During Business of Fashion's VOICES summit on 3 December, it was announced that Dries Van Noten’s “Forum” and Rewiring Fashion, two early-pandemic efforts, would be joining forces. Van Noten and BoF’s Imran Amed announced that the two groups would merge their efforts to drive systemic change. The two initiatives were formed during the height of the spring lockdowns via WhatsApp conversations and Zoom meetings. They were set out to reform the traditional industry calendar as the relationship between independent brands and their retail partners hit a tipping point.

#rewiringfashion is now a group of independent designers, CEO's and retail executives from around the globe; it has set out two targets to challenge and rethink the fashion industry. These are resetting the fashion calendar and rethinking the fashion show format. 

The group has commented: "The Covid-19 crisis makes the need for change more urgent than ever, while also providing a powerful opening for dialogue and a rewiring of the system around a fresh set of principles. We aimed to think boldly and hope to find common ground with industry peers tackling similar issues, such as the forum led by designer Dries Van Noten, Lane Crawford President Andrew Keith and Altuzarra CEO Shira Sue Carmi."

For more information please visit rewiringfashion.org.