session, titled “Building a Legacy — Fashion X Design" and held at 3:42 pm, featured Oskar Mitsavaht, Nadja Swarovski, Sara Maino, Lamia Al Otayshan, and moderator Marie Driscoll.
The “Fashion Futures Live” continued with the sixth session titled "The Face of Leadership," featuring Helen Aboah, Abrima Erwiah, Arwa Al Ammari, Bazza Al Zouman, and the moderator Jordana Guimaraes. The seventh session at 5:07 pm, titled “Inspiration in Designs via Culture & Style,” featured Sebastian Cope and the moderator Fernanda Simon.
The eighth session titled "Diversity & Inclusion as a Business Model," featured Zizi Cardow, Elle B. Mambetov, Youssef Akbar, Bandar Hawsawi, and moderator Alexandra Finkel.
The ninth session titled "Technologies Across the Supply Chain Towards Sustainability,” included Stephanie Benedetto, Francesca Rosella, Veronica Chou, and the moderator Michael Ferraro.
In the 10th session, Rebecca Minkoff discussed “Female Founder — Being Fearless.” The 11th session had Carry Somers talking about "Influence of Fashion for Social Cause,” while the 12th session was under the title "Environmental Efforts in Fashion via Entrepreneurship," featuring Giulio Bozanni and the moderator Konrad Olsson.
The 13th session featured Jill Domain and was held under the title "Transparency via Partnerships in Fashion."
The fourteenth session, titled "Institutions & Media Focusing on Sustainability," was delivered by Lewis Perkins and moderator Kerry Bannigan.
The 15th session titled "Influencing Towards Sustainability" featured Marina Testino.
Princess Reema Bint Bandar and Susan Rockefeller were guests on the event, tackling the topics “Future of Fashion — Conservatism — Oceans — Activism” in the 16th session.
Burak Cakmak, CEO of the Fashion commission, concluded the event with the 17th session titled “Future of Fashion is Now."
The Fashion Commission launched the "Fashion Futures" initiative in 2019 as the first event dedicated to the fashion in the Kingdom and redesigned it in 2021 as a leading digital platform in the field of fashion.
