Paris fashion week started yesterday, Tuesday, September 28, through a press conference organized by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, to present the Sphere program, the incubator salon, and platform for young talent. Pascal Morand, executive president of the Fhcm explained the numerous initiatives planned, especially the launch of two eco-design support tools. These two digital devices were created to allow fashion houses participating in the women’s fashion week to measure their ecological impact. One is dedicated to events (in particular fashion shows and presentations) relating to the event value chain; the other concerns collections and the industrial value chain.

The two tools have been produced by PwC combining the expertise of its sustainable development teams; data analytics teams and the PwC Experience Center, working closely with the Federation. The aim is to calculate 120 KPI of quantitative and qualitative data of the houses.

The tool for events was designed to measure the environmental, social, and economic impact (with the Institut Français de la Mode) of the Pfw (macro measure). It enables each participating fashion house to proceed with their calculations before organizing an event (fashion show/presentation/showroom…) and help them make the smartest choice when it comes to service providers in order to reduce environmental impact and optimize social impact (micro measure).

Instead, the tool for collections and the industrial value chain helps companies to eco-design their collections by measuring the environmental and social impact of their entire industrial value chain. It is a management tool that provides an overall vision for a full season scaled to each collection in terms of both Csr commitment and environmental and social performance. It was developed by PwC by pooling the expertise of sustainable development teams, data analytics teams and the PwC Experience Center. The technical committee is made up of DEFI, the French Federation of Women’s Ready-to-Wear, the Federation of Knitwear, Lingerie and Swimwear, the Alliance du Commerce, Première Vision, ReFashion, Création & Image, IFTH, CETI, and COFREET.

In addition to producing these two tools, since 2019 the Federation had made other commitments that were met for Paris Fashion Week and the Haute Couture collections week, in particular zero carbon emission mobility. Since January 2020, the federation in partnership with DS Automobiles has used a fleet of zero-emission vehicles as the official transport, while the other modes of transport offered by the Federation for accredited parties are fully electric, such as a bus fleet, Paris Fashion Week shuttle service, and scooter.

To reduce travel within the city the Federation has also helped to set up a shared venue at the Palais de Tokyo: the room hosts a dozen fashion shows and presentations for each Pfw. Waste at the Paris Fashion Week Center at the Palais de Tokyo is 100% recycled and recovered.

Photo: Schiaparelli @ Kevin Tachman. Courtesy of Fhcm