Fashioning the Future: Fashion and Sustainability Panel
Join us as we discuss the challenges and the future of sustainable fashion.
CLICK HERE to reserve tickets.
Presented by Arnsdorf, this panel explores the need for a transparent approach to fashion design, retail and manufacturing.
Arnsdorf's founder and creative director, Jade Sarita Arnott, will be joined by a panel of speakers who traverse Australia's fashion landscape.
It's a great time to be a part of the fashion industry, as it is prepared like never before to support sustainable business practices. In the past the high cost and low margins of wholesaling to retailers, customer mistrust of online sales, a focus on fast fashion, and the high costs of sustainable and ethical production have made sustainability almost an impossibility for labels. Until now.
There is a growing social interest in the impact of everything we consume. People are asking about supply chains, they want to be educated about how their clothes – and everything they buy – gets to them. These conditions have meant that many businesses are now able to maintain truly sustainable and ethical practices. This is not without its challenges, though, as the costs of sustainable processes are still high, and there are always advancements and improvements that can be made.
We want sustainable products to continue to improve, to be accessible and to become the norm in fashion. We are playing a small part in a big movement, but we feel that every small contribution can contribute to this change. The more people that join us, the easier, more affordable and accessible sustainable fashion will become.
This is a free event, right in the middle of Sydney Fashion Week, so places are strictly limited. Please RSVP to secure your place.
Location: General Assembly, 1 Market St, Sydney
Date: Thursday 17th May 6pm - 8pm
Get to know our panelists!
Mediator: Alexandra Spring, Editor of Sustainable Business, The Guardian
Alexandra Spring is the editorial partnerships and sustainable business editor at Guardian Australia. During her time at the Guardian, she has written on fashion, lifestyle, arts and sustainability. Before that, she worked at Vogue Australia, first as the beauty director and then as the features director. She has also written for Vogue UK, Porter, GQ, Sunday Life, Elle Australia and more.
Jade Sarita Arnott, Creative Director and Founder of Arnsdorf
Jade Sarita Arnott is the creative director and founder of Arnsdorf, a modern fashion brand for women of style and purpose. Arnsdorf was re-launched in 2017 with a focus on transparent design, working to bring about a new level of accountability to the industry. Arnsdorf is produced locally in its own factory in Collingwood and has just opened its first retail store in Fitzroy. The brand is built on transparency, revealing every element of its process, from the names of the women who sew each garment to the exact price of each trim and fabric. Prior to the brand’s relaunch in 2017, Jade was located in New York, showing annually at Sydney Fashion Week as well as showing her collections in Paris and New York and was stocked in over fifty stores globally. She gave it all up in 2012 in response to the state of the industry but returned last year with a new approach to design and transparency.
Courtney Sanders, Co-Founder of Well Made Clothing
Courtney Sanders is the co-founder of Well Made Clothes, a digital marketplace which provides information about, and the ability to shop, fashion labels that meet specific ethical values, which all kicked off when Courtney won an Innovations in Journalism grant from the Walkley Foundation sponsored by Google. Courtney comes from a digital content background, and before Well Made Clothes was the editorial director at Catalogue, and the editor at New Zealand's largest alternative music website, UnderTheRadar. Courtney is passionate about the power of culture, particularly fashion, to effect positive social and environmental change, particularly for the women who make and wear clothes. Courtney is also passionate about coffee. Coffee is very important.
Angela Bell, National Manager of Ethical Clothing Australia
Angela Bell is the National Manager at Ethical Clothing Australia, commonly known as ECA®. Angela oversees a small team that works closely with clothing brands and manufacturers and the Textile, Clothing Footwear Union of Australia. Angela started her career as a cadet journalist and since her first job, she has loved nothing more than being given a task and a deadline. She has worked in media and communications for a Minister in Queensland, the Australian Services Union, and the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012.
Before joining ECA® Angela worked in the private sector, for a law firm, overseeing the media and communications functions and social responsibility programs across Australia and the United Kingdom. She values the role of business and being able to do good at the same time. Angela holds a bachelor of media and communications and a post-graduate certificate in Social Impact from Melbourne Business School.
Outside of the office, Angela has always found it important to be a part of the community where she lives and she has been a member and volunteer of many organisations.
