Riyadh, June 17, 2021, SPA -- The sessions of the "Fashion Futures Live: Moving Towards Sustainability, Diversity and Innovation" event kicked off today through the Fashion Futures’ digital platform. The event features fashion’s most inspiring leaders, digital distributors, and a selection of influential leading figures, led by Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi Ambassador to the US, delivering unprecedented conversations on innovation and sustainability in fashion through dialogue sessions covering a wide variety of topics and trends. Princess Noura bint Faisal Al Saud, Sector Development Director at the Fashion Commission, started the sessions at exactly three o’clock in the evening, through the Fashion Futures’ live broadcast at https://fashionfutures.com/en/home. The first session was held at 3:05 pm by Chantal Line Carpentier, who spoke about fashion’s and creative industries’ roles in supporting Sustainable Development Goals. The second session was at 3:08 pm featuring Morten Lehmann, who tackled the global fashion agenda and sustainability as fashion’s first priority. At 3:15 pm, the third session featured Katia Beauchamp and the moderator Stephanie Cartin who spoke about entrepreneurship as a collective. In the fourth session, at 3:35 pm, Aizel Trudel talked about the entrepreneurship mindset inspiring the fashion industry. The fifth session, titled “Building a Legacy - Fashion X Design" and held at 3:42 pm, featured Oskar Mitsavaht, Nadja Swarovski, Sara Maino, Lamia Al Otayshan, and moderator Marie Driscoll. The “Fashion Futures Live” continued with the sixth session at 4:27 pm, titled "The Face of Leadership," featuring Helen Aboah, Abrima Erwiah, Arwa Al Ammari, Bazza Al Zouman, and the moderator Jordana Guimaraes. The seventh session at 5:07 pm, titled “Inspiration in Designs via Culture & Style,” featured Sebastian Cope and the moderator Fernanda Simon. The eighth session titled "Diversity & Inclusion as a Business Model," featured Zizi Cardow, Elle B. Mambetov, Youssef Akbar, Bandar Hawsawi, and moderator Alexandra Finkel. The ninth session, held at 6:07 pm and titled "Technologies Across the Supply Chain Towards Sustainability,” included Stephanie Benedetto, Francesca Rosella, Veronica Chou, and the moderator Michael Ferraro. In the tenth session, held at 6:47 pm, Rebecca Minkoff discussed “Female Founder - Being Fearless.” The eleventh session at 7:07 pm had Carry Somers talking about "Influence of Fashion for Social Cause,” while the twelfth session, held at 7:22 pm, was under the title "Environmental Efforts in Fashion via Entrepreneurship," featuring Giulio Bozanni and the moderator Konrad Olsson. The thirteenth session featured Jill Domain and was held at 7:42 pm under the title "Transparency via Partnerships in Fashion." At 7:49 pm, the fourteenth session, titled "Institutions & Media Focusing on Sustainability," was delivered by Lewis Perkins and moderator Kerry Bannigan. The fifteenth session titled "Influencing Towards Sustainability" was held at 8:29 pm, featuring Marina Testino. Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi Ambassador to the US, and Susan Rockefeller were featured as guests on the event, tackling the topics “Future of Fashion - Conservatism - Oceans - Activism” in the sixteenth session, at 8:36 pm. Burak Cakmak, CEO of the Fashion commission, concluded the event with the seventeenth session titled “Future of Fashion is Now" and held at 8:56 pm. The Fashion Commission had launched the "Fashion Futures" initiative in 2019 as the first event dedicated to fashion in the Kingdom and redesigned it in 2021 as a leading digital platform in the field of fashion, accessed from all over the world to support the creation of an innovative fashion ecosystem in the Kingdom. This edition of “Fashion Futures Live” is focused on building the right ecosystem for a future-proof fashion industry, with the aim of encouraging entrepreneurs and going through experimentation to enable generations to lead new projects, enhance cultural and stylistic diversity, encourage investment in new and innovative business models, and advance the Sustainable Development Goals agenda. --SPA 20:54 LOCAL TIME 17:54 GMT 0035 www.spa.gov.sa/w1573411