“We make it into a more systemic approach,” she said about H&M’s approach.  “Once you start to create the system, you see all these creative ideas [such as] trying out new business models within existing brands, such as a rental platform, or remake. We have a business venture called Sellpy, trying out subscription models. Those didn’t come from me, of course. Those came from creative people within the organisation who are really passionate about this.” 2. Transparency For brands that haven’t yet started their sustainability journey, it may be helpful to keep the phrase ‘progress not perfection’ in mind. “It’s better [to] admit that there’s a lot of things to do, that there are challenges, that you will succeed sometimes and face failures sometimes. You won’t get anywhere if you pretend that everything is perfect, but rather raise challenges so that you can deal with them,” Helmersson said. 3. Partnerships Even major players like H&M can’t solve the problem on their own. Collaboration between brands is critical to driving lasting change, according to Helmersson.   “I can’t mention how many partnerships we have today and would have in the future that has been really crucial for us to create impact, like this shirt,” she said, indicating the shirt she was wearing.  “This [was] made together with a partner that created fabrics made out of 30 per cent CO2 emissions, the winner of the H&M Global Change award last year. We wouldn’t have come up with this idea to make a t-shirt out of carbon emissions, and that’s just a small, innovative step. We’ve had many big and small steps internally that have been created through different kinds of partnerships.” Potential to reshape the industry David Schneider, co-CEO and co-founder of the German online fashion platform Zalando, who also spoke at the event last week, said collaboration between industry leaders could also make it easier for customers to make more responsible purchase decisions.  “They have the willingness, but it’s just so hard to compare, to understand, to actually see what the other definitions behind sustainability are,” he said. “This will really enable customers to make choices themselves.” Morten Lehmann, Global Fashion Agenda’s chief sustainability officer, said implementing changes in the industry may seem like an uphill battle, but it’s nothing compared to the consequences of inaction. “Leaders have the power and the knowledge to take bold steps now that will determine our future and the lives of future generations.”