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IFA Paris Proudly Joins the United Nations' "Conscious Fashion and Lifestyle Network" Program

With its European spirit and international perspective, IFA Paris is a fashion academy rooted in the rich heritage of French fashion. Our school has the privilege of drawing on this legacy to offer an inclusive educational experience to all students aspiring to an international career in the fashion industry. Committed to anticipating industry trends, IFA Paris places sustainable development at the core of its mission, aligning its activities with the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda.

The "Conscious Fashion and Lifestyle Network" is an online platform supported by the United Nations, bringing together the fashion industry, media, governments, and UN entities. Its aim is to accelerate the achievement of sustainable development goals by promoting transparent and inclusive engagement of global stakeholders. This initiative seeks to mobilize expertise, innovation, and resources for a sustainable and inclusive post-COVID-19 recovery, guided by the sustainable development goals. The network is a collaboration between the United Nations Partnerships Office, the Division for Sustainable Development Goals, and the Fashion Impact Fund, organizing events aligned with the UN calendar and publishing progress reports. Its primary commitment is to ensure that everyone can live dignified, prosperous, and peaceful lives on a healthy planet.

We integrate this program into our flagship education, the Bachelor in Fashion Sustainability, where students are guided by experts in fashion and sustainable development to rethink the value chain of the fashion industry. This approach, called "eco-innovation," promotes eco-design and innovation for more sustainable products. We seek to collaborate with brands and fashion companies that share our vision of sustainability and support them in their pursuit of creative and environmental excellence.

Throughout this third year of specialization, our students learn to elevate ambitions for sustainability, push the boundaries of ecological design, and develop "green or greener" products. Through case studies and active industry collaboration, we strengthen our program to fully integrate the SDGs into education for sustainable fashion.

IFA Paris is also committed to creating a dynamic network of professionals and strategic partners, all agents of change in the global sustainable development agenda. Together, we stimulate innovation and develop concrete solutions for a more responsible fashion industry. The program will benefit from the expertise of key partners, including Global Compact France, the International Organization for Migration in the Western Balkans, Fashion Green Hub, and many others. Under the enlightened coordination of our Head of Sustainability, Hélène Gille, IFA Paris is developing an innovative framework for integrating impact management and contributions to the SDGs into the Bachelor in Fashion Sustainability program.

It is essential for IFA Paris to measure progress towards the SDGs to ensure the effectiveness of our program. We use recognized reporting standards to assess the environmental and social impacts of our student projects, highlighting tangible advancements towards a more sustainable fashion industry.

We are proud of this partnership with the United Nations and look forward to working together for a more conscious and responsible fashion industry.

As the Bachelor in Fashion Sustainability is an official member of the UN Fashion Conscious and Lifestyle Network we will establish linkages between students’ projects and our ambition of developing a matrix, a capacity-building tool, that allows students to identify, to evaluate and to communicate their projects direct impacts on prioritized SDGs.

The matrix will first allow to measure the impacts that each student’s project will create in terms of environmental performance, social performance...the idea is to demonstrate the improvement in terms of eco-responsibility of each offer. 

For the eco-line to be a good project, students will have to develop it convincingly within their brand, through proving and demonstrating the eco-responsibility of their new offer; they will have to develop it consistently within their brand, harmonizing strategic business objectives and sustainability objectives… and they will have to develop it creatively within their brand as sustainable fashion can only be desirable, highly appealing on all front, and disruptive through innovation!