'Paris Good Fashion' Launches 5-Year Plan Making Paris Center Of Sustainable Fashion Industry
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Merci store Paris. Photo by Robin Benzrihem on Unsplash
The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of the world’s carbon footprint and is considered to be the second biggest polluter of fresh water globally, producting 20% of the world’s industrial wastewater. Forbes adds that the global fashion industry uses 24% of insecticides and 11% of pesticides required to produce crops used in garments.
Until now, London has led the international pace in the fashion sustainability movement. This week, Paris weighed in with a new five-year plan designed to establish French credentials in this critical arena of public policy and environmental action.
Called ‘Paris Good Fashion,’ the project outlines a five-year plan to build an open, collaborative community of fashion professionals, entrepreneurs, designers and experts working together to make Paris a sustainable fashion capital.
Frédéric Hocquard, deputy to Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, and Antoinette Guhl, deputy in charge of social economy and solidarity, as well as former fashion journalist Isabelle Lefort, promised a more comprehensive project outline at a June 2019 event that will also feature campaigns promoting fashion recycling and conferences surrounding sustainable discussions.
Starting in 2014, the city’s leadership committed to becoming sustainable and socially responsible, and put the circular economy at the heart of new actions, according to the mayor’s office. Several organizations currently support the fashion sector, the city says. They include a boutique called La Textilerie that serves coffee, sells organic cotton fabric and used clothing, and offers workshops in an effort to help Parisians rethink their relationship with clothing.
Fashion is big business for Paris, with the city recently publishing these statistics:
1.2 billion euros spent on fashion in Paris annually
400 fashion shows per year, 50% of them foreign brands
27 trade shows hosting 14,000 exhibitors, 75% of which are foreign brands
100,000 individual visitors attending fashion shows annually
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The ‘Paris Good Fashion’ initiative’s end date will coincide with the 2024 Summer Olympics scheduled to take place in Paris.
In addition to city officials, initiative participants include the L’Institut Français de la Mode, the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, Eyes on Talent, the Ellen McArthur Foundation, and Les Ateliers de Paris.
“Our role is to encourage creation while fighting against climate change, to continue production in France while protecting natural resources and to develop our industry while looking out for our artisans,” Antoinette Guhl said, according to WWD. “I hope this day marks the beginning of a collective movement within the fashion industry.”
London designer Stella McCartney is among the most prominent fashion industry professionals with a long and unyielding commitment to sustainable fashion. McCartney has a long, focused relationship with the Ellen McArthus Foundation.
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