Sustainable fashion was discussed in Moscow

On October 9, TEDxKrasnayaPolyanaSalon featured an online conference SUSTAINABLE FASHION: WHY IT MATTERS, dedicated to sustainability. In the format of TED Talks, 11 speakers from different countries shared their experience and made suggestions on further development of this concept in fashion industry.

The host of the conference, Mary Leest, is a popular fashion influencer and street style star from New York with over 1 million Instagram followers, has appeared in the tops of well-known international media such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Forbes, Glamour, and collaborates with the largest luxury fashion brands. She is a founder of the namesake workshop dedicated to building a career in fashion business with more than a thousand students all around the world. Marie actively develops and supports the topic of sustainability on her platforms, her ideas in this area were recognized by Stella McCartney during the Green Carpet Fashion Awards in Milan.

Speakers were:

Alexander Shumsky, President of Russian Fashion Council and co-founder of Fashion Fund, Russia;

Nyusha, Russian singer and founder of NyuCycle brand, Russia;

Patrick Duffy, founder of Global Fashion Exchange, co-founder of SwapChain and Circular Fashion Summit, UK;

Jackie Andrews-Udall, sustainability in fashion and textile consultant, lecturer at Central Saint Martins, UK;

Daria Shapovalova, businesswoman, journalist, public activist, founder of Dress-X, the global virtual clothes sales platform, Ukraine;

Gloria Wavamunno, Artist, art director and founder of Kampala Fashion Week and board director of the Fashion Council Uganda, based in Kampala, Uganda;

Tania Nudelman, Founder of Nichego Novogo / Nothing New your gateway to the fashion resale world, Russia;

Kazuma Mori, Founder of BUNKER TOKYO & BUNKER TOKYO SUSTAINABLE conceptual boutiques, Japan;

Timo Helgert, Digital artist from Germany, founder of Vacades agency and Adobe Resident, Germany;

Nina Senskaya, fashion designer, author of Instagram blog about sustainable fashion @statussustainable, Finland;

Paola Pinna, digital and 3D artist, founder of Paola Pinna Studio, Italy.

Among the topics that were covered: A Trillion Pieces in Landfills: There Is Only One Solution; Make It Sexy: Using Desire to Foster a Sustainable Mindset; Why People Believe They Aren’t Creative and How to Change That; Minor Deeds for a Major Future; Our Wardrobes Can’t Save the World but Can Change It, and many more.
“Supporting the projects in the field of sustainable fashion has long been one of the top priorities of Russian Fashion Council and Fashion Fund. Few seasons ago we’ve abandoned natural fur showcasing at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia events. In tight collaboration with local brands from all over the world we’ve seen that the time has come for a large-scale international dialogue. TEDx has always been a venue for ideas worth spreading, so we’ve joined forces to introduce as much people as possible to the sustainability concept,” says Alexander Shumsky, President of Russian Fashion Council.

«The concept of sustainable development is really close to me. My brand NyuCycle adheres the principles of reuse ‒ we take clothes no longer needed for people to produce new ones that others will want to wear! We created a collection of swimwear together with Ginger Ocean from recycled abandoned fishing nets», — says Nyusha, singer, designer and the speaker of TEDxKrasnayaPolyanaSalon conference, — «I believe that through joint efforts we can achieve impressive results! Yes, sometimes it seems that so little depends on us. But if each of us thinks about responsible consumption, about sorting waste, about secondary production, we will be able to move the environmental problem off the ground».
Just like the participants of the talks, Mercedes-Benz takes the issue of sustainable development rather personally. In particular, one of the key aspects of Mercedes-Benz AG’s business strategy is electrical mobility.  Under the Ambition 2039 program, Mercedes-Benz is working to offer a new set of CO2 zero emission vehicles in the next 20 years. That’s why Mercedes-Benz AG is the first premium class car manufacturer, whose climate protection objectives have been verified by SBTI initiative. This means that the company complies with every letter of the Paris Global Climate Agreement.

For Daimler, eco-sustainability implies long-term engagement and participation of all the parties concerned, including customers, employees, investors, business partners, and the society in general. The basis for that is a sustainable business strategy. Thus, the company undertakes responsibility for economical, ecological, and social consequences of every stage of their commercial activities.

The history of TED global community dates back to 1984, and although many years have passed, the initiative still supports the spreading of pioneering ideas throughout the world and uniting people who are eager to evolve. TED Talks format has become popular all over the world, as they’ve always been discussing topical issues and inviting top-level speakers. In different times, the TED stage has welcomed Bill Gates and James Cameron, Bill Clinton and Al Gore, Natalie Merchant and George Takei, Sting and Bono, Billy Graham and Steven Hawking.

TEDxKrasnayaPolyana, being an independently arranged conference within TED, supports the traditions of the project, inviting to the digital venue experts from different countries including Finland, Hong Kong (China), Nigeria, Russia, South Africa and Japan, Uganda, the Netherlands, the UK, the USA.
Official Partner of the event was Mercedes-Benz Russia. Media partner of the conference was Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia.