On February 7th & 8th, we had the pleasure of hosting the 8th Worldwide Talks in partnership with The Canvas. The event returned as a hybrid model with a physical summit in NYC and a digital summit with speakers across the globe.
“We were so happy to come back post covid to an in-person gathering. And also in this partnership with The Canvas, where the community can connect for new collaborations toward a better industry,” says Jordana & Marcelo Guimaraes – Founders at Fashinnovation.
The 8th Worldwide Talks is freely on-demand on our Youtube Channel. You can watch it anytime by clicking here.
8th Worldwide Talks: The Speakers & Discussions
The event received incredible speakers who were able to enrich the minds of the audience from all over the world. On the 7th and 8th, the panels were proper lessons about the fashion industry.
“I was very excited about who we received on the 7th and 8th of February. It was all so magical and inspiring, and I think everyone felt that way”, shared Fashinnovation Co-Founder Jordana Guimarães.
Sustainability – Orsola de Castro & Fernanda Simon
The event raised many questions about creating a better world with innovation. In one of the talks, the Fashion Is Repairs & Reparations panel with Orsola de Castro and Fernanda Simon portrayed the importance of sustainable fashion.
“Sustainable fashion shouldn’t exist because all fashion should be sustainable,” said the Creative Director of Esthetica, Author & Co-Founder of Fashion Revolution.
Orsola also addressed the importance of other parts of the world being pioneers in fashion innovation. “West is best. It’s not the case”, she said, explaining that the entire globe has something to provide the industry and should not be centralized in one region.
Fashion, Business & Innovative Events With Richard Attias & Associates
In the fireside chat “Fashion is Experience,” Alexandra Attias Mayer, Head of U.S. Production, Richard Attias & Associates, spoke with Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins.
The success of Richard Attias & Associates is rooted in the experience of its founder Richard Attias. RA&A has now grown to an international team of 100+ with offices around the world.
“No one event of ours looks the same,” said Alexandra Attias Mayer. Even if recreated, they challenge themselves by innovating. “People want exclusivity, something unique,” she completes.
As a strategic communication advisory firm, they provide the ideas, connections and platforms to guide their clients — corporations, governments, NGOs and non-profits — towards tangible results.
For Alexandra, “the virtual event is limited. You don’t get the networking opportunity.” With that in mind, they created hubs in Paris, Beijing, New York and Riad.
They challenged themselves by creating spaces for testing for COVID-19 so that the hubs were safe for speakers and the team. They joined the virtual part and innovated based on the need for social isolation.
Gen Z & Entrepreneurship – Jack Barker & Steffi Cao
The new generation challenges itself more and more in the business world. Jack Barker is the Creator of Monstar. In the fireside chat with Steffi Cao from Buzzfeed News called “Fashion Is Your Canvas,” he shared his creative process.
“I kinda just start with ideas in my head. It starts with the shape sometimes, and I see a personality and I kinda build from there and add elements to fit the image I have in my head.”
The company started as a sold-out MonStar NFT drop in 2021, leading to a mural project for Macy’s Believe campaign in Brooklyn, NYC. And also, multiple sold-out apparel drops, special MonStar commissions, and collaborations with Hopeland, Halo, and Make A Wish.
“When thinking about who will wear the clothes, I think about what I think is cool and what I see other people wear and make my own style,” he said.
Fashion, Freedom & Model World – Anne V., Coco Rocha, Natane Boudreau & Julia Kisla
Moderated by Julia Kisla, the CEO of Lions Management, the panel featured three incredible women: Anne V., Fashion Model & Wellness Expert; Coco Rocha, Supermodel & Founder Coco Rocha Model Camp; Natane Boudreau, Actress, Model, Founder & CEO of Labworks. The conversation revolved around finding your voice and using it as a tool to express freedom.
Anne V. said, “We are different from each other, and that’s totally okay.” She emphasized individuality and inspired people to be exactly who they are. She also shared her history in fashion and the obstacles she had to face. “I started in my mid-20s and I think we all have those blocks and shadows. And growing up in Russia was very different than being in America.”
The insights coming from people with incredible experiences shocked the audience and inspired them personally and professionally. “I really think about what is your inner essence and the message you want to put out into the world, and what is the legacy you want to leave behind,” said Natane Boudreau. She also completed by saying: “Using your voice is your birthright.”
Coco Rocha raised the debate about confidence and its importance in all pillars of life. In her beautiful words, “I want to be so confident when I walk into a room, even if the whole room is against me.” She also followed the line of thought of Anne V. about the beauty of being different and said, “It is okay to be absolutely different than the person beside you as long as we respect them.”
Community & Orange Culture – Adebayo Oke-Lawal
The conversation emphasized the importance of community and connecting collaboratively. “Orange culture is a brand that believes in people and amplifies the voices of the people we represent,” introduced the CEO Adebayo Oke-Lawal.
Adebayo Oke-Lawal has been designing since the age of 10. He started Orange Culture in 2011 after working with several Nigerian designers to turn his unique vision of fashion into reality. Since starting the label and an official runway debut at Lagos Fashion & Design Week 2011, he’s been hard at work trying to showcase Orange Culture to the world.
Adebayo Oke-Lawal also explained the meaning of community to him: “To me, it is really being in the space of acceptance, being in a space where you feel liberated and true to be yourself.”
The label is more than a clothing line, Adebayo insists. It is a “movement” that covers universal silhouettes with an African touch to a creative class of men, translating into a heady mixture of Nigerian-inspired print fabrics, color, and contemporary urban street wear.
Jonak & Scaling Up Business – Marcel Nakam & Marcela Mayorga Meigan
In the panel “Fashion is Not Declining, It is Symplin Moving Fast, and We Must Adapt,” Marcel Nakam, CEO of Jonak, spoke with Marcela Mayorga Meigan from Régia Magazine. It was a class for those who intended to follow this sector in the industry.
Marcel shared his entrepreneurial journey and discussed all the changes in the industry that we must adapt to it. Jonak’s CEO talks about data and its importance. “Data is the center of any business,” he shared.
They also discussed the role of magazines in the fashion industry, marketing, and merchandising.
In-Person Gathering
Brands & Companies
The event featured emerging & scale-up sustainable brands, like DaCosta Verde, Glamazon Beauty – Kim Baker, Kara Mac, Mirame Swimwear, Judith Cabrera, Sitka Semsch, Daniela Uribe, Modern Natured, GSK London, One With Swim, India Blake, Beachwood Apparel Partners, JVLAURNT & ShoulderBare.
Pitch Competition
The bi-annual “Pitch Competition” was judged by Gary Wassner: CEO of Hilldun Corporation, Larry Namer: Founder of E! Entertainment TV & CEO at LJN Media, and Veronica Chou: Director of Novel Fashion Investments. We had five start-up tech founders as competitors.
The winner was Jessie Fu, Co-Founder & CEO of altr, a digital fashion platform dedicated to unlocking the value of cultural heritage and archival fashion. The company helps its partners unlock the values of existing assets by digitizing, showcasing, and commercializing archival pieces powered by web3 technology.
altr’s vision is to propel the longevity of heritage fashion sensitively, make it accessible to the generations to come, celebrate culture and individuality in fashion, and inspire future generations of creativity.
The Canvas Global
The Canvas is founded by Devin Gilmartin, a retail and online platform for independent creators. Activating vacant retail space, The Canvas levels the playing field for smaller, SDG-focused brands against fast-fashion conglomerates.
The Canvas offers competitive, physical retail opportunities and operates for them. The Canvas has 150 brands on its platform. Each one addressed at least one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which is the criteria to join and uphold these standards at the heart of their brands.
The Canvas started with a focus on ethical fashion and has recently expanded into the intersection of Web 3.0 and sustainability. The Canvas has six spaces at the Oculus World Trade Center through their strategic partnership with Westfield and one store in the historic Seaport district in Manhattan.
The Canvas is currently collaborating with the CFDA showcasing a selection of their Interim designers. The expansion plan for 2023 includes a Miami Flagship store.
The most recently added is The Canvas 3.0, which recently hosted a party with their partner Clandestina, Cuba’s first independent fashion brand, and a party with Nadia Tolokonnikova (Pussy Riot) and Rolling Stone celebrating the release of their NFT collection, Matriarchy Now.
