Finding common ground: The Sustainable Apparel Coalition heads to Singapore for Annual Meeting

— The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) will bring together hundreds of sustainability leaders, representing the breadth of the apparel and footwear industry value chain from around the globe, in Singapore and virtually for its Annual Meeting on November 1-2

— Brands, retailers, manufacturers, NGOs, academics and industry associations will work together to drive progress on today’s most pressing sustainability issues, including eco-labelling, ensuring a just transition and responsible purchasing practices

— Speakers announced already include Tonje Drevland, Head of Section, the Norwegian Consumer Authority; Edwin Keh, CEO of The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA); and Ipek Kurtoglu Firat, Global Product Impact Lead at H&M

— The Annual Meeting takes place two days prior to the Global Fashion Summit: Singapore Edition 2022, taking place on November 3.

San Francisco, Amsterdam, Hong Kong – October 4, 2022: The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), an independent and impact-creating organization that brings together around half of the apparel industry to enable positive social and environmental impact at scale, is bringing together its global network for the 2022 SAC Annual Meeting in Singapore on November 1-2. 

Themed around ‘Collective Action on Common Ground’, the two-day event aims to establish common ground amongst different perspectives to promote solutions and drive progress on pressing environmental and social issues. Singapore has been chosen for this year’s Annual Meeting in recognition of the importance the region has in driving and sustaining the apparel and footwear industry.

Experts – including thought leaders in policy making, academics, brands, manufacturers, retailers, and representatives from organizations dedicated to industry transformation – will come together to discuss topics such as eco-labelling, inclusive decarbonisation and responsible purchasing practices. It will also be an important moment to work on solutions for a harmonized and clear approach to communicating environmental claims and enabling consumers to make more informed decisions. 

Amina Razvi, CEO of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, said:

“This year’s Annual Meeting comes at a pivotal moment for the apparel and footwear industry. The industry is under the spotlight like never before and rightly this brings scrutiny to ensure that sustainability remains at the fore. The Annual Meeting will be a critical moment for both SAC members and the wider industry to come together, move away from divisiveness and polarization, and find areas of common ground where we can drive forward collective action to deliver long-term, sustainable impact. 

“By bringing together stakeholders from across the value chain, and hosting this year’s event in Singapore, we want to work together to drive tangible action on these shared goals and level up the industry on the most urgent issues we are facing. Only together can we address systemic challenges. No one organization or government can do this alone.”

Attendees will be able to hear from Tonje Drevland, Head of Section, the Norwegian Consumer Authority alongside industry experts speaking on a Plenary Panel session on Challenges & Opportunities for Standardizing Eco-Labelling. This session will be an in-depth conversation with industry experts and regulators about what constitutes effective product environmental labelling, from avoiding misleading claims to enabling consumers to make better decisions. 

The event will bring together the entire value chain, from brands and retailers to manufacturers and suppliers, to open conversation on solutions and commitment to tangible actions that the industry can take together to improve environmental and social impacts.  

Day 1 of the Annual Meeting is open to all SAC members. Day 2 of the Annual Meeting will also be open to non-members: a full day of plenary sessions, workshops, and dedicated slots for networking opportunities welcoming members and non-members.

The 2022 SAC Annual Meeting is powered by Global Fashion Agenda, and ticket holders will experience a cocktail reception on November 2, co-hosted by Global Fashion Agenda and Sustainable Apparel Coalition. The Global Fashion Agenda’s own event, the Global Fashion Summit, then follows on November 3.

GFA and the SAC believe that only by working together can the industry collectively address the challenges of human rights and climate change. As such, both events will feature discussions on collective actions that will enable positive, social and environmental impact at scale.

Find out more and book your ticket here: https://hopin.com/events/2022-sac-annual-meeting-global-fashion-summit-singapore-edition/registration

For more information about media access and granting of virtual press passes, please contact: [email protected] or [email protected].

About the Sustainable Apparel Coalition:

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is an independent and impact-creating organization that aims to lead the industry toward a shared vision of sustainability based upon a joint approach for measuring, evaluating, and improving performance.

As a non-profit organization, it has members from across the apparel, footwear and textile sector, but exists independently outside any one company so that it can drive progress. The SAC’s collective action efforts bring more than 280 global brands, retailers, manufacturers, NGOs, academics and industry associations together. They represent about half of the apparel and footwear industry along the whole supply chain – from sustainability pioneers to organizations just getting started.

Before the SAC existed, companies worked in a siloed way, using their own programmes and measurements that lacked standardization and an ability to drive collective action. In 2009, Walmart and Patagonia identified this as a serious problem. Joining forces, they brought together peers and competitors from across the sector, to develop a universal approach to measuring sustainability performance and founded The Sustainable Apparel Coalition.