Page 12 - Demo

The Solution - Power to Change
The solution to a complex problem is hardly ever simple. It sure enough is not simple in this case either. But when I look at the results of my research there is a clear pivotal element in the engine that drives the fashion industry. It is the Fashion Week. The Fashion Week that is often regarded as dead, or as the cause of the problem can be turned into the solution.
Drastic change requires drastic measures. And one of the measures can be to change the rules of the game. As has become obvious in my research, real live fashion shows are irreplaceable and at the heart of all the marketing attention that brands generate. That means that Fashion Weeks have real power - the power to change the rules.
When thinking back to the concept of decomposition, it would be foolish to try and dictate the required change alone. After all, domain expertise is a pre-requisite in solving complex problems. I therefore strongly believe that we need to harness the innovative capacity of the industry to be effective. It is a general principle in combatting climate change22 that the required innovations will come from the markets and not from the regulator. But the regulators need to create the necessity to innovate.
Amsterdam Fashion Week is the biggest23 fashion and lifestyle event of the Netherlands and is internationally recognised. It has a unique opportunity to start driving the necessary changes to create a more sustainable fashion industry. The basic, and key, change must be that all participants to the Amsterdam Fashion Week shall follow a new set of game changing rules. Without meeting these rules, brands will not be allowed to participate.
Rather than describing in detail what these rules must be, and how the industry must apply them, I have chosen to create a view of the future fashion week. By doing that I acknowledge two other basic notions of change. The first one is that change takes time. Reforming an entire industry doesn’t happen
overnight ,even though the climate problem is urgent. The second one is that the pathway of change is unpredictable. New legislation, changes in technology, decisions, communication, and countless other factors form the chaotic playing field from which change emerges. But what drives change above all other things is vision. A desirable end state that gives direction to the evolution of the industry, or to the Amsterdam Fashion Week in this case.
I therefore invite you to join me for a view in the future, 10 years from now, when the Amsterdam Fashion Week has become an iconic fashion event, known for being the driver of sustainable change. Please follow me to 2030.
22https://www.charteredbanker.com/resource_listing/cpd-resources/green-finance-harnessing- the-power-of-markets.html
23http://www.design.nl/item/amsterdam_fashion_week_news