The Fashion CEO Agenda 2025: A Call to Action for the Industry

With less than five years to meet the UN SDGs—and only three years left to alter the course of global warming—bold decisions can't wait. The Fashion CEO Agenda 2025 provides a practical, executive-ready checklist to embed sustainability into core business strategy and drive the industry toward a net-positive future.

What is the Fashion CEO Agenda?

The Fashion CEO Agenda is published by Global Fashion Agenda, a non-profit organization that mobilizes and guides the fashion industry toward a net-positive future. Designed as a practical tool for executives of brands, retailers, and producers, the Agenda presents five socio-environmental sustainability priorities that the industry must address to ensure prosperity for people and communities—while operating within the planet’s ecological boundaries.

The Fashion CEO Agenda 2025 specifically outlines overarching industry ambitions and highlights immediate and near-term actions that brands and retailers can implement today. These ambitions are the result of years of stakeholder engagement and have been validated through the Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Fashion Industry Target Consultation. While not exhaustive, they represent a consensus among industry stakeholders and experts on the most material and meaningful actions needed to drive progress.

Five priorities for immediate action

The agenda identifies five priorities that brands and retailers must act on without delay:

1. Respectful and Secure Work Environments — Ensuring that human rights and safe working conditions are non-negotiable across all tiers of the value chain.

2. Better Wage Systems — Establishing fair and equitable compensation models that support dignified livelihoods for all workers.

3. Resource Stewardship — Managing water, energy, and land use responsibly to protect natural ecosystems and reduce environmental impact.

4. Smart Material Choices — Prioritizing low-impact, circular-ready materials to decouple growth from resource use.

5. Circular Systems — Designing products and business models that extend product life cycles and minimize waste.

Introducing the 2025 Priority Accelerators

New in the 2025 edition of the Agenda are the Priority Accelerators — enablers that can fast-track transformation from ambition to action:

⚡ Innovation – Drive new solutions from recycling tech to workplace equity that reshape fashion for people and planet.

💵 Capital – Unlock funding to bring critical solutions to market.

💪 Courage – Lead boldly to break barriers and inspire change.

🎯 Incentives – Align rewards with long-term impact.

📜 Regulation – Shape fair, ambitious policies to drive accountability.

Together, these accelerators highlight that sustainability transformation is not only a technical challenge—but a strategic and leadership one.

Key questions for fashion leaders

As the Agenda emphasizes, the path forward requires reflection and decisive action:

• What are our material risks and opportunities across the value chain?

• How can we integrate sustainability into our core business decisions—beyond compliance and communication?

• Which of the accelerators can we leverage to turn ambition into measurable impact?

From Vision to Execution

The Fashion CEO Agenda 2025 is more than a report—it’s a roadmap to embed sustainability into every level of business strategy. The future of fashion depends on leaders who see sustainability as a driver of innovation, resilience, and long-term value creation.

 Explore the full Fashion CEO Agenda 2025 and toolkits here.

If your organization is ready to turn ambition into measurable impact, let’s connect to make it happen.