Throughout the pandemic, industries have found new ways to not only engage with audiences from all over the world, but also to make strides in innovation. One such company is Lablaco, a circular fashion ecosystem helmed by Lorenzo Albrighi and Eliana Kuo.
Established in 2016, the enterprise takes cues from the concept of a circular economy and aims for circular fashion—when an item is reinstated into the ecosphere responsibly—to become a household practice.
The company has made strides by connecting fashion products at all levels of the value chain, from high supply-chain, retail to post-consumption, but Circular Fashion Summit (CFS) takes things one step further.
What is the Circular Fashion Summit?
The virtual reality version of CFS made its debut at Paris Fashion Week in October 2020, where it was attended by companies such as Chanel, LVMH, and Balenciaga. It was hosted at a digital reiteration of the monumental Grand Palais in Paris, which fashion lovers will recognise as the venue for many iconic Chanel shows through the years.
The aim of CFS is to help the fashion industry segue into a digitised circular economy through bringing together innovators from fields such as sustainability, design and technology. It also places an emphasis on measurable impact powered by Lablaco technology, in tandem with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030.
This year, Circular Fashion Summit 2021 will be held on 9 to 12 December at the Grand Palais Éphémère. Presented digitally as an interactive non-fungible token (NFT) co-owned and co-conceptualised by Lablaco, it will focus on the theme of ‘Redesigning Society’.
The four-day event will have industry leaders running four panels and three workshops on design, technology and sustainability. Speakers including representatives from Vogue Singapore, RTFKT, Aura Blockchain, The Fabricant and DressX will be discussing topics such as inclusivity by design and the metaverse.
The summit will also showcase 10 Fashion Innovators and 10 Impact Designers with whom attendees will have a chance to speak to “in person” through virtual reality. With two slots available every day (9am t0 11am CET and 4pm to 6pm CET) from 10 to 12 December, viewers can do this through the Oculus Quest 2 VR headset that is included in sales of the ticket (more information below).
It will take place in the Spin universe—Lablaco’s fashion metaverse platform
As part of Lablaco’s mission to make digitised circular fashion a lifestyle, they have introduced a fashion metaverse platform, Spin, an amplified and interactive interface for users to experience circular fashion business models across multi-realities powered by Blockchain, where the summit will be operated. Attendees will be able to choose from various virtual reality experiences around topics such as art, culture and innovation, spearheaded by various experts of the fields.
The CFS experience includes an exclusive collaboration with the Institute of Digital Fashion (IoDF). This will see a virtual-only capsule collection drop, the IoDF x CFS 0.1 collection, which will be premiered to attendees via gaming platform Oculus’ app store from 9 December.
There will also be a selection of digital fashion garments provided by DressX for all summit attendees to try on avatars and create exclusive content inside the Spin metaverse.
Vogue Innovation Workshop
As part of its ongoing efforts to lead conversations in the fashion metaverse, Vogue Singapore is partnering with CFS to host an innovation workshop titled ‘Fashion’s New Frontier: The Metaverse’ on 10 December, moderated by Editor-in-Chief, Norman Tan in CFS’ gallery.
The Vogue Singapore gallery installation will showcase an exclusive piece conceptualised in collaboration with designer Angel Chen, which can be worn by avatars in the Spin universe.
Joined by founder of DressX Natalia Modenova, co-founder and CEO of Revery.AI Kedan Lo, and head of talent relations at Genies Jake Becker amongst others, the panel discussion will cover topics such as innovation for sustainability and the post-waste economy. Attendees will get a look at a selection of 12 covers from Vogue Singapore’s first year, and also get to meet Tan and publisher of Media Publishares, Bettina von Schlippe.
Meet the Impact Designers, innovators and experts who will be showcased in VR booths
An integral piece of CFS is its innovation hub programme, supported by ACBC this year, which will showcase ten innovators ranging from innovative materials, to digital design and such as FibreTrace, Spinnova, EOS and Coloreel.
A new addition to this year’s summit is the CFS gallery, an exclusive interactive showcase area of four CFS corporate innovation partners, including Vogue Singapore, ISKO, Comfort by Unilever, and Kering Group (who is presenting the Kering Materials Innovation Lab, together with Fashion For Good). It will be showcasing 10 additional innovators and start-ups, to unite and join the 12-month programme to reach the CFS action goals collectively.
All innovators will be working alongside this year’s 10 Impact Design Hub honourees, which include Singaporean designer Grace Ling, Miss Sohee by South Korean designer Sohee Park and digital fashion house, Auroboros. Each honouree will receive support in the form of S$153,684 (€100,000), as well as 3D design mentorship from CLO., consultancy and manufacturing backing from partners such as Kering. They will also receive necessary materials to aid in their vision for change.
Here’s how to get tickets
There are 2 ticket types available for the Circular Fashion Summit 2021, and Vogue Singapore readers will receive a special discount by using the promotion code ‘CFSxVSG21‘.
The Executive ticket (€1,999, or S$3,073) includes a 12-month free subscription to CFS’ monthly series of extended reality (XR) events, as well as an Oculus Quest 2 headset in 128 gigabytes and more. The Prime ticket (€999, or S$1,536) includes impact design hub and innovation hub access and an Oculus Quest 2 headset in 128 gigabytes and more.
Get access to the full programme here.
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