From the Sector

Italian textile entrepreneur, Alberto Paccanelli, has been re-elected as President of EURATEX during its General Assembly on 17 June; he will thus extend his mandate with 2 more years, until June 2024. Paccanelli is CEO of the Martinelli Ginetto Group, active in the high-end home textiles. He is also a Board member of Sistema Moda Italia and Confindustria Bergamo.

On the occasion of his re-election, Paccanelli presented his vision on the future of the European textiles industry: “With the adoption of the EU Textile Strategy on 30 March, the European Commission  has launched a very ambitious journey that will change the nature of our industry: more focus on sustainability and durability, more transparency within the supply chain, more communication with the consumer, but also a better level playing field for our European companies, and more investment in innovation, digitalisation and skills development. That is a very ambitious agenda, which needs to result in a more resilient European textile industry. The coming 2 years will be critical to translate that vision into specific legislation and concrete programmes. This requires a strong EURATEX, to actively contribute to that process. I am honoured to continue leading the organisation and fulfil this challenging task.”

EURATEX GA also elected 4 other members of the Presidency Team: Bodo Bölzle (Amann, Germany), Jean François Gribomont (Utexbel, Belgium), Grégory Marchant (UTT, France) and Ismail Kolunsag (Cross Tekstil, Turkey). During the Assembly, EURATEX also welcomed new memberships from Ukrlegprom (Ukraine) and Astrico (Romania), and a partnership with Inditex (Spain).

Mostafiz Uddin, Managing director, Denim Expert Ltd., founder and CEO, Bangladesh Apparel Exchange spoke at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit 2018 during a panel on Tuesday the 15th of May 2018 about the Transparency in the supply chain.

This makes him the first Bangladeshi garment manufacturer to participate as a panel speaker at a CFS ever. His speech revolved around the apparel industry in his home country of Bangladesh and how his vision influences the way his company manufactures.
The panel was visited by over 1300 top profile participants, including her Highness the Crown Princes of Denmark. It was opened by CEO Leslie Johnson of the C&A Foundation.

Mostafiz Uddin said after the panel: “I am thankful to the CFS organisers for giving me such a great opportunity and honour, to my country to share the true story of Bangladesh and our apparel industry.”
About Mostafiz Uddin: Mostafiz Uddin is managing director of Denim Expert Ltd., an environmentally sustainable and socially responsible compliant garment manufacturing plant in Chittagong, Bangladesh. A visionary entrepreneur in the development of sustainable apparel systems, Uddin is personally driven by social and environmental ethics and is recognised as a game changer through his introduction of sustainable practices, innovation and fashion disruption, which he sees as key to the future of the Bangladesh apparel industry.
Uddin founded the Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE) to promote sustainable practices within the Bangladesh apparel industry and to improve the country’s image via various initiatives under the banner of BAE, including the Sustainable Apparel Forum, the Bangladesh Fashionology Summit and Bangladesh Denim Expo. Through these endeavours he strives to promote the advancement of sustainable practices, including environmentally sound production methods, full transparency, innovation, circularity and technology.

About the Copenhagen Fashion Summit: The sixth edition of the Summit also boasted 75 high-level speakers, including sustainability thought leader David Roberts of Singularity University; EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager; COO Eric Sprunk of NIKE; CEO Spencer Fung of Li & Fung; Vogue US fashion director Tonne Goodman; sustainability pioneer Dame Ellen MacArthur; models and entrepreneurs Lily Cole and Edie Campbell, the founders of Highsnobiety, Vestiaire Collective, Fashion Revolution, and many more. The hosts were Amber Valletta, actress, model and entrepreneur, and Tim Blanks, editor-at-large of The Business of Fashion.

Wrapping up two days of intense leadership roundtables, conversations and business meetings was a panel discussion featuring the Strategic Partners of Global Fashion Agenda: Kering, H&M, Target, Li & Fung and Sustainable Apparel Coalition, who took the stage to address why sustainability should be a leadership priority and to discuss some of the recommendations from the Pulse of the Fashion Industry 2018 report, released the week prior to the Summit.