Designing the Future: Entrepreneurs Sparking a Fashion Revolution

84% of global consumers say they seek out responsible products. This means, when shopping, these individuals aim to buy greener products, or to account for a company’s commitment to social responsibility, or to be more globally aware. But what if rather than asking individuals to consciously ponder what is right, we make the responsible decision the normative one throughout an entire industry? What if we shift the very patterns of consumption and production in the global textile industry so that every article of clothing supported global sustainability instead of hurting it? What if we decide it is time to spark an industry-wide revolution?

Like many of the best ideas, this may seem quixotic, naive or impossible, but momentum around it is rising every day. The international community itself has recognized its necessity and laid out a specific and coherent plan to achieve a global shift towards sustainability: the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The SDGs are the world’s battle plan for progress over the next 15 years. There are 17 of them, ranging from fighting extreme poverty to creating global gender equality. Goal #12: to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns is the goal that will focus attention on the fashion industry. Over the next 10 years, the United Nations will implement a framework of programs designed to promote sustainable consumption and production globally. This includes using natural resources more efficiently, reducing production of chemical and non-chemical waste, and increasing recycling and reuse programs, also known as the circular economy. It will also mean improving workers’ conditions, paying a living wage, and above all else, treating workers with dignity and respect.

At Agora Partnerships, we believe that changing the global fashion industry will be key to achieving Goal #12. It will not be easy. It will require titanic shifts — in consumer awareness and behavior, in the way corporations and nonprofits cooperate, and in how the industry empowers disruptors and entrepreneurs — to update it for the 21st century.

In recent years, the fashion sector has come under increasing scrutiny as both the world’s second largest polluter (after oil and gas) and as an industry that has struggled to address workers’ rights. There is now remarkable opportunity for change within the global fashion industry. With new, sustainable practices and technologies flooding the market, the time is now to revolutionize fashion and establish a new normal.

To build a more sustainable, ethical, and regenerative fashion and textile industry, we must provide opportunity and resources to entrepreneurs working towards that vision. Fashion entrepreneurs working to build companies that can add value to all stakeholders — owners, employees, customers, community and the environment — deserve a fair shot at achieving support and investment.

By supporting entrepreneurs committed to a vision of an ethical fashion revolution and facilitating investment in their organizations, Agora Partnerships aims to lay the groundwork for a significant shift within the fashion industry.

In our 11 years of operation, we have seen how effective and necessary entrepreneurs and their companies are towards charting a sustainable future for the industry, especially in places you wouldn’t think to look. Take, for example, Oscaritos and Kiej de los Bosques, two of the twelve Agora Accelerator Alumni focused in ethical fashion. Both of these companies challenged the worker exploitation that has become standard practice for many fashion giants, creating sustainable business models committed to treating workers well and investing in previously untapped talent pools. Together, these companies, which started with modest means, have changed thousands of lives, mostly for poor women and their families.

In solidarity with the UN’s SDG #12, Agora Partnerships is redoubling our efforts by creating an ethical fashion track for 2017 that will support companies that are not only committed to safe working conditions, but also environmental stewardship and the circular economy. These companies are developing innovative ways of recycling and reusing materials that would otherwise be discarded byproducts, minimizing the amount of virgin materials used in creating a final fashion product and reducing waste within the industry.

Agora Partnerships stands with the United Nations and recognizes that we must make a concerted effort today to ensure a sustainable, equitable future. We must envision a world in which the fashion industry takes responsibility for its actions, where materials are reused and repurposed to extend product life-cycles, and where the clothes on your back represent a conscious commitment to both people and the planet. To reach this vision, we must empower entrepreneurs to chart the future of the fashion industry and to spark the necessary revolution that reflects our values and protects our planet.