Last month I attended my first ever virtual event, the Impact Fashion Summit. This 3-day summit was focused on ethical fashion and sustainability. I was super pumped to attend and also excited because I was a panelist on the Circularity “ Pre-loved and Re-loved” Fashion. Here is my full-recap of the Impact Fashion Show & Summit!
Day One
The summit kicked-off with a Virtual Fashion show featuring only ethical brands. The show was amazing and literally brought me to tears. The founder of the event, Sica Schmitz opened the fashion show with a beautiful & powerful speech about motherhood and how many of the women making our clothing are mothers. She talked about the loss, pain, beauty, and strength that comes with motherhood. This speech that opened the fashion show brought the audience to tears. I was not expecting to cry within the first 5 minutes of this summit, but that definitely happened. It helped me let down my guard for the rest of the event.
The actual fashion show featured so many cute pieces for the fall. Lots of florals, bold earrings, wide legged pants, and midi/maxi dresses. The runway was super diverse featuring people of all shapes, sizes, and ages. There was even a look dedicated to the Black Lives Matters movement. Akia Ronai was the stylist behind the show and she did an amazing job!
Day Two
There were so many panels to choose from (I share a list of all the panels at the end of this post) . I ended up attending the Fair Trade in Fashion panel, Energy of Fashion panel, and Inclusivity in Fashion.
Here were my main takeaways from Day 2’s panels:
The Energy of Fashion: with Sica Schmitz, Corinna Springer, & Bianca Alexander
- It’s important to find colors and styles that you feel confident in
- Cleanse your thrifted finds before wearing to cleanse the energy. Washing the item and spraying it with a salt, water, and lavender spray works well.
Inclusivity in Fashion: with Maureen Smith Phillips, Caeresa Richardson, Claire Powers, & Marissa Heyl
- Fashion needs to be more representative & create garments for people of all ethnicities, ages, sizes, and abilities
- There is no standard to sizing and brands should compensate for that (i.e. KINdom adds elastic ties to their items to adjust the item to fit better
Fair Trade in Fashion: with Andrea Reyes, Elisha Chan , Farrukh Lalani
- Many brands will state “Made in USA” to make it seem like they are ethical, but there are sweatshops in America.
- Conscious Closet & Buy the Change you Want to See are two good books to read on the topic
Day Three
I was most excited for Day three’s panels because my agent, Val, was speaking on the Black Lives Matter, a topic I’m super passionate about and I was speaking that afternoon on thrifting, another topic I’m passionate about. Day three was the perfect way to wrap up this amazing event.
Here were my main takeaways from Day 3’s panels:
Black Lives Matter in Fashion: with Bianca Alexander, Valeria Emanuel, Akia Ronai, Michelle Rojas- Soto
- The future of fashion should have opportunities that transcend colorism, classims, racism, ableism, and sexism
- Companies need to promote the advancement of blackness, create seats for more people at the table, and acknowledge that oppression needs to be eradicated.
Circularity “ Pre-loved and Re-loved” Fashion: with Rachel Faller, Elle Litiatco, Ashleigh Morgan, & Myself
- Donate your clothes responsibly by donating to places that actually want your clothes, such as Recycle 2 Riches (send them an email and they will send you a shipping label to collect & redesign your unwanted clothes)
- Be mindful of how you’re washing and caring for your clothes. The best way to wash is in small batches, on cold, and hang-dry afterwards.
- Poshmark, Depop, and Facebook Marketplace are great places to sell your old clothes
Event as a Whole
Each panel ended with a “Garden” discussion room where attendees could share and reflect on the information they learned. The garden sessions were a great way to connect with different people. It also was helpful to hear different perspectives about what we just learned. There were also several opportunities to shop ethically before and after each panel. I discovered so many brands that are in alignment with my values.
Overall, I thought this event was super well-organized, very informative, and a great networking opporunities. I’m looking forward to the next event. If any of these panels sounded interesting to you or if you want to see more of the fashion show, replay tickets are available at https://impactfashion.org/get-tickets. I still need to go back and watch the panels that I missed.
Which panel sounded most interesting to you?
