On Thursday 20th March 2025, the British Fashion Council (BFC) hosted its fifth annual Institute of Positive Fashion Forum (IPF Forum) at 180 Studios, 180 The Strand, London. The event welcomed key industry experts, strategically convened from the BFC’s expansive global network to explore how to accelerate a circular fashion economy and decarbonisation efforts in the UK.
The action-oriented day explored the three themes of Net Zero, Circular Economy and Social Change and consisted of a series of visionary keynotes, practical workshops and panel discussions with industry leaders.
This year’s event included the fifth iteration of the Future of Fashion Innovation Showcase and a display from the Student Fabric Initiative which showcased student designs from BFC Colleges Council member universities using deadstock fabrics, powered by The Materialist.
Closing remarks from Caroline Rush, Chief Executive, British Fashion Council:
"Wow! What an inspiring day. Brilliant insights, conversations and an overwhelming sense of a community coming together with a vision and ambition to solve for a common goal; to decarbonise and to further push the industry to adopt more sustainable practices and have a positive impact.
Thank you all so much for coming and for your participation. I’m going to try and wrap up some of the rich content from today’s speakers and sessions.
At the beginning of the day, we recognised our five-year anniversary and used it as an opportunity to reflect on what we have learnt, our progress and set out our ambitions for what's next.
Today, we have focused on tangible actions for businesses, government and citizens who are navigating this change, adapting their thinking, mindsets and business models for a lower carbon future with circularity at the core. We have explored in detail the three key themes of Net Zero, Circular Economy and Social Change. At the BFC, we play a pivotal role in helping brands implement and champion sustainable business practices as well as decarbonising.
The BFC’s mission is to bring together a single voice and direction that convenes SMEs and big business to affect policy change.
The discussions have been incredible, and we have picked out some common themes:
- Optimism - there has been a brilliant energy and such a good sense of optimism today. This is important and must be cherished - thank you!
- Determination, don't be disheartened, be faithful to the vision, all progress is good and we know more than we did. Stick to the facts - Farhana encouraged us to ‘Hold the Line’
- Collaboration - share and talk about what you do well and badly. Collaboration between smaller and bigger brands is essential in initiating conversations on innovative ideas and promoting circular practices.
- Education and storytelling are key.
We have further broken this down for businesses, government and citizens.
FOR BUSINESSES
- Transparency, this came up a lot. The biggest area of impact is the supply chain and therefore this is also where the change can be made. Bring your production partners along with you, sharing data and storytelling is essential.
- Visit your supply chain from the factory to the shop floor - championed by Oliver Spencer.
- Behavioural change, fashion is the pinnacle of consumption, how can we change the behaviour of our communities and bring customers along with us in an authentic and honest way with long term goals and relationships in mind.
- Business can and should be a force for good - businesses need to be here in 10 years’ time and so what we put in place now is vital.
- Invest in the supply chain to ensure the longevity of a product – focus on building ‘icon’ products that consumers want to invest in and keep forever.
- Ensuring longevity, building trust, empowering consumers.
- We need societal shifts in consumerism to happen to succeed and that will help shape business’s responses.
- Circularity is key to putting systems in place to ensure businesses are healthy across the board. Circularity cannot be used as a band-aid on the problem but needs to be ingrained into actionable systems and processes.
FOR GOVERNMENT
- Political systems are afraid of behavioural change because it forces them to change and respond.
- Considered regulation and accountability is welcomed and essential to shift intent and accelerate change.
- Policy needs to follow this model too. We need policies that we can get behind and give clear roadmaps which are also connected globally.
- Incentives for those doing good work - tax breaks, money back, favourable rates.
- Need quantifiable measures / standardised measures to productively speak to government and consumers and effect policy / behaviour change.
FOR CITIZENS
- Promote education around circularity and sustainable practices. Don’t use guilt to engage citizens. We need to teach them repair skills and promote sustainable habits from an early age.
- Customers need to understand and be educated in what to buy and how to buy. Without the customer there is no business.
- Joining groups, local charities, showing up on the streets trigger change and grab the attention of those in power. Whichever way we can contribute, we should!
- As people, us, our choices, our daily lives are the leaders of change.
- There’s been a noticeable shift in consumer buying from ‘items’ to experiences.
Fashion has a lot of impact and cultural currency; it also has the ability to have a behavioural perspective. We have agency and we need to acknowledge our agency. It is a muscle which needs to be practised. It is critical that fashion is recognised in the UK’s climate goals (National Determined Contributions). Fashion is vital to the UK meeting these targets.
Thank you to Deloitte, our IPF Forum Delivery Collaborator, and to all our speakers, moderators, to you all for playing your part. Please keep up the good work. You will get a written summary in a few weeks’ time (thanks to the BFC team and our Delivery Collaborator, Deloitte).
We ask that you share your feedback so that we can plan for next year.
Before we close for the day, and take time to digest everything we have heard, discussed and shared….
I am delighted to announce the winner of the Student Fabric Initiative, Oiai Wang, BA Fashion Design, Glasgow School of Art.
The BFC Student Fabric Initiative’s ultimate ambition is to create a simple and efficient way for designer brands and universities to work together and provide practical support for future talent, bringing sustainability and circularity even closer to the heart of fashion education in the UK. This year, the BFC partnered with The Materialist, a high-end excess stock marketplace, who oversaw all deliveries to universities across the UK.
Thank you all very much for making today so inspiring. Change is hard but our planet is worth it."
The generosity and commitment of our partners is more vital than ever. Please help us by acknowledging the ongoing support of our IPF Forum Delivery Collaborator, Deloitte, funded by the UK Government, supported by Mayor of London.
The IPF Forum is a key event organised by the BFC’s Institute of Positive Fashion (IPF). The IPF is a climate think and action tank established to convene the fashion industry to address its environmental and social impact. It shares best practice and extensive insights to inform policy change at a national and international level.