High-street fashion retailer H&M and fashion designer Stella McCartney have launched their second collaboration in the form of a new board designed to improve industry sustainability.

The H&M Stella McCartney Insights Board, which met for the first time this week, brings together a diverse range of experts – including the fashion icon herself – to discuss sustainability across the fashion industry. This spans everything from the materials used to make clothes to the innovation behind their manufacture and how these efforts are communicated to consumers.

The star-studded board includes Kiara Nirghin, a tech entrepreneur who originally hails from South Africa; Amelia Gray, an American model and TV personality; Susie Lau, a British journalist whose career started with a popular fashion blog; Adwoa Aboah, the British model and actress who founded young women and girls’ mental health non-profit Gurls Talk; and Brazilian singer and songwriter Anitta.

Stella McCartney was also in attendance, as were various experts from H&M. Julie Gilhart, founder of boutique fashion consultancy Julie Gilhart Consulting Inc, moderated conversations between the board members.

According to H&M, the board members kicked off their first session in London with a discussion around different facets of sustainability, how people are discussing them online and how these trends impact consumers’ purchasing decisions.

With a key aim of the board being to generate clear outcomes and tangible action steps for making the fashion industry more sustainable, members agreed that brands need to better communicate the materials they use in their products and their overall approach to sustainability.

They also stressed the importance of producing clothes using more sustainable and innovative materials and prioritising animal welfare, with many garments still using materials like wool and leather.

From these discussions, the board concluded that fashion brands need to provide consumers with fact-based communication and make genuine and tangible commitments if the industry is to become more sustainable.

McCartney said: “Fashion has an opportunity to lead with honesty, transparency and a willingness to challenge itself. That’s what excites me about the Insights Board.

“It’s about listening and learning, not just from the voices around the table, but from the communities they represent, and keeping sustainability front and centre in a way that sparks real dialogue and, importantly, hope for change.”

---