PARIS GOOD FASHION IS HITTING GREEN GOALS WITH THEIR MOVEMENT TO BE THE SUSTAINABLE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD

By: Hillary LeBlanc

The city of Paris has often been dubbed, not only the fashion capital of the world, but as one of the centres for sustainability efforts. The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, France, on 12 December 2015. It entered into force on November 4th 2016. Since then Paris has become synonymous with sustainable innovation in more ways then one.

The Paris Good Fashion movement aims to accelerate the sustainable transition of the fashion industry. Their website states that their “actions are focused on the development of practical and shared solutions through collective intelligence”. Their hope is to raise the position of Paris in the world as a major capital of sustainable fashion by this year as it is the year of the next Olympic Games. On a daily basis, the Paris Good Fashion organizes working groups to co-construct, on a voluntary basis, concrete action plans on specific topics. They define themselves as a lab for co-creating concrete solutions to accelerate change whose motto is: be useful, concrete and collective.

Image Credit: Paris Good fashion website

The Paris Good Fashion association, co-created by Isabelle LeFort and Laure du Pavillon, is under the French law of 1901 which gathers more than a hundred professional actors associated with companies, designers, NGOs and more committed to accelerating change and transforming the practices of fashion companies. The association plans to achieve their goals by developing tools and working groups to move forward on major themes of sustainable development. 

Paris Good Fashion is supported by 95 organizations and companies including Lacoste, Chanel, Vestiaire Co. and Schiaparelli to name a few. 

At the end of a citizen consultation, it became clear to everyone that a common language was needed in order to exchange and communicate on the same basis. The Paris Good Fashion working group is working on the creation of a glossary of "definitions and common standard concepts" in order to clarify and harmonize our uses. The association has also created a self-diagnosis questionnaire and a barometer. The self-diagnosis consists of 80 questions from eco-design to consumer relations. This reference system should enable everyone to qualify their progress and to look for the right solutions. The barometer, created by Deloitte, will measure the progress of the members of Paris Good Fashion, both quantitatively and qualitatively. 

Grands Prix Eyes on Talents x Paris Good Fashion launched two competitions in 2019 to mobilize 7000 designers listed via the largest international schools: the first on sustainable fashion and photography, the second on inclusive design.

The Green Store Challenge, co-created with LVMH, aims to award brands who are committed to reduce the environmental footprint of their stores and/or offices. It is estimated that the fashion industry produces each year more than a hundred billion polybags to wrap, protect and transport clothing and around 85 billion hangers. The hangers & polybags working group aims to provide the best solutions to manage plastic and waste issues related to this topic. Convinced that it is essential for fashion to rediscover its earthly roots through the promotion of biodiversity and the encouragement of everything that contributes to the protection of our planet, both environmentally and humanly, Paris Good Fashion created a workshop on regenerative agriculture which aims to share experiences to change agricultural practices and to strengthen human links along all the supply-chain.

Outside of these innovative feats, Paris Good Fashion has created a map of creative brands in Paris so people can access points of sale, concept stores, multi-brand, flagship stores of responsible brands, second-hand stores, environmentally friendly dry cleaners, places for repairs or even to recycle. This map allows users to find the people best aligned with their goals and environmental morals quickly.

On January 23rd 2024, Paris Good Fashion celebrated five years into their mission. In that time they have carried out 50 projects and show no signs of slowing down!

Cover Image: Chris Karidi / @chriskaridis