Singapore, 26 October 2022 — Amid fast-evolving consumer trends, the Singapore Fashion Council (SFC), formerly known as the Textile and Fashion Federation, today unveiled its new rebrand and strategic positioning to better support the aspirations of its members and the wider fashion industry. Aimed at building a more connected fashion ecosystem, the trade association pivoted its role as a catalyst for new and diverse partnerships across sectors and geographics to bring benefits across the value chain.  

Semun Ho, CEO of Singapore Fashion Council said, “SFC plays a catalytic role in supporting the growth of the industry by connecting stakeholders across the fashion ecosystem to unlock strategic opportunities for meaningful collaborations and community-building. We are particularly focused on capability development to help Singapore’s fashion ecosystem expand and transform as an innovator amid changing consumer demands. Having talents joining the industry will help to achieve our vision of positioning Singapore as the regional nexus for fashion, and allow us to continue providing pathways for local industry players to make a mark in the fashion world of tomorrow.”  

The renewed focus on partnership emerged from consultations with industry leaders to review Singapore’s strategic strengths as a fashion hub, and areas in which the local fashion industry can make a positive impact in. To help Singapore fashion industry maintain a competitive edge, SFC has identified three strategic thrusts that the organisation will be looking into as it establishes further collaborations with external parties: 

• Innovation & Technology: Finding avenues offered by new and existing technological solutions to disrupt and reshape industry practices and the human experience. This includes examining areas of opportunities to enhance the local fashion industry’s capabilities using 5G, holographic telepresence, augmented reality, virtual reality and opportunities in the Metaverse. 
• Sustainability: Finding end-to-end solutions that help to mitigate the environmental impact of fashion. This is accomplished through catalysing the journey for companies to adopt sustainable practices. For example, building standards-based frameworks, introducing capacity building programmes like green financing, training and upskilling of workforce, and development of a future talent pipeline. 
• Asian Craftsmanship: Working to celebrate, promote, and elevate Asian craftspeople and ecosystems. Creating programmes that harness the power and knowledge of generations of skilled expertise, and foster the continued sophistication, development, and longevity of Asian material heritage and histories.

For a start, SFC today signed ten Memorandums of Understanding with ten partners who will work with the association to support the industry in these three strategic thrusts. They include both local and global names such as Asian Civilisations Museum, B Lab Singapore, Deloitte Singapore, DBS, HSBC, LASALLE College of the Arts, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, STACS, StarHub, and Temasek Polytechnic.  

With the help of the partners, SFC will continue to support local fashion brands by providing them with readily-accessible resources, meaningful networking, sustainability-focused innovations and future-forward insights. Please refer to Annex A for details for each partnership as well as quotes from their spokesperson.  

 Wilson Teo, President of Singapore Fashion Council said, “The strategic partnerships we entered today affirms a collective commitment from the whole of industry to further Singapore’s mark in the fashion world. They provide a strong steer to address the critical challenges that are driving conversations in the fashion industry both today and in the future. This is just the start, and we look forward to working with more partners in the years to come”. 

For media enquiries, contact us at marketing@sgfashioncouncil.org.sg

Pre-pandemic, price was a deciding factor for consumers. Now, there is an increasing demand for sustainable products and responsible consumption.

A study by Accenture and the World-Wide Fund for Nature Singapore shows that consumers want more avenues to enable a circular economy – by ensuring that the products we consume have a longer use period; and second-life or reuse of products. Over 30% of consumers ranked sustainable ingredients and packaging as top factors in everyday shopping. Read the full article with key insights here.

Earlier, on 16 June 2020, Textile and Fashion Federation (TaFF) and WWF co-hosted the ‘Reducing Plastic in Fashion’ Virtual Roundtable. Over 80 participants gathered to discuss challenges and possible solutions to address harmful plastic use in the fashion industry’s entire value chain. The challenges and opportunities discussed during the roundtable, complemented by additional desktop research of successful case studies by companies globally, set the basis for the guide.

Besides exploring new ways of doing businesses, brands can also look at new innovative products and explore new materials.

One of such is HKRITA’s cotton T-shirt that can absorb about one-third of a tree’s worth of carbon dioxide every day. The carbon dioxide capturing cellulosic yarns are made by TEMPO mediated oxidation of cellulose, followed by the amine functionalization via grafting reaction. 

Learn more about this innovative textile and product here.

Start your circular journey today. For TaFF members who joined us at the Industry Insights: Getting Closer to Circularity in Fashion, please help us complete a short survey and you may download the slides from the presentation earlier.