Sustainable Apparel and Textiles Conference: Europe

21st - 22nd April 2027

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Menu Close
Download 2026 briefingBriefing Register to attendRegister

2027 Agenda

Download the 2027 agenda

Day 0

Tuesday 28th April 2026

Time
Session title
Theme
Session type
2:00pm - 5:00pm
Half-day hackathon 
Workshop
5:30pm - 6:30pm
Pre-event networking drinks 
Networking
Day 1 | The next 12 months

Wednesday 29th April 2026

Time
Session title
Theme
Session type
8:00am - 9:00am
Arrival, light breakfast and matchmaking 
Fireside chat
9:00am - 9:25am
Equitable leadership: Building sustainability strategy with the women who make apparel 
Fireside chat
9:25am - 10:10am
Pricing the cost of inaction: The metrics and arguments that make supply chain resiliency urgent 
Plenary
10:10am - 10:45am
"How cheap can you make this?" Reprioritising the supplier scorecard 
Plenary
10:45am - 11:30am
Break and speed networking
11:30am - 12:15pm
Live Q&A with the European Commission: What the ESPR textiles delegated act will ask of brands and suppliers 
Q&A
12:15pm - 12:35pm
Collect once, use many times: How to build one product dataset to serve traceability demands 
Case study
12:35pm - 12:45pm
The elephants still in the room 
Plenary
12:45pm - 1:45pm
Lunch + optional lunchtime workshop
1:45pm - 2:35pm
Breakout round 1 
1:45pm - 2:35pm
The paradox of proof for the EU Forced Labour Regulation: How to ensure data counts as evidence  
Breakout
1:45pm - 2:35pm
Hard to abate or hard to fund? The financing models that can decarbonise smaller mills and dyehouses  
Breakout
1:45pm - 2:35pm
Circular design as default: Making it the easiest option for design teams  
Breakout
1:45pm - 2:35pm
Trusting the score: What PEFCR and France's eco-score can prove about a garment's impact  
Breakout
1:45pm - 2:35pm
This house believes - Social audits do more harm than good  
This house believes
2:35pm - 3:25pm
Breakouts round 2 
2:35pm - 3:25pm
Super El Niño: What’s working against extreme weather on the factory floor, and who pays for it?  
Breakout
2:35pm - 3:25pm
Can takeback pay? The economics of collection and sorting  
Breakout
2:35pm - 3:25pm
PFAS-free vs performance: The trade-offs of safer chemistry  
Breakout
2:35pm - 3:25pm
Seven months into EmpCo: The claims and labels brands can still rely on  
Breakout
2:35pm - 3:20pm
This house believes - On-demand manufacturing just moves the stock risk onto suppliers  
This house believes
3:25pm - 4:10pm
Networking Break
4:10pm - 5:00pm
Breakout round 3 
4:10pm - 5:00pm
Preventing accidents, paying when they happen: what binding brand commitments on worker safety should cover  
Breakout
4:10pm - 5:00pm
Are the bottlenecks in textile-to-textile infrastructure a capital or a coordination challenge?  
Breakout
4:10pm - 5:00pm
Biodiversity calculations: how do we expand product impact beyond just carbon?  
Breakout
4:10pm - 5:00pm
Trace forward from the fibre or back from Tier 1? Proving cotton origin  
Breakout
4:10pm - 4:40pm
This house believes - A more sustainable industry isn’t possible under the current rules of competition  
This house believes
5:00pm - 6:00pm
Networking drinks
Day 2 | The next decade

Thursday 30th April 2026

Time
Session title
Theme
Session type
8:00am - 9:00am
Arrival and light breakfast 
Plenary
9:00am - 10:15am
Morning round 1 
9:00am - 9:30am
AI won’t be stopped, but can it be steered? Where AI could cut apparel's emissions and where it adds to them  
Breakout
9:30am - 10:15am
How might a one-stop shop materialise for textiles EPR?  
Breakout
9:00am - 10:15am
The lessons and intersections of other industries to make circularity a genuine challenger to business models  
Fishbowl
9:00am - 10:15am
Cost per wear: Behavioural levers that make durable products the convenient choice  
Learning Group
10:15am - 11:00am
Networking break
11:00am - 12:15pm
Morning round 2 
11:00pm - 11:45pm
Can we price out virgin polyester? What it would take for alternatives to compete  
Breakout
11:45am - 12:15pm
Proving regenerative: Measuring outcomes when every farm is different  
Breakout
11:00am - 12:15pm
Balancing the resale and traceability opportunities of the DPP against the data burden on suppliers  
Fishbowl
11:00am - 12:15pm
Who’s paying for Europe’s clothes after they leave Europe? Building an equitable EPR model in the Global South  
Learning Group
12:15pm - 1:15pm
Lunch
1:15pm - 1:45pm
C-suite Q&A: How do we build a culture of sustainability into formal and informal governance channels? 
Q&A
1:45pm - 3:15pm
Scenario-based roundtables 
1:45pm - 3:15pm
How would you fare as a supplier? A simulation of the cost squeeze  
1:45pm - 3:15pm
Your lead times are nine months, and a third of last season’s range sold at markdown or didn’t sell at all  
1:45pm - 3:15pm
Your company is about to come into CSRD scope for the first time  
1:45pm - 3:15pm
Your government is initiating new tax incentives for circular products and services, and you’ve been invited onto the working group  
1:45pm - 3:15pm
A union report shows your top supplier pays 60% of a living wage. Close the gap by 2030.  
1:45am - 2:45am
Your key dyeing and finishing cluster faces water rationing within two years. What do you do?  
1:45pm - 3:15pm
A worker at a Tier 2 mill has posted online about unpaid overtime, and your grievance channel has never heard from that site  
1:45pm - 3:15pm
150°C steam heat pumps are now commercially proven. Your key wet-processing hub has the technology but not the financing or the clean power to run it  
1:45pm - 3:15pm
It’s 2037, and this roundtable is meeting again  
3:15pm - 3:45pm
Key takeaways and the elephants to take back to the office 
Plenary
Impact partners

Time
Session title
Theme
Session type

Our sessions are

A space for expert dialogue

We provide enough expertise and time to the issues that really matter. Through off-the-record discussions that enable open and honest disclosure from speakers, and genuine participation from the audience.

Practical

The challenges covered are complex and won't be solved by a single business conference. But we will help deliver progress by showcasing tangible examples and creating space for full value chain dialogue.

Focused

We focus on solution-orientated discussions. The 'why' is clear, the 'how' is less aligned. Throughout the agenda, we provide actionable guidance that can drive change throughout apparel and textiles supply chain.

Not a PR platform

This forum is NOT an opportunity for a group of people in a room to passively listen or unilaterally agree. Speakers are NOT given free rein to fill a session presenting their companies, we focus on getting to the crux of the issues.

Contact

For any questions on this event, please contact:

Niamh Campbell

Portfolio Lead - apparel and textiles

Contact Niamh 

Anita Thomson

Chief Partnerships Officer

Contact Anita  

Keep up with Innovation Forum's Apparel and Textiles events and publishing

Receive regular updates and stay connected with new announcements. Our sustainable apparel and textiles series include annual in-person forums in Europe, North America, Asia, as well as webinars and podcasts discussing business sustainability insights and industry updates with leading expert voices.

    See how we use your personal data by viewing our privacy statement.