Today, 80 billion garments are produced every year to feed our insatiable appetite for style and status. And, unsurprisingly, the world is now ripping at the seams.
This month, we meet Travis Peoples, COO of the Global Fashion Agenda. We discuss perspectives on sustainability —as much more than just eco-friendly products— diversity, and why open-source tech and transparency are key to a better industry. Peoples shares the thrill of living out his 17-year-old "sneakerhead dream" at Adidas, how the Oregon wildfires turned him onto sustainability and making the trip across the pond to now work for the world's leading organisation for fashion and sustainability.
"Between 2020 and 2030, we'll increase the amount of garments that we create by 81%"
"If you look at the trajectory that we're on in terms of the volume of clothes we're making, the projection is; between 2020 and 2030, we'll increase the amount of garments that we create by 81%," explains Peoples.
"On the flip side, we as humanity, we're full of creativity and ingenuity, and we're going to create things. "What we need to do is not minimise that creative spirit that has shaped many amazing things that we have today, but we need to be able to channel it and put up some guardrails that point us in the direction that doesn't cause harm to people and planet."
The Global Fashion Agenda is spearheading the fashion industry's journey towards a more sustainable future, with partners such as ASOS, BESTSELLER, H&M, Nike and many more. GFA is also behind the Copenhagen Fashion Summit, a leading business event on sustainability in fashion, which is broadcasting live (for free!) this October 12-13.
The Podcast Series
'Can design save us?' is a series exploring design as a pioneering force for good. We dive into the most pressing problems of our time and meet inspiring people using design to solve them. We explore the good, bad, complex and controversial. Listen on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Podimo.
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