Next Gen Assembly
The Next Gen Assembly convenes talented students and early-career professionals in an impactful advocacy programme, enabling the next generation to gain access to the industry, have their voices heard, and ideas nurtured. The Next Gen Assembly is led by Global Fashion Agenda and Centre for Sustainable Fashion’s Fashion Values programme, supported by Target.
Led by Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) and Fashion Values.
“Never be defeated by imposter syndrome, it’s your ideas that will shape the industry, go ahead and be the disrupters of the future.”
– Hannah Jones, CEO of Earth Shot Prize speaking to our Next Gen Assembly.
The Next Gen Assembly members are supported in developing advocacy and communication skills to foster their development as sustainability changemakers. This is achieved through a year-long collaborative programme with a series of online workshops, courses, and by playing an integral role at the Global Fashion Summit: Copenhagen Edition.
2025 Theme: Nature
Nature is the life force that provides us with the air, water, soil, and all other life forms that, together, make up the elements in the garments we’re all clothed in. The relationship between fashion and nature is dependent on how these elements are valued in emotional, cultural, political, social, and economic, as well as aesthetic and technical, ways. The 2025 Assembly advocated for the ways in which fashion can be transformed to protect, restore, and regenerate natural life on our planet.
2024 Theme: Economy
As the fashion industry faces the urgent need to redefine its values and practices, the 2024 Assembly brought together voices from across the globe to explore, promote, and communicate diverse economic values and alternative models for the fashion ecosystem under the theme of ‘Economies of Wellbeing’. The 2024 Assembly explored the iterative and deeply personal nature of systemic transformation. By centring the interconnected stages of Unlearning and Relearning, Ideating, and Shifting, the cohort advocated for actionable pathways for individuals and organisations that strive for climate, social, and racial justice in both global and local contexts.
2023 Theme: Cultures
Fashion is not where it should be. While it fuels livelihoods, creates beautiful commodities, and cultivates culture, it also leaves a trail of environmental destruction and social harm. With a fundamental focus on purposeful storytelling, the 2023 Assembly collaboratively nurtured stories of the ingenuity and creativity of humanity in its many forms, across the fashion system and beyond.
Learn more about the Next Gen Assembly programme here.
“When you give us the opportunity not just to be observers but to participate actively on the conversations and create something, you are pushing us to develop and evolve as storytellers, creators or speakers, and that is essential.”
Next Gen Assembly member
“Next Gen Assembly was absolutely a life changing event. The entire experience helped in re-shaping my perspective on the fashion industry.”
Next Gen Assembly member
“What I’ve learned through Next Gen Assembly in terms of community has changed my perspective. I want to go back and do that same community for people back home. When we have a space to fully share our ideas and experiences, we have the feeling that we’re not alone on this journey.”
Next Gen Assembly member
“My biggest highlight of the Next Gen Assembly was the industry roundtable. Before, I couldn’t imagine a place where you had some of the biggest names in the industry sit next to you and think of you as not just someone who’s really young, just starting out, but as someone who’s an equal voice, and who has something to say.”
Next Gen Assembly member
Next Gen Assembly Publications & Resources
The Wellbeing Spiral Playbook is a resource created by the 2024 Next Gen Assembly cohort. Centred on the theme of ‘Economies of Wellbeing’, it explores alternative models and diverse economic values within the fashion ecosystem.
This playbook highlights the collective perspectives of eight emerging professionals in fashion and sustainability from diverse nationalities and backgrounds. It serves not as a conventional industry report but as a thought piece rooted in lived experiences and shared ideas, offering a fresh lens to consider wellbeing as a pathway for transformation.
Interwoven, a report created by the 2023 Next Gen Assembly cohort, is for students curious to learn more about sustainable fashion; creatives looking to co-create solutions for an industry in crisis; and commercial leaders eager to work with the next generation.
Through the voices and stories presented in this report, eight talented youths from around the world offer a unique snapshot of the fashion industry from diverse perspectives. Their narratives are infused with optimism and hope, serving to inspire action.
Under this year’s theme, How Can Fashion Value the Rights of Nature?, the 2025 Next Gen Assembly advocated for the ways in which fashion can be transformed to protect, restore, and regenerate natural life on our planet.
This manifesto is a collective call to reimagine and realign fashion with the living systems of the Earth. The manifesto invites you to reflect on what resonates with you, and consider how you can contribute to shifting the values and mindsets that underpin the industry.
Alongside the manifesto, the Next Gen Assembly 2025 has created a video campaign that brings the Manifesto to life. Each video breaks down key themes and ideas from the Manifesto, offering an engaging way to explore our vision for a fashion system that values the rights of nature and drives systemic change.
Through these videos, they invite you to reflect, be inspired, and see concrete examples of how individuals and communities around the world are reimagining fashion, moving beyond business-as-usual to align the industry with the living systems of our planet.
Recommended articles
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By Mel Corchado, 2025 Next Gen Assembly member
Mel reflects, through a retelling of a fashion week party, how Fashion often feels and is experienced - that despite its glamour, it can be a world of distance, despondency, deceit - but it doesn’t have to be.
She believes that dismantling glorified hierarchies is key to nourishment in fashion practice and community, which is not at the expense of anyone or our Earth.
Read the full article: https://www.sustainable-fashion.com/post/next-gen-reflections-if-the-cost-of-fashion-is-community-the-price-is-too-high
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By Maya Caine, 2025 Next Gen Assembly member
Maya explores the of retrofitting the status quo in fashion. She reflects on why adjusting existing extractive systems will not lead to a just transition. Instead, harmful structural foundations must be dismantled, and new systems created that are rooted in care and regenerative value.
Drawing on systems thinking and justice-centered design, Maya has recently created and published the “Life-Affirming Venture Design Journal: Reflections on Designing a Venture for the Just Transition”.Read the full article: https://www.sustainable-fashion.com/post/next-gen-reflections-the-fallacy-of-retrofitting-the-status-quo-designing-fashion-for-a-just-tran
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By Rory Frost, 2025 Next Gen Assembly member
Rory dives the mindset of a generation reshaping the fashion industry, as Rory says, ‘from heel to fascinator’.
Rory explores how Gen Z refuses to be defined by one aesthetic or one narrative - instead, their fashion choices are rooted in core values like respect, transparency and care.From demanding accountability to imagining futures where roles like Regenerative Product Specialist or Digital Fashion Storyteller are the norm, Rory positions Gen Z not just as consumers, but as leaders of fashion’s next chapter.
Read the full article: https://www.sustainable-fashion.com/post/next-gen-reflections-the-youth-as-determiners-of-fashion-s-future
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By Bronte Contador-Kelsall, 2025 Next Gen Assembly member
Bronte explores what it means to hold language lightly and hold our values firmly in a world where words can either reinforce extractive systems or open doors to more relational, regenerative ones.
This reflection explores:
• How language can be both a bridge and a boundary
• Why sustainability terms exist and how they influence change
• What happens when language loses meaning
• Critical questions to ask ourselves as we navigate noise surrounding sustainability language
• How you can anchor language in valuesRead the full article: https://www.sustainable-fashion.com/post/next-gen-reflections-holding-language-lightly-holding-values-firmly
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By Elise Dauterive, 2025 Next Gen Assembly member
Elise examines how effective Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in textile waste is. She asks: are we actually fixing the growing textile waste problem, or just getting better at managing it?
She believes that while current EPR frameworks are important for developing sustainable systems, if recovered materials don't replace virgin production, we’re simply adding steps without reducing environmental impact.
Read the full article:
https://globalfashionagenda.org/news-article/whats-missing-from-current-epr-frameworks/
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By Vibhuti Amin, 2025 Next Gen Assembly member
Vibhuti examines how innovation in fashion can be re-situated through a decolonial, place-based lens.
Drawing from the commitments of the 2025 Next Gen Assembly Manifesto, the article outlines a framework that foregrounds interspecies and intergenerational justice within textile futures.
Read the full article: https://globalfashionagenda.org/news-article/place-based-innovation-for-decolonial-textile-futures/ -
By Sanya Singh, 2025 Next Gen Assembly member
Sanya reflects on what the language of ‘good enough’ looks like in fashion and why this matters. She explores how we can reclaim the narrative from extractive to relational.
Read the full article: https://globalfashionagenda.org/news-article/next-gen-reflections-the-language-of-enough/
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By Joy Obiageri Dimgbah, 2024 Next Gen Assembly member
What happens to fashion workers’ rights after the hashtag fades? Reflecting on underpaid and unpaid labour and the limits of visibility, this editorial explores how advocacy must move beyond the moment towards systems rooted in memory, structural change, and collective will. Drawing on the 2024 NGA’s Wellbeing Spiral framework, Joy considers how unlearning, ideation, and shifts can help reimagine justice in fashion.
Read the full article: https://globalfashionagenda.org/news-article/fashion-workers-rights-after-the-hashtag/
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By Aerielle Rojas, 2024 Next Gen Assembly member
What does it mean to be resilient in sustainability work? In a sector known for passion and pressure, this reflection reframes resilience, not as bouncing back, but as adapting, evolving, and holding hope. With practical tools like the 2024 NGA Wellbeing Spiral, it is a timely call to centre personal resilience alongside environmental goals.
Read the full article: https://globalfashionagenda.org/news-article/personal-resilience-sustainability-fashion-next-gen/
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By Hannah Lauren Riley, 2024 Next Gen Assembly member
Hannah explores the transformative role of imagination, play, and speculative futuring in shaping a more just and sustainable fashion system. Highlighting the urgent need for a shift in values, the editorial underscores how imagination is not just an abstract exercise but a vital tool for re-envisioning fashion’s impact. By embracing creativity, critical thinking, and alternative frameworks, fashion can move beyond excessive consumption practices towards economies rooted in care, regeneration, and inclusivity.
Read the full article: https://globalfashionagenda.org/news-article/next-gen-reflections-the-power-of-alternative-sustainability-engagement/
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By Harry Vine, 2024 Next Gen Assembly member
Harry explores whether social enterprises can bridge the sustainable development gap. Reflecting on climate instability, inequality, and overconsumption, the editorial highlights social enterprises as a model for meaningful change—centring community needs, reinvesting profits, and showing that economic growth can align with social and environmental responsibility.
Read the full article: https://globalfashionagenda.org/news-article/sustainable-development-social-enterprise/
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By Maisie Porter, 2024 Next Gen Assembly member
How can empathy serve as a transformative force within the fashion industry? Reflecting on the need to prioritise wellbeing across value chains, the editorial highlights how empathy is not just an abstract ideal but a fundamental practice. By embedding empathy into decision-making, fashion brands can transcend transactional relationships, fostering collaborations grounded in shared purpose, respect, and a long-term commitment to the wellbeing of all those who sustain the industry.
Read the full article: https://globalfashionagenda.org/news-article/next-gen-reflections-empathy-as-a-fundamental-act/
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By Ana Sofía Vargas, 2024 Next Gen Assembly member
What does it mean for sustainability in fashion to embrace a collective rather than individualistic approach? Reflecting on the lessons of Indigenous knowledge, the interconnectedness of ecosystems, and the limitations of sustainability frameworks focused only on consumption and efficiency, the editorial highlights how fashion can honour Indigenous knowledge not as a gesture, but as a crucial step towards true sustainability.
Read the full article: https://globalfashionagenda.org/next-gen-assembly/
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By Tanya Singh, 2024 Next Gen Assembly member
Why is the $1.6 Trillion investment effort in sustainability not currently enough? Reflecting on challenges such as the financialisation of sustainability, the trap of short-term returns, and impact-washing, the piece questions whether current investments align with the deeper causes of environmental and social crises.
Read the full article: https://globalfashionagenda.org/news-article/next-gen-reflections-rethinking-sustainability-investment/
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2024 Next Gen Assembly members: Joy Obiageri Dimgbah, Priydarshini Gouthi, Maisie Porter, Hannah Lauren Riley, Aerielle Rojas, Tanya Singh, Ana Sofía Vargas and Harry Vine.
The 2024 cohort will be exploring the theme, ‘How Can Fashion Value Economies of Wellbeing?’ The theme will engage the Members with economic practices – from business models to success metrics – that embed climate, social, and racial justice into the fashion industry. Instead of a singular focus on financial growth, the theme reflects economics for good. Drawing from heterodox schools of thought such as feminist economics, deep ecology, or Indigenous economics, the theme asks: how can we develop fashion systems to support cultural diversity, ecological stability, and social prosperity?
Read the full article: https://globalfashionagenda.org/news-article/meet-the-2024-next-gen-assembly/
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By Priydarshini Gouthi, 2024 Next Gen Assembly member
How do we centre wellbeing in the fashion economy? Reflecting on value beyond financial metrics, the piece considers the importance of sustainability and collective welfare. Priydarshini highlights how investing in areas like worker wellbeing can support both long-term resilience and positive impact across the industry.
Read the full article: https://globalfashionagenda.org/news-article/next-gen-reflections-where-do-we-start/
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By Ikeoluwa Adebisi and Indira Varma, 2023 Next Gen Assembly members.
Understanding how to make positive changes in the fashion industry starts with learning more about sustainable fashion. A simple saying captures this well: the more you know, the better you can do. As people immersed in a self-guided exploration of fashion sustainability, we have come to recognise the pivotal role of education in this journey.
Read the full article: https://globalfashionagenda.org/news-article/next-gen-education-as-a-tool-for-action/
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By Kaja Grujic and Clara Tomé, 2023 Next Gen Assembly members.
Clara and Kaja explore the fashion industry's approach to sustainability and the importance of learning from natural ecosystems and their closed-loop systems. This editorial explores deep ecology and the future of sustainable fashion.
Read the full article: https://globalfashionagenda.org/news-article/next-gen-what-can-fashion-learn-from-nature-a-journey-through-the-nutrient-cycle/
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By Jesse Boga Madriaga, 2023 Next Gen Assembly member.
Jesse reflects on our existing consumption-centred relationship with fashion and questions the idea of love that’s present in it.
Read the full article: https://globalfashionagenda.org/news-article/next-gen-do-we-really-love-fashion/
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By Sanjana Pimoli, 2023 Next Gen Assembly member
As we ease into a new year, it is important to pause and reflect on how the fashion industry has evolved over the past 12 months and ask the most important question, as an industry, are we collectively moving towards a net positive, circular, and regenerative economy?
Read the full article: https://globalfashionagenda.org/news-article/next-gen-assemblys-2023-reflections/
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2023 Next Gen Assembly members: Ikeoluwa Adebisi, Prakriti Choubey, Pedro Ferreira, Kaja Grujic, Jesse Boga Madriaga, Sanjana Pimoli, Clara Tomé and Indira Varma.
12 June 2023: Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) revealed the eight Members that formed the first iteration of the Next Gen Assembly, in collaboration with its Academic Partner, London College of Fashion’s (LCF) Centre for Sustainable Fashion (CSF) via the Fashion Values Programme and presented by Target.
Read the full article: Ikeoluwa Adebisi
