Chalhoub Group joins Global Fashion Agenda to advance sustainability

Denmark-based organisation Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) and United Arab Emirates-based luxury retailer Chalhoub Group have entered a strategic partnership to accelerate sustainability across fashion value chains. Announced during Global Fashion Summit: Copenhagen Edition 2026, Chalhoub Group has joined GFA as an Associate Partner.

Through the collaboration, Chalhoub Group will bring regional perspective, luxury expertise and value chain experience to GFA’s network of manufacturers, brands, innovators and policymakers. By convening industry leaders through thought leadership, impact initiatives and international forums, GFA aims to drive collective action on environmental and social issues.

Chalhoub Group partners with GFA

As sustainability strategies across fashion and luxury evolve, industry attention is shifting beyond direct operations towards value chains, where primary environmental impacts occur. Addressing these broader impacts requires increased collaboration across suppliers, commercial partners and broader business networks.

This shift aligns with Chalhoub Group’s newly launched strategic environmental platform, ‘Planet FWD’, introduced within its Sustainability Report 2025. Created to advance progress across decarbonisation, circularity and nature-positive solutions, ‘Planet FWD’ operates across three interconnected pillars titled Net-Zero FWD, Circularity FWD and Nature FWD.

Together, these pillars establish a framework to embed environmental initiatives across company operations and supply networks. Through the framework, Chalhoub Group intends to advance its Net Zero 2040 ambition, expand circular commercial practices and support nature-positive outcomes while deepening supplier engagement.

Focus on value chain decarbonisation

Chalhoub Group joins GFA’s partner network alongside global retail, luxury and e-commerce organisations committed to environmental progress. Drawing on more than seven decades of experience in Middle Eastern luxury retail, Chalhoub Group will provide insights to develop resilient industry approaches.

The alliance was presented during the summit session ‘Building the Future: From Leadership to Legacy’, where GFA chief executive officer Federica Marchionni and Chalhoub Group executive chairman Patrick Chalhoub discussed responsible growth. The discussion focused on how partnership-driven strategies can foster long-term value within an increasingly complex business landscape.

Commenting on the collaboration, Marchionni stated: “The Gulf region is no longer on the periphery of fashion’s transformation: it is at its centre. Chalhoub Group has earned the trust of this market over seventy years, across some of the world’s most complex value chains and most discerning consumers.”

Marchionni added: “That is not just a credential. That is leverage. And combining that leverage with GFA’s global ecosystem of leaders, policymakers, and innovators, built over fifteen years of turning insight into collective action, is how we move from ambition to measurable, systemic change.”

Middle East perspective on systemic change

Chalhoub Group chief sustainability officer Florence Bulté highlighted the strategic importance of sustainability for retail operations. Bulté noted: “In a context marked by rapid transformation and increasing complexity, sustainability is becoming an essential driver of long-term resilience, responsible leadership, and business evolution. At Chalhoub Group, we see sustainability not as a standalone initiative, but as a collective and continuous effort that must be embedded into governance, decision-making, and everyday operations across the organisation.”

Bulté added: “As we move forward, we remain committed to accelerating measurable progress while strengthening collaboration across our ecosystem. Partnerships such as our engagement with Global Fashion Agenda play an important role in fostering dialogue, sharing knowledge, and advancing collective action towards a more sustainable future for our industry.”