The Centre for Sustainable Fashion at London College of Fashion, University of Arts London (UAL) today announced the launch of a new programme together with global luxury group Kering.

“Governance for Tomorrow” marks the tenth anniversary of the organisation’s partnership and addresses governance in the luxury fashion sector. The three-year programme will connect experts from across sectors, academia and NGOs and changemakers to develop alternative governance models that place the planet and equity at the core of decision making in the fashion industry.

“We are glad to celebrate our longstanding partnership with Centre for Sustainable Fashion through the launch of the ‘Governance for Tomorrow’ programme. This innovative programme marks a key milestone in our commitment to redefining governance practices in the luxury sector, placing sustainability, equity, and social justice at its heart,” comments Marie-Claire Daveu, chief sustainability and institutional affairs officer at Kering, in a press release.

The new programme will combine speculative design and participatory methodology to research, apply, test and realise these alternative governance models. At their basis is Johan Rockström et al.’s Nature article “Safe and just Earth system boundaries,” which call for interspecies, intergenerational and intragenerational (3I) justice.

“The 3I non-executive experimental board will explore governance through the lens of 3I justice, emphasising the importance of justice, fairness and equity for all communities and species as essential to maintain the balance of Earth’s natural systems,” states the press release.

Call for changemakers

To mark the launch, the Centre for Sustainable Fashion has issued an open call to changemakers from across industries with an invitation to join Governance for Tomorrow’s stewardship boards: “Designed to lead the creation of new alternative governance models within the luxury fashion industry, the boards will serve as platforms for transformation, bringing together a wide range of changemakers to co-create bold solutions that address the fashion system's complex challenges.”

“Through convening imaginative and curious minds, we will prototype frameworks and practices based on the true rules of prosperity, and thus shift from the rules we invented that missed out nature and the commitment to living better, as the basis of a thriving luxury fashion sector,” explains Dilys Williams, director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion.

The launch of the Governance for Tomorrow programme comes at a crucial moment: Despite some progress, the fashion industry continues to lag behind on many key sustainability concerns such as responsible production and consumption, decarbonising supply chains and ensuring living wages for garment workers.

According to the recent WWF “Living Planet” report, the Earth is approaching a “dangerous tipping point,” which requires “a huge collective effort … over the next five years to tackle the dual climate and nature crises.” Thus the need for the fashion industry to urgently explore alternative governance frameworks, share that research and develop guidelines.