(Title image credit: Global Fashion Agenda)

We recently announced the launch of our 2024 Next Gen Assembly cohort. For those of you that missed it, here is an introduction to our new members and what they will be getting up to as we move into the next chapter of the Next Gen Assembly.

The Next Gen Assembly programme was launched last year by Centre for Sustainable Fashion and Global Fashion Agenda Academy, and aims to bring together changemakers from across the globe to voice the concerns of their generation and accelerate positive impact across the fashion system. Our first cohort spent the past year using storytelling as a tool to identify areas of improvement for the fashion industry and have opened up a range of conversations across key topics in sustainability. Looking ahead to what is next for the Next Gen Assembly, we are growing our network and introducing new voices into the programme, as well as a new theme.

Let’s take a closer look at who our 2024 cohort are:

Joy Obiageri Dimgbah

Joy is a fashion entrepreneur and advocate who has worked with the Council for International and African Fashion Education over the past year. Her various professional experiences have equipped her with skills in research, writing and media, and approaches fashion with a particular focus on discourse and inclusivity.

Priydarshini Gouthi

Priydarshini is a Ventures Associate at Good Business Lab. Her work focuses on scaling evidence-based solutions to help meet social sustainability goals in the textile industry. Her affinity for learning and exploring new perspectives will be highly valuable for the cohort.

Maisie Porter

As an Ethical and Responsible Sourcing Assistant, Maisie uses her insights on the garment supply chain to explore new values and structures for the fashion system. Her experience of working in this field fuels a feeling of urgency and motivation to redefine our approach to fashion.

Hannah Lauren Riley

Hannah is an MA Fashion Futures graduate from London College of Fashion (University of the Arts London) and a sustainability-focused fashion practitioner. Her keen interest in the power of storytelling through clothing allows her to approach fashion holistically and engage audiences through her practice.

Aerielle Rojas

Aerielle is a masters student and researcher dedicated to enhancing fashion’s future. She brings valuable insights from across a range of topics including degrowth, decoloniality and new business model innovation, alongside a commitment to including everyone in the sustainability conversation.

Tanya Singh

Economics graduate Tanya is passionate about advocating for tangible solutions in fashion. Through her work as a Growth Associate at Good Business Lab, she has developed a particular understanding of the challenges and opportunities within the social sustainability field, which she harnesses to drive positive change.

Ana Sofía Vargas

With a background in non-profit work and collaborative design with indigenous communities, Ana is passionate about driving positive change within the fashion industry. She has a strong commitment to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion whilst creating tangible sustainability solutions for the industry.

Harry Vine

Harry was drawn to working in the fashion sector from a recognition of the large scope for positive global change and works to develop solutions for brands to reduce their emissions. With a background in engineering, he brings unique and fresh perspectives on how to drive change in fashion.

In this next chapter for the Next Gen Assembly, our new group will convene to explore the central question: “how can fashion value economies of wellbeing?”. Members will navigate ways to redesign the dominant economic practices in fashion that are contributing to the exploitation of people and planet, and how to redefine the values that underpin fashion’s economy. In a system where prosperity and success are measured by simple financial indicators, the Next Gen Assembly will play a crucial role in challenging the status quo and opening the door to new possibilities for a more just fashion economy.

Workshops with our new cohort are already underway, and we can’t wait to see our members in action at the Copenhagen Global Fashion Summit in May, where they will act as advocates for the fashion community. They will be participating in a series of events across the summit, networking with industry leaders and professionals to champion positive change in fashion and speak on behalf of their generation’s needs and ambitions. Our members are also embarking on the Fashion Values: Economy online course to further enhance their skills and development.

For more information on our 2024 cohort and what they will be getting up to, please check out their page on the Global Fashion Agenda website. The annual Global Fashion Summit will be taking place in Copenhagen between 21-23 May, so stay tuned for more updates around the event and the activities of Fashion Values.

For anyone looking to gain a better insight into the work of the Next Gen Assembly and their key values, why not read the 2023 cohort’s recent publication ‘Interwoven: Fashion Storytelling in the time of a Climate Crisis’.