Image Source: Vogue

“Clothes mean nothing until someone lives in them.” – Marc Jacobs.

Hello fellow fashionistas,

Fashion has always been something more than just a piece of fabric to all of us. It’s about the way the drapes fall against gravity, the cloth clings against your body, the heels click on the floor as you imagine yourself on a runway, and overall, just the sensorial bliss or hell that we experience when we wear something that reflects our soul in a silent but loud statement. It’s our everyday armour against the world, our place of refuge, a sacred sanity even.

But at the cost of what?

Have you felt the shift in fashion, the way it’s more about trends, more about the ‘bling’ than it being a unique statement? The way maximalism and overconsumption are behind trends is the new normal.

Who do you think suffers the most from this? Our fellow people who are running behind trends or the environment that can’t keep up with it?

Now don’t get me wrong, I too, love that the 2000s are back, but that doesn’t mean I need a new closet in its honour (but yes, a few pieces would be nice). That also doesn’t mean the rest of my closet is useless.

So why are we running behind trends as if running behind life wasn’t enough? Why can’t we stop and see what we have done in the name of fashion?

Sustainability is not a trend, but the foundation of the future we design.

To avenge fashion and restore it to its previous glittering glory Fashion Futures, is a forward-thinking initiative that aims to reshape the fashion industry by focusing on aspects of global importance like sustainability, innovation, and ethical practices.

Though it started out as a roundtable conference held on different topics for sustainability in 2020, it later gained traction with the global audience.

It gives a voice to diverse cultures, and ideas, showcasing innovations, and exploring how fashion could align with the values of responsibility and sustainability. Allowing it to transform into a global movement, with events held in some of the most fashionable hubs in the world and now in 2025, Dubai.

Fashion Futures Dubai: A New Era of Sustainable Fashion was hosted on 6th February 2025, at the Design Dubai District (d3), the region’s leading hub for design, fashion, architecture, and art and one of TECOM Group PJSC’s 10 vibrant business districts in Dubai.

The event was inaugurated on the last day of the Dubai Fashion Week, aligning with the theme of Autumn/Winter 25/26 Fashion Week. The event brought together luxury leaders, policymakers, growing business owners, and innovators to discuss sustainable practices in the fashion industry with a focus on luxury and innovation.

Fashion Futures Dubai has also made a strategic partnership with Vogue Business, allowing it to cater to a global audience by offering a platform for emerging design talent to explore and implement sustainable solutions. Connecting global leaders with budding businesses and regional innovators, who will ultimately make a change in the fashion industry.

“Global collaboration is essential for shaping the future of sustainable design,” said Khadija Al Bastaki, Senior Vice President of Dubai Design District (d3) at TECOM Group.

Some key take-aways from the events that transpired during the inauguration would be:

Driving Global Collaboration for Sustainability:

As Khadija Al Bastaki stressed in the speech to promote global harmony and connectivity between global leaders and regional developers who can create a change for the fashion industry from a grass root level, allowing the foundation of sustainability in the industry to be stronger than ever.

Providing opportunities to emerging talent in the industry:

The inauguration started with a conversation between Vogue Business and Manish Malhotra, one of India’s and Bollywood’s most celebrated designers, 6 hours before his closing runway show at Dubai Fashion Week. The interview reflected on his journey as a designer and advocated the need for investment in new emerging talents and innovations.

Expert Insights and Knowledge Sharing on Business Aspects:

Proceeding with a panel of Industry leaders Nadine Kanso, founder of jewellery label Bil Arabi; Jasmina Banda, president of Joint Ventures at Chalhoub Group; Fahed Ghanim, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) Lifestyle; and Maria Yehia, co-founder and creative director of cult fashion label Mrs. Keepa, hosted by Assomull.

The panel explored the cosmopolitan nature of Dubai shoppers and how they are stereotyped as an extravagate or modest cultural clientele only, the importance of localized brand experiences, and the shift towards experiential retail.

Sustainability in Fashion:

Experts like Kunal Kapoor and Faiza Bouguessa emphasized durability, upcycling, and waste reduction as key strategies for eco-sustainable practices. The panel also explored sustainable facilities that boosted the company’s functionality, such as recycling construction materials and implementing circular economy principles from the start of business models.

Sustainable Fashion in Dubai

The closing keynote was presented by Ingie Chalhoub as she expressed Dubai’s openness to change the significant role of women in the luxury retail sector while stating how women can be strong building blocks to a sustainable industry. She also emphasized the need for ethical sustainability in all spheres of the fashion industry.

At its core, Fashion Futures displays the idea of how luxury today lies in accountability and responsible production as well as ethical consumption.

The event is designed to explore the vast creative energy of the lost fashion world and reimagine its business model, supply chains, and design practices that reflect sustainability in them.

This effort allows them to look forward from the flashy fashion industry today, into the timeless essence of fashion that caters to the cries of survival of the planet.

Encouraging ethical sourcing, circular economy principles, the reduction of waste, and the integration of cutting-edge sustainable technologies.

In doing so, the manifesto situates sustainability as a core value—not an afterthought—redefining luxury from the ground up.

Furthermore, it expressed the need for a cross-cultural global dialogue that is the foundation for evergreen stable progress in the industry.

It represented Dubai as a unique place of cultural and creative hub that is bound to be a bridge of regional talent with international expertise, thereby underscoring that sustainability in fashion is a universal imperative transcending geographic and cultural boundaries.

In conclusion, throughout the event, Dubai truly strengthened its standing as a leader in future sustainable fashion ventures. It wasn’t an event where people just discussed the environmental and ethical concerns of the fashion industry. It was a representation of change.

A new light that ought to show a stable future for the planet and our style. A showcase of what creative individuals can achieve if given the resources to do so. A call for more inspirational and innovative leadership to help conserve the glorious past of the industry.

An inspiration to fashion enthusiasts around the world to put the planet as our priority.

At the heart of it all, the Dubai Design District and Vogue Business, which allowed innovators from all around the world to display their sustainable creations and thoughts to a global audience.

Now how this will play out is a story for the future to unfold. For now, I’m proud that the industry is empowering such initiatives, and I hope they will be fruitful both figuratively and literally.

Until next time, Signing off for now.