TREver Evolving Talks by Calik Denim
Ever Evolving Talks by Calik Denim made its successful post-corona comeback on Tuesday April 22 at Theater Amsterdam. Approx. 400 visitors from all over the world attended the 2022 edition. Since the 2019 edition of the annual Ever Evolving Talks by Calik Denim event the (fashion) world has changed considerably and permanently. Over the course of one day, the fashion industry gathered in Amsterdam to discuss the world after COVID, how brands should adapt and respond, challenges like Metaverse and Web 3.0 and sustainability.
Designed to be a live platform for thoughts and ideas and a stage for future insights, Ever Evolving Talks by Calik Denim has become a stronghold of original ideas. Moderated by BJ Cunningham, the event has become a place where the fashion industry discusses thoughts, ideas and innovations that not only have an impact on the fashion industry, but also can make a change in creating a better world for everybody. The third edition of Ever Evolving Talks by Calik Denim has proven once again that the fast moving fashion industry truly needs a moment of space and calm. A moment to reconnect, rethink, reboot and at the end of the day re-emerge with fresh ideas about a possible future.
Moderated by sustainability expert Dio Kurazawa the opening panel discussed the post-COVID world we have entered and how brands should respond to the new situation. Together with Jide Osifeso, Sr. Artistic Marketing Director of Reebok and founder and designer of HYMNE, and Onno Oldeman, Managing Partner at Simon-Kucher & Partners, Kurazawa discussed the changes in Gen Z consumer behaviour and the latest trends. “For us, it’s all about how things are made,” according to Kurazawa. “If everything was made to consider the planet without waste, consumers wouldn’t have to change.”
Next up was Jeremy Dalton, Head of Metaverse Technologies at PwC. In his keynote he talked about the digital future that has already started with digital changes and opportunities such as web3.0, METAVERSE and NFT. “It’s not a future technology. It’s here and, right now, it’s being used by organisations all over the world to reduce costs, build new revenue streams, create efficiencies and so much more. The fashion industry could benefit as well!”
The METAVERSE, its place in fashion as well as digital and sustainable solutions were also the subject of the one-to-one by Dio Kurazawa and Leanne Elliot-Young, curator and creator, co-founder of the Institute of Digital Fashion. “Sustainability is now desirable, marketable and easily accessible,” Elliott-Young said. “Not only this, but it is the only option we have. Combating climate change can only be achieved once we combat the world’s second largest polluting industry.”
Following on the subject of sustainability, Maxine Bédat, director of New Standard Institute, took the audience on the journey of garment production and the ways and paths to secure a sustainable future of humanity. Throughout her presentation she told the human story of our global economy and raised the question on how to secure the future of humanity. “I love fashion. But fashion must square itself with a planet and society at its breaking point. Now’s the time for legislative solutions, to create the guardrails for a modern fashion industry that can thrive within human and planetary bounds; whether we like it or nog, they are one and the same.”
The final keynote made the Ever Evolving Talks by Calik Denim 2022 edition come full circle, when futurist Gerd Leonhard explained what the world as it emerged after COVID means for the future of physical retail, for the evolvement of digital commerce and for the supply chains. “The bottom line is that we are not going back to ‘normal’ but that we are heading towards a series of ‘new normals’. Once we accept this, I think we can find new ways forward, question our assumptions and discover new possibilities,” said Leonhard. “Only organisations that rapidly comprehend this and adapt will survive and thrive amidst these crushing waves of change. Resilience, collaboration, agility and creativity will replace efficiency as the key objective.”
About the event Calik Denim CEO Serhat Karaduman says: “We are so proud to back after two years. The world is completely different than how we left it during the previous edition of Ever Evolving Talks by Calik Denim in 2019. It is heart warming to see people from all layers of the world wide fashion industry reacquaint again, anxious to step into the uncertain but exciting future, together.”
