Workshop 1 : “Climbing the Fashion Value Hill: Who Holds the Value?”
Workshop 4: “Fast Fashion on Trial: The Circular Courtroom”
Charlaine Baartjes (South-Africa)
Charlaine Baartjes is a sustainability strategist and certified environmental scientist with over 25 years of experience in environmental management, waste prevention, and circular economy innovation. She specialises in transforming complex environmental challenges into commercially viable, system-level solutions that strengthen both resilience and profitability.
Driven by a deep commitment to systems thinking, Charlaine works at the intersection of behaviour, leadership, and operational design to embed sustainability into the core of business strategy. She earned her Doctorate in Business Leadership, developing a practical framework that enables organisations to shift from managing waste to preventing it at source, demonstrating that sustainability, when designed intelligently, consistently enhances long-term value creation. As Managing Director of EcoPartners and founder of MoleculeMatter, she combines rigorous research with hands-on industry expertise to deliver actionable insights and scalable strategies. Her work supports organisations in building future-fit operations that are adaptive, regenerative, and economically robust. Charlaine believes that preventing waste is not simply an environmental responsibility; it is a strategic advantage.
Workshop 1: During this workshop, we will dive into the complex layers of the fashion ecosystem to uncover who truly creates, maintains, or destroys value. To illustrate these dynamics, we will move beyond theory by assigning each participant a specific role—ranging from the cotton farmer and the designer to the influencer and the landfill operator. By positioning these roles on the “Value Hill,” this session will provide you with a systemic overview of how garments move through our economy. Overall, this workshop will challenge you to propose concrete interventions that “keep value higher for longer,” shifting the focus from fast consumption to long-term stewardship. As this session will make you reconsider the invisible actors in the supply chain, it will empower you with the strategic mindset needed to transition from a linear “take-make-waste” model to a truly circular fashion future.
Workshop 4: During this interactive session, we will dive into the complex ethical and economic dilemmas of the modern fashion industry by stepping into a simulated courtroom. To illustrate the systemic nature of sustainability, participants will be assigned to diverse stakeholder groups—from the high-pressure world of the Fashion Brand CEO and the Investor to the frontline perspectives of the Textile Worker and the Environmental Activist. Overall, this workshop will provide you with a unique platform to debate a fictional but realistic industry case, forcing a deep reflection on “hidden costs” versus “real value.” As this session will require you to defend positions that may differ from your own, it will challenge you to reconsider the trade-offs inherent in circularity. Ultimately, the Circular Courtroom provides the empowerment of critical thinking, proving that sustainable progress requires not just technical knowledge, but the negotiation and courage to navigate a world that is rarely black and white.
Workshop 2: Decoding Your Textiles
La Trame (Fashion Revolution Ambassadors – Belgium)
La Trame is a non-profit organisation, local embassadors for the international Fashion Revolution collective. Created by three women active in sustainable fashion — an upcycling designer, a sustainable fashion retailer, and an eco-friendly haberdashery shop owner — La Trame aims to raise awareness about alternative fashion practices and conscious consumption. Through events such as the Slow Fashion Week and educational workshops, it empower the public to better understand materials, labels, and certifications, and to make more informed clothing choices.
What does your clothing label actually tell you? Behind a simple tag lies a complex world of global supply chains, material science, and ethical choices.In this interactive workshop, we go beyond the “Made in…” label to explore the hidden reality of the textile industry. Together, we will analyze fiber compositions, decipher sustainability certifications, and discuss the social, economic, and environmental footprints of our wardrobes. In this workshop, you’ll explore the principles of transparency, learning how to trace a garment’s journey from the factory to your closet. You’ll develop material literacy, gaining insight into the durability and environmental impact of various textiles. Most importantly, you’ll be empowered as both a future professional and a conscious consumer, equipped with the tools to make informed, ethical fashion choices.
Workshop 3: The power of the consumer within the fashion industry.
Fernando Argüello – lecturer and researcher at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands)
Fernando Argüello is a lecturer-researcher at the Business Innovation Research Centre and a core faculty member of the Creative Marketing & Innovation program at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. With a background in Fashion & Pattern Making (ESMOD Paris) and a Master of Social Entrepreneurship (Hult International Business School), Fernando combines extensive industry experience—having worked for brands like Peet Dullaert, Zalon by Zalando, and Condé Nast—with a passion for sustainable innovation. His current research focuses on the National Wardrobe Audit, investigating circular consumer behavior, and he actively leads the “Fighting Fast Consumption” project to drive behavioral change toward more conscious, sustainable fashion practices.
During this lecture we will dive into the world of consumers and how they both shape and are shaped by the fashion industry. To illustrate, examples will be shared both from the consumer side as well from the fashion industry side. Overall, this lecture will provide you with focus areas – for you as a consumer – to play a decisive role within your own fashion consumption. As this session will make you reconsider your own consumer choices, and hopefully provide a bit of empowerment by knowing just a little bit more about the possible mechanisms you can employ to prevent unconscious fashion dependency.
Workshop 5: Workshop about sustainability in the Sneaker Business: From sustainable Design through Production and Use to Recycling.
Adriaan van Hoorn – Lecturer International Business (The Netherlands)
With a career rooted in the global footwear and apparel industry, Mister van Hoorn brings a wealth of hands-on expertise to the conversation on circularity. Having navigated the complexities of international leather trading and footwear retail, he has gained a deep understanding of the global supply chain—from raw material sourcing to the final consumer purchase. Driven by a long-standing commitment to sustainability and circular design, mister van Hoorn transitioned into academia in 2021 as a Senior Lecturer in Global Marketing and Sales at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (Hogeschool Rotterdam). Since its inception, mister van Hoorn has been a driving force behind the innovative educational program “Fighting Fast Consumption.” This initiative empowers the next generation of business professionals to challenge the “take-make-waste” status quo and develop strategies that prioritize durability, ethics, and environmental stewardship.
Sneakers are among the most iconic fashion items worldwide, yet their environmental footprint is often staggering. From complex material blends to toxic glueing processes: how can we transform these ‘streetwear essentials’ into a blueprint for sustainability? In this interactive workshop, we take a deep dive into the entire sneaker business value chain. We explore the journey from Sustainable Design (choosing bio-based materials) to clean Production. However, we look far beyond the point of sale: how do we encourage sustainable Usage, and what happens at the end of a shoe’s life? Learn how innovative Recycling and take-back schemes close the loop, and discover the real-world challenges of scaling circular business models in a market dominated by ‘hype’ and ‘fast drops.’