The Conscious Festival would be nothing without its thought-provoking talks. This year, we’re dissecting the issues that really matter. Diving into the themes Collective Intelligence, Wellness & Spirituality, Sustainability & Regeneration, Planet & Biodiversity, Fashion & Beauty, we’re bringing together some of the world’s leading conscious changemakers, experts, influencers and business leaders to elevate your consciousness.
We’ll be screening live talks from the main stage at LA CASERNE—Europe’s largest sustainable fashion accelerator hub—in Paris online and at the Conscious Gatherings in Singapore and London. Here are the highlights…
B2B FASHION BOOTCAMP : FRIDAY
Throughout the day on Friday, you’ll be able to hear from a range of speakers on a variety of topics. If you’re starting a business, or already have one, and want to know how businesses can get on board the sustainability revolution, then you’ll want to mark your calendar for a few talks. We’ll kick off the day by talking all things inclusion in the fashion industry and the techstyle revolution. Then, take out your notebooks, because there’ll be four deep-dive sessions. Topics include sourcing and raw materials, circularity, purpose-led companies, and traceability and transparency.
Finally, we round off the B2B TALKS on Friday with sessions involving our partners. Luxury group Kering, the founding partner of our Conscious Festival in Paris, is honing in on its efforts to restore ecosystems, species and spark systemic change that goes above and beyond their supply chains. Kering’s Head of Sustainable Sourcing Innovation, Dr. Helen Crowley, will be sitting on a panel that’s all about sustainability and supply chains. The panel also features Ayesha Barenblat, Founder and CEO of Remake Our World, and moderator Sarah Kent from The Business of Fashion.
Last but not least, is a talk on how to embed sustainability commitments within your brand, delivered by Gael Audier, Associate Creative Director at Pixelis Design agency. Pixelis, also one of our partners, is a branding and creative consulting agency dedicated to Branding For Good. Being a B-Corp, and a UN Global Compact Member, we’d be hard-pressed to find another team more suitable to be wrapping us up on Friday.
>>> Register for PARIS here and SINGAPORE here.
ENGLISH TALKS
The TALKS may be held in Paris, but for those of us who don’t speak French, we’ve got you covered. Across all three days, there will be a range of sessions held in English. Here are a few of the highlights we’ve selected. But remember, the full list is much more extensive than this—you’ll want to grab a ticket while you can.
SATURDAY
We’ll be kicking things off on Saturday with a panel on unlearning, which was probably the biggest word of 2020. What does unlearning and doing the work mean, and why the f*ck did we take so long to get here? How do we become active, long-term allies in the environmental and social justice space, while doing the inner work too? How is everything interconnected? This panel is all about exploring the intersection between feminism, sustainability, regeneration and spirituality. Featuring Céline Dassonville, CEO of Ethiwork and Chiara Chondi from UN Women.
Another panel you won’t want to miss is a debate on transhumanism. Transhumanism is the social and philosophical movement devoted to promoting the R&D of robust human-enhancement technologies. Given our current technological age, this panel will centre around the question: what does it mean to be a human in 2021? We’ll be discussing our place on Earth with a cyborg (Manuel de Aguas), VR sexologist (Cathline Smoos) and the founder of a sustainable data cloud computing company (Yann Lechelle).
The latter part of Saturday is all about sustainability. You’ll hear a UN expert doing a high-level overview of the situation right now, and she’ll provide us with some good news—which we could all do with now… And you’ll hear from youths taking on state governments in the fight towards climate justice.
SUNDAY
On Sunday, a key panel will be focused on Indigenous wisdom, centred around honouring that in our journey towards (re)building regenerative systems. Did you know that even though Indigenous peoples only constitute 5% of the population globally, they safeguard 80% of the world’s biodiversity? Sitting on our panel will be Swaady Martin, one of Africa’s most recognised young leaders, Adama Anotho, photographer and art director, Tabita Rezaire, agent of healing, and more.
In the latter part of the day, we’ll be switching gears to talk all things fashion and beauty. You’ll want to stick around for the panel on the coolest innovations in sustainable fashion—during which we’ll be answering the questions: what are the most sustainable ways to produce raw materials? What are the trends in ethical fashion? What does “made in” really mean? And what are some exciting new business models? The panel will feature one of our partner brand’s CEO: Sandrine Conseiller, who heads up Aigle. Aigle, the French footwear and textile company founded in 1853, is a purpose-driven company since January 2021 when the brand launched its Aigle Positive Impact strategy built around strong commitments to make fashion sustainable and responsible one step at a time. Sandrine will be speaking alongside the founder of MUD Jeans, Danique Gunning, and founder of AWAKE CONCEPT, Lilian Thibaut.
Mark your calendar for Sunday, because we’ll be rounding it out with panels on the question to buy or not to buy in fashion, and on action in the world of cosmetics—delving into how can the beauty industry play its part.
FRENCH TALKS
Don’t forget that there’ll be sessions across all three days, so on Friday, our talks in French will kick off with a panel centring around the question: do we need money after all? Can money be not a goal but a means to impact the planet and its communities positively? Helping us answer these questions are experts from non-profit Time For The Planet, sharing app Geev, the first green neobank Green Got, and more. But hang tight, because there’s more coming.
SATURDAY
Kicking off the wellness part of the Saturday sessions is a powerful keynote: on what it takes to be queer, Black, and immigrant in France? This will be a testimonial on the intersections between racism, patriarchy, and capitalism. Delivering these words will be podcaster and writer Douce Dibondo. Another highlight of the wellness talks will be a panel on sexual wellness and consciousness. Yes, we’re going there. Get intimate and real, and past the taboo with a CBD expert (Frederic Gié), a period pants maker (Ségolène Giraudier) and a PMS influencer (Leslye Granaud).
In the second part of the day, we’ll be moving into talks around sustainability. And for that, we’re super excited that Kering, our luxury expert partner, will be providing us with a sustainability expert Géraldine Vallejo, in our panel discussion on geomimetism. Which is a fancy way of saying solutions inspired by Mother Nature. Really, the answers we’ve been looking for have been with us all along, right? This panel will feature other experts like Romain Trebuil, CEO and Co-founder of Circle Sportswear, and Pierre Gilbert, author and activist, and more.
SUNDAY
Starting off Sunday is a panel presented by one of our partners, SoGood. SoGood, a movement created by Ulule and SoPress to highlight those who work for a better world, will be presenting “Covid comme accélérateur de conscience”. Can COVID be a consciousness accelerator? Can it lead us to connecting to our higher self and passions? Featuring Stephanie Ampart from SoGood, this panel will be in conversation with Vipulan Puvaneswaran, a young man who became an activist and the main character in an award-winning Cannes Festival documentary on biodiversity, and others.
Alongside this panel, we’ll also have another panel presented by another one of our partners, Pioche!—a digital magazine that’s out to talk about ecology in a different way. Jean-Paul Deniaud, who heads up development at Pioche!, will be moderating “Cette bonne vieille consigne”. The panel will explore why France is so slow to gain collective awareness and do better in its recycling. Offering their expert perspectives are Moïra Tourneu, from Zero Waste France, Nicolas Dechambre, from Club Mate, and Arthur Jaouen, from Cabaret Sauvage.
And rounding off the event will be sessions about diversity and inclusion and the new wave of designers in fashion. Featuring a lineup of fashionistas-cum-experts, you won’t want to miss it!