Legislation, sustainability, innovation and talent: European designer-led fashion looks in the mirror at its future

“I think I’m leaving with more questions than answers,” commented an attendee at one of the last talks of the International European Designer Fashion Conference, held on April 13 and 14 in Barcelona, as a prelude to 080 Barcelona Fashion.

Leaving a forum of renowned international experts with more questions than certainties is, why not, a positive outcome. Questioning helps one move forward, redefine objectives and lay the foundations. And that is what European designer fashion did for two days: it stood in front of the mirror to take a close look at what it is, what its challenges are in the short and medium term, and what it will look like in a decade.

It did so guided by a strong panel of distinguished Spanish and international experts: from philosopher Gilles Lipovetsky to writer Dana Thomas, via Carlo Capasa and Pascal Morand, as well as senior executives who, with less public exposure, shape the day-to-day of brands and other industry players. These sessions were organised by the Spanish Fashion Academy Foundation and promoted by ACME (Asociación Creadores de Moda de España), and launched with the aim of being held periodically—their frequency is yet to be defined—and of establishing themselves as a leading forum for the sector across the continent.

Whether providing answers or opening debates, the sessions centred on key issues for today’s fashion industry, such as legislation, sustainability (two closely linked topics), innovation, and the training and management of talent.

“When we talk about designer fashion, we are defining a different kind of company. We are talking about social sustainability, not just environmental. And public institutions should be told that these kinds of businesses that are not overproducing, that are not putting hundreds of garments on the market, should not be subjected to a raft of regulations that weigh them down; they do not even have the staff to deal with them,” said Pepa Bueno, executive director of ACME, at a round table she shared with Scott Lipinski, president of the European Fashion Alliance (EFA) and CEO of the German Fashion Council.

And, in line with the demands of Lipovetsky, who called on the European Union to intervene, Bueno added: “We must ask the public authorities in Brussels to adapt this legislation to the size of the company. It cannot be the same for Inditex as for a small firm. The treatment cannot be the same because the problems are completely different.”

Carlo Capasa, president of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, also put the spotlight on legislation; specifically, on parcels entering the European Union whose products do not meet EU standards.

“Every year millions of parcels under €150 arrive in Europe without consumer safeguards, and most of them are clothing. We all have to follow the same rules; if these parcels enter Europe, they must follow the same rules,” he said.

The Italian shared a round table with Pascal Morand, executive president of the France’s Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode and Cecile Thorsmark, CEO of Copenhagen Fashion Week. The talk, at the start, was interrupted by animal-rights activists who, after slipping into the event (and with megaphones outside), demanded that the executives declare the Paris and Milan fashion weeks “fur-free.”

“We have policies to ensure animal welfare, but we cannot prohibit brands from using fur—we do not own them,” argued Capasa.

The conversation allowed the experts to delve into the role of fashion weeks in today’s ecosystem. “We are not Paris or Milan, nor do we want to be; what we do want is to protect values linked to sustainability. That defines Copenhagen Fashion Week,” commented Thorsmark.

“They say that Paris and Milan compete, but it’s not like that, it’s never been like that,” remarked Morand. “Each city expresses its identity, and we must think about what defines us as Europeans,” Capasa added.

How do these leaders see the industry in ten years’ time? For Morand, the evolution of artificial intelligence and robotics will be key, as will innovation.

“Being creative is not the same as being innovative,” he stressed. Meanwhile, Thorsmark predicted: “We will have a system that preserves European designers, we must get to a point where that model has been implemented, because it is at risk of losing that momentum and there is a lot of talent in our industry.”

Young talent and a transatlantic outlook

Young talent, precisely, was the protagonist of another of the round tables of the first day, which insisted on the importance of training beyond design, linked to other key professions, such as that of the pattern cutter, and to the crafts.

Sara Sozzani, creative director of Fondazione Sozzani and international ambassador for new talents and brands at Milan Fashion Week, questioned the role of fashion schools themselves in a training model very focused on design, while pointing out the economic barriers for many young people to access fashion education or financing when creating their brands, and referred to the preservation of crafts as an essential task.

Sozzani was accompanied at this round table by Joana Jorge, project manager at ModaLisboa; Ana García-Siñeriz, global director of Vogue College of Fashion; and Ainhoa García, expert consultant in luxury brands and patron of the Spanish Fashion Academy Foundation.

Despite its European character and purpose, the sessions looked beyond the Old Continent with Estefanía Lacayo, co-founder of the Latin American Fashion Summit, a key forum for the Latin American fashion industry. The entrepreneur outlined some of the differences between brands and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic, in a talk in which designer Juan Duyos, president of Fame and ACME, and Paco Sánchez, managing director of Lola Casademunt, a Spanish firm expanding in markets such as Latin America, also took part.

On Tuesday, the programme focused its analysis on innovation, which involves “adding new ingredients and tools, such as new fibres or materials, so that brands and designers can expand their creativity,” in the words of Fernando Cardona, head of the finishing department at Jeanologia.

“True innovation is the kind that produces systemic change across the entire chain. And, if it doesn’t scale, it weakens. Moreover, fashion is responding to triple pressure: from the market, from society and from European legislative frameworks,” added Fabio Palma, director of the regional hub for south-west Europe at EIT Culture & Creativity.

The round table also addressed environmental innovation. In the words of Regina Polanco, founder and CEO of Pyratex, “the new generations are not going to accept production in a way that is not sustainable.” “The consumer is looking for an increasingly well-rounded product, one that brings all the elements together. Differentiation through sustainability will not be so important and we will move into the different layers of innovation,” the entrepreneur added.

Jordi Ferré, head of R&D projects in smart textiles and digitisation at Aitex, stressed that innovation requires three key elements: “collaboration, patience and resources.”

He also looked at generative AI, noting that “it is very useful as a tool, but what human beings do is irreplaceable.”

From the 2030 Agenda to “greenwashing”

With due respect to Dana Thomas, who closed the sessions with her astute reflections on the evolution of the fashion industry in recent decades, the final round table delved head-on into the issue of sustainability, with experts such as María Luisa Martínez, vice-president of public affairs at Global Fashion Agenda. She recalled that the “2030 Agenda” deadline is drawing ever closer and explained how the omnibus decrees within the EU framework are shaping EU legislation on fashion sustainability.

She was accompanied by Marina Prados, director of public affairs at Policy Hub, who, when asked whether consumers and the industry itself have grown tired of sustainability, replied: “It’s not boredom, it’s frustration.” And she analysed key variables for the overarching goal of sustainability, such as durability and recycling. Along the same lines, Minerva Alonso, at the helm of Gran Canaria Swim Week, detailed how some cotton crops are being recovered on the island of Gran Canaria and how there is, still incipiently, a push to cultivate flax.

For her part, Natalia Culebras, head of sustainable design at Dior Men, delved into a topic closely linked to sustainability: communication. “We have been afraid to communicate advances in sustainability for fear of ‘greenwashing’, but it is important to communicate what is being done.”

International and cross-sector talent in a deep and cross-cutting dialogue on the challenges of European designer fashion which, looking in the mirror, sees the “I” it wants to be… and outlines the way to build it.