Speaking at the Summit will be Outland Denim founding CEO James Bartle, joined by Professor Kevin Bales, Research Director of the Rights Lab at the University of Nottingham, UK, and Baroness Lola Young, Honorary Rights Lab Professor of Antislavery Policy and Business, to ask ‘Can Fashion be an Agent for True Positive Social Change?’
The two day event hosted by Global Fashion Agenda is one of the biggest conferences in the global fashion industry calendar, attracting hundreds of industry professionals each year.

With the COVID-19 pandemic restricting travel, this year’s conference will be online and completely free for all members of the public to attend.

During their session Bartle, Bales and Young will publicly discuss for the first time the Outland Denim x Nottingham Report, titled 'Social Progress and Responsible Business Practice’. This world-first case study demonstrates the link between gainful employment and positive social outcomes for formerly enslaved young women and their peers at Outland Denim’s stand-alone manufacturing facilities drawing a link between Outland’s unique employment model and Bales’ concept of a “freedom dividend”. The report will be released on the 16th of October with the aim of demonstrating to the industry the global benefits of impact-led business, further encourage businesses to identify risks of modern slavery in their supply chain, and encourage governments to prioritise legislation that further supports the eradication of modern slavery.
“​Outland may be a perfect example of the triple bottom line, but it is more than that. Outland’s impact reaches far beyond the fashion market, generating a Freedom Dividend through helping people freed from slavery rebuild lives of meaning and purpose,”​ saidProfessorBales.

Outland Denim jeans are crafted in the label’s stand-alone production and finishing facilities in Cambodia, which were founded to offer holistic support, training and employment to young women who have experienced exploitation, human trafficking and other human rights violations. The company provides a living wage, education and other benefits for its staff, and each of its seamstresses are trained across all aspects of garment making. In late 2019, Outland Denim opened its first stand-alone Wash and Finishing Facility equipped with state-of-the-art water and energy reducing technology, allowing the brand to have greater control over its environmental impact while pursuing their social mission.

Outland Denim was awarded the Thomson Reuters Foundation Stop Slavery Award for Small and Medium Enterprise, and the label is Australia's first denim brand to become B Corp Certified. Outland Denim received an A+ in the Ethical Fashion Report in 2018 and 2019 and were one of the first brands to hold the Eco-Age brand mark. In 2019 Outland Denim signed as an Associate Partner with Global Fashion Agenda.
CFS+ will be held online from the 12th - 13th of October.

Speakers

Outland Denim crafts premium denim jeans designed to bring the worlds of their seamstresses and customers closer together. Outland Denim sources the finest raw materials from around the world to create garments with environmental integrity while offering employment and training opportunities to women rescued from human trafficking and sexual exploitation. ​Outland Denim is Australia’s first ​Certified B CorporationR​ ​ denim brand.

Baroness Young of Hornsey OBE is an independent Crossbench member of the House of Lords where she
works on legislation to eliminate modern slavery, co-chairing the All Party Parliamentary Group on Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion, and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Sport, Modern Slavery and Human Rights. She works with Rights Lab team members on the issue of slavery in supply chain​s.

Kevin Bales CMG is Research Director of the Rights Lab at University of Nottingham UK. The film based on his book Disposable People, which he co-wrote, won the Peabody Award and two Emmys. The Association of British Universities named his work one of “100 World-Changing Discoveries.” He co-founded the US NGO Free the Slaves, a group that has liberated thousands of slaves worldwide. His latest book, Blood and Earth, explores the deadly link between slavery and environmental destruction.