The Centre for Sustainable Fashion at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London (UAL), has announced the launch of a pioneering new programme in partnership with global luxury group Kering. Titled Governance for Tomorrow, the three-year initiative celebrates the tenth anniversary of the organisations’ partnership, aiming to reform governance in the luxury fashion sector by prioritising environmental stewardship and equity in decision-making.
“This milestone programme reflects our commitment to redefining governance practices in the luxury sector, with sustainability, equity, and social justice at its heart,” said Marie-Claire Daveu, Kering’s Chief Sustainability and Institutional Affairs Officer, in a press release.
The Governance for Tomorrow programme will utilise speculative design and participatory methods to research, test, and implement innovative governance models. Inspired by Johan Rockström et al.’s Nature article, “Safe and Just Earth System Boundaries,” the programme places interspecies, intergenerational, and intragenerational (3I) justice at its core. A non-executive experimental board will explore these themes, underscoring justice and equity as essential to preserving Earth’s natural systems.
To support this vision, the Centre for Sustainable Fashion has issued an open call for changemakers from diverse sectors to join the programme’s stewardship boards. These boards will serve as platforms for innovation, uniting experts to co-create transformative solutions for the fashion industry’s complex challenges.
Dilys Williams, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, explained, “By bringing together imaginative and curious minds, we aim to prototype frameworks that champion true prosperity, shifting away from past models that overlooked nature and our commitment to living better as foundations for a thriving luxury sector.”
The launch of Governance for Tomorrow comes at a pivotal time. While there has been some progress, the fashion industry remains behind on critical sustainability goals, including responsible production, decarbonising supply chains, and ensuring fair wages for garment workers. With the recent WWF Living Planet report highlighting the Earth’s proximity to a “dangerous tipping point,” the need for bold, alternative governance models in fashion has never been more urgent. (1)
