• Europe’s fashion sector needs an estimated €4.4 billion (US$5.09 billion) by 2030 to stay aligned with decarbonisation trajectories, exposing a growing financing gap for suppliers.
• CHANEL, Kering, Moncler Group, Prada Group and others are backing a Fashion Pact accelerator to unify environmental data practices and ease the reporting load for manufacturers.
• A new harmonised questionnaire for energy, water and waste has been tested across Italian supply chains, aiming to streamline oversight and unlock capital for cleaner production.

A coordinated move to standardise supplier data

Paris. A cluster of the world’s most influential luxury brands is backing a new European Accelerator under The Fashion Pact to streamline how environmental data is collected across the continent’s fashion supply chains. The initiative, supported by CHANEL, Kering, Moncler Group, Prada Group and other signatories, seeks to address one of the sector’s most persistent structural challenges: fragmented, inconsistent, and resource-intensive reporting requirements placed on small and mid-sized suppliers.

More than 55 CEOs representing around a third of the global fashion industry by volume have mandated the coalition to drive collective action on climate, biodiversity and oceans. The new Accelerator is the first region-specific mechanism aimed at harmonising environmental data and reducing duplication for suppliers who often work with multiple brands, each requiring different formats and verification approaches.

Eva von Alvensleben, Executive Director and Secretary General of The Fashion Pact, describes the effort as a turning point in how luxury houses coordinate their climate strategies. She notes that consistent data quality is essential for companies to understand emissions hotspots, craft credible decarbonisation plans and meet tightening European regulatory expectations.

A practical path to reducing supplier burden

The Accelerator’s first output is a jointly developed questionnaire covering energy use, water consumption and waste. Tested over six weeks with 74 Italian suppliers, the tool has been designed to eliminate redundant requests while improving the standard and comparability of data. It has already been adopted by a number of manufacturing partners and will be updated by a technical committee to reflect emerging standards.

Developed with support from the consultancy Quantis and informed by Italy’s National Chamber for Fashion, the questionnaire is non-exclusive and can be used by any fashion company. For suppliers, many of whom operate on tight margins and face labour or capital constraints, the promise of one shared reporting framework marks a substantive shift toward operational simplicity.

Lucia Mantero, Product Development Director at Mantero, said the pilot allowed her company to focus on delivering accurate data rather than navigating brand-specific templates. For manufacturers accustomed to juggling divergent demands, a unified set of questions helps reveal where efficiency gains are possible and strengthens trust between brands and factories.

Financing the transition for Europe’s suppliers

The operational work of harmonising data is emerging against a broader economic backdrop: large portions of Europe’s luxury supply base lack the investment capacity to install cleaner technologies. According to new research from the TEHA Group, 58 percent of suppliers report that decarbonisation capital requirements are currently beyond reach. Without targeted financial pathways, the sector will struggle to raise the €4.4 billion needed by 2030 to align with its emissions goals.

The Accelerator is positioning itself as a bridge between suppliers’ capital needs and brands’ decarbonisation commitments. The questionnaire is only the first step. By mapping inefficiencies and building a clearer baseline of environmental performance, the coalition aims to identify where financing mechanisms, blended capital, or joint investment vehicles could help scale renewables, low-impact materials, and energy-efficient equipment.

Lorenzo Bertelli, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Prada Group, said the framework provides a more reliable basis for identifying the kinds of interventions that will matter most for Europe’s fragmented and highly specialised supply network.

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Collective governance and implementation at scale

The Fashion Pact’s governance structure is designed to accelerate decision-making across brands that traditionally operate independently. Fifteen CEOs sit on its elected steering committee, supported by an operations group of 24 Chief Sustainability Officers from companies such as Moncler, CHANEL and J.Crew Group. This combination of top-level mandate and technical expertise allows the initiative to move from aspiration to practical implementation.

Suppliers located in Italy, where many luxury houses concentrate their manufacturing, stand to benefit early. A common questionnaire could help technical teams benchmark performance, support training programmes, and flag opportunities for resource efficiency. Over time, a harmonised system could assist in aggregating demand for renewable power purchase agreements, shared recycling hubs or cleaner logistics solutions.

Edoardo Zegna, Chief Marketing and Sustainability Officer at Ermenegildo Zegna Group, said that reaching consensus required sustained dialogue between brands and suppliers. He emphasised that transparency and shared problem-solving are essential for integrating a common questionnaire across the sector.

Implications for global fashion and climate targets

The European Accelerator is emerging just as regulators, investors and consumers press for more certainty around environmental performance. Companies operating in the EU face expanding disclosure requirements, growing scrutiny over value chain emissions and rising expectations from financial markets that sustainability data be credible, comparable and auditable.

For C-suite leaders, the initiative hints at a broader trend: multi-brand, pre-competitive collaboration is becoming central to how industries attempt to close data gaps, pool risk and accelerate emissions reduction. For investors, a more coherent picture of supplier performance could tighten due-diligence processes and improve assessments of transition risk.

The Accelerator’s progress will be watched beyond Europe. If the model succeeds, it could offer a template for other regions where supply chains are similarly decentralised. And as global climate deadlines draw closer, unified approaches to supplier data will become pivotal to fashion’s ability to align with international climate frameworks rather than fragmented brand-level initiatives.

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