Kingpins partners with Conscious Fashion Campaign

Denim trade show Kingpins has become an official partner of the Conscious Fashion Campaign in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Partnerships.

The Conscious Fashion Campaign encourages industry event leaders to integrate its Sustainable Development Goals into their business models, incorporate circular production solutions, highlight key innovations and facilitate knowledge share.

Through its new partnership, Kingpins said it is committing to promote and support the goals within the denim industry at its global events which are currently held in New York, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and London. Organisers of the event said they plan to expand to other locations.

Kingpins has been putting an increased focus on sustainable development as of late. In 2019, it introduced two key requirements of its Kingpins Amsterdam exhibitors: That all exhibiting mills must meet a Corporate Social Responsibility standard by 2020 in order to continue to exhibit at the event; and that all exhibitors must agree to sustainable chemical management protocols by the end of 2020. This year, Kingpins also released its first white paper and called upon the denim industry to change the way it approaches and markets “sustainable” products.

Commenting on the new partnership in a statement, founder of Kingpins Show Andrew Olah, said: “The concepts of sustainability and transparency are key to how we approach our events. It informs everything from the exhibitors we select and the requirements we make of them, the speakers we present, the production of our shows – all of it. And we’re always looking to expand not only our own commitment to cleaner denim but to engage with the industry and give them the tools to do better.

“This is why we are so excited to collaborate with the Conscious Fashion Campaign and the United Nations Office for Partnerships. We are on the same page and having their voice join ours, having their team members come and speak directly with our audience and learn our industry and help us find ways to employ the SDGs – it only helps make the message that much more clear.”

Kerry Bannigan, founder of the Conscious Fashion Campaign, added: “From our initial conversations it was evident that Andrew is leading his team with the Sustainable Development Goals at the forefront of their global vision. For us to be able to integrate this framework from impact marketing to sustainable operations is a vital step in guiding the denim sector to create concrete strategies for action.”

Photo credit: FashionUnited