The third edition of the Venice Sustainable Fashion Forum, the Summit that focuses on the sustainable transition of the fashion supply chain, took place at the Cini Foundation on the island of San Giorgio in Venice on October 24 and 25. It brought together over 350 people including Italian and foreign entrepreneurs, representatives of the supply chain and stakeholders.

The event was an opportunity to discuss new solutions in the process of rethinking the role of sustainability and the evolutionary trajectories of the sector to 2030. The Forum, founded and created by Italian Fashion System, The European House-Ambrosetti e Confindustria Veneto East-Metropolitan Area Venice Padua Rovigo Treviso had as theme “Leading Re-Generation”. The objective is to propose new solutions to rethink the approach to sustainability, with a view to “regenerating” the entire sector, with direct impacts on human capital and the regulatory framework, on innovation and digital transformation, on the traceability and transparency of the supply chain as well as on the approach to consumption. The theme calls the main players in the entire fashion supply chain, from excellent manufacturers to brands to SMEs, to engage in relevant discussions with institutions and experts the implications that the transition has already triggered on competitiveness, production and revenues.

On this occasion, the 3rd edition of the strategic study “Just Fashion Transition 2024” was presented in Venice. The study carries on the work started off with the first report, presented at the 2022 Forum, showcasing challenges and opportunities for a sustainable transition in the fashion sector and proposing recommendations addressed to institutions and key players of the value chain, to promote a transition that is not limited to sustainability but that is also just, fair and may bring balance between interests and expectations of all stakeholders, without exception.

The 5 proposals and recommendations that emerged from the Just Fashion Transition 2024 study developed by The European House-Ambrosetti, addressed to institutions and actors in the sector, were presented, which are crucial for achieving a fair and effective transition by 2030. They include: Closing the regulatory gap quickly: put pressure at European level to accelerate the finalization of regulatory frameworks, in order to create the conditions for companies to make medium-long term decisions; Simplifying financial tools for SMEs: simplify the bureaucratic burden for SMEs, enabling them to invest in sustainability by providing them with easier access to credit and offering favorable shares; Pushing skills and R&D: build and disseminate national competences and competence centres, involving universities and research to test scalable solutions, developing initiatives to disseminate among SMEs the skills needed for the transition and create a future-proof workforce; Promote National Fashion Industrial Plans: develop a national strategic plan to identify ways to integrate sustainability costs into pricing structures, facilitating the eradication of gangmastering, as well as sharing timeframes, methods and tools to combine public and private funding; Concentrate the market to increase competitiveness: fuel the process of market concentration, especially among SMEs, to increase productivity and investment capacity, including through tax breaks and access to credit, but also public funding.

In the final session of the Venice Sustainable Fashion Forum, Sergio Tamborini, president of Sistema Moda Italia drew the conclusions that emerged from the two days of the Forum. “Venice confirms itself as a fundamental moment of aggregation to unite different worlds and visions. On stage we saw together the history, the future and the pitfalls, regarding transparency and markets, that Textiles and Fashion faces. These are issues that every entrepreneur faces differently, thinking of protecting the company, we as Smi the entire supply chain, even in the face of regulatory inconsistencies. This year we have experimented with a new geography in the forum events, with the addition of more intimate moments dedicated to issues that concern individual companies: finance, circularity, digital or greenwashing. Entrepreneurs want to be protagonists, finance remains a central element and precious ally, while a clothing platform, we have seen, can sell something today and convey a message to millions of consumers tomorrow: this is the task of fashion, creating connections on the topic of sustainability and I believe that this is our true objective”.