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01. Jul 2010 September 23rd, 2010, the next NICE conference will take place in Copenhagen, with speakers: Sandy MacLennan (CLASS), Pernille Lind Olsen (Novozymes), Phil Patterson (Colour Connections) and Catarina Midby (H&M). The theme will be: A sustainable design process – the future of sustainable fashion.

 A key trend in the field of sustainable fashion is a focus on the design process. This focus implies an integration of sustainability in the design process and hereby enabling designers, and not only a CSR department, to work closely with a sustainability perspective and foundation. The design process includes choice of materials, material innovations and processing of materials. By adding a sustainability perspective in the design process, the fashion industry has the advantage of combining two of its core competences – creativity and innovation. A sustainable design process implies, that from the idea of design concept, you start to think of all the steps your products will go through in order to get to market, and how you can reduce the environmental impact along its way, and through this new way of thinking, design will enable systemic change.

The emergence of this new focus in the industry is happening not only because the design process is an area where companies can make a change on an individual level, but also because design allows you to prototype a sustainable future. The emergence of this focus should be seen in the light that materials and design are the key drivers of change: the choices made in the design process will decide the supply chain strategy of your company.

Massive efforts are required to reduce the amount of materials we use if we want to reduce the damage to the environment. For instance, the chemicals released in wastewater in garment factories affect water access for local communities and thus impact human health. Carbon emissions from electricity use are contributing to climate change, which is disrupting natural weather patterns and causing severe droughts that impact the global food supply. We can no longer afford to ignore this fragile balance in our ecosystem. Furthermore, companies that focus on sustainability will realize cost benefit. Activities that help to reduce energy usage, minimize waste, and improve supply chain labour standards, for example, affect a company’s triple bottom line: people, profit, and planet.

By focusing on design, the materials and processes involved in the design phase, NICE is also focusing on innovation. As our 10-year plan of action illustrated, rather than mitigate risks and challenges associated with potential negative sustainability impacts of existing products, product design innovation will allow for a long-term strategy to adapt to these challenges more effectively. Thus, corporate design functions have the opportunity to improve environmental and social impacts at the very early stages of product development.

So how does this new focus apply to your business, and what opportunities do you have as a company to optimize your design process to become more sustainable? We hope this conference will answer these questions and inspire you to make sustainable choices and changes.

Click here for program and details for attending