For years, Global Fashion Agenda has used its signature CEO Agenda to push a more ethical fashion system from the boardroom’s highest ranks. Now, as the Danish think tank kicks off another edition of its Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen, it’s making sustainability a priority for another power player: the CFO.
On Wednesday, the organization released its inaugural CFO Agenda, centered on the theme of building financial resilience through sustainability. Co-authored with Boston Consulting Group, the report argues that sustainability’s financial implications can no longer be ignored: climate-related disruptions are hiking up costs for raw materials such as cotton and wool, looming extended producer responsibility fees could shave off profits for large fashion players by as much as 4 percent by 2030, and litigation and investor pressure continue to mount on responsible purchasing practices.
Plus, with carbon pricing now covering 28 percent of global emissions, the industry faces growing exposure to a new layer of fiscal jeopardy, threatening the viability of traditional low-cost production models. For the savvy CFO, the message is clear: More than a coat of PR gloss, sustainability is now a factor of undeniable material impact.
“There’s a maturity happening with sustainability…moving from small investments in sustainable materials to really having a sustainable material strategy,” said Justin Pariag, GFA’s chief sustainability officer and a former PVH Corp. executive. “We’ve moved…from sustainability department-led initiatives which had the CFO as a stakeholder to initiatives that are being driven often by a decision made in the finance departments.”
At the same time, there’s been a curious shift in corporate communication, with mentions of sustainability in fashion earnings calls falling. While it may seem like an illogical retreat—what Pariag describes as “more importance, less attention”—corporations are also being pulled in multiple directions: conflict in the Middle East that is causing logistical bottlenecks and roiling oil prices, an American presidency that scorns the faintest whiff of “wokeness” in corporate policy, and whipsawing tariffs that are shaping and reshaping trade flows.
“What we found in a survey was that sustainability was rated consistently by the vast majority of respondents as a critical priority for the business,” he said. “However, when asked the subsequent question in our survey, is sustainability fully embedded in your financial systems? That’s where there was a really big gap.”
Slowing growth is exacerbating the trend, the report said. With the apparel market forecast to grow 2-4 percent per year between 2023 and 2028—a steep falloff from the 7–14 percent seen during the post-Covid recovery—executives are homing in on more immediate budget squeezes. Mentions of trade restrictions alone have risen nearly 490 percent in calls from 150 brands between 2022 and 2025.
While this “quiet phase” could mean sustainability is moving from a promotional talking point to an operational necessity, there is also a risk that less airtime could result in a gradual slowing of momentum. That’s where the CFO can come in, Pariag said.
“I think the CFO has a very unique role in that their positioning is really embedding value in the long term while safeguarding also the financial security of the business,” he said. “They operationalize, in many ways, much of the vision that’s coming from a sustainability stool.”
Integrating sustainability into financial systems also offers several upsides, the report said. Companies might, for instance, be able to lock in more favorable lending terms through ESG-linked credit or boost operational efficiency by identifying waste in energy and material usage. Investing in sustainable material strategies could help hedge raw materials against climate-related price volatility, while robust transparency could bolster oversight of supply chains and mitigate compliance and reputational threats.
The fact that “an approach that is financially viable today may not be sufficient tomorrow” should also put CFOs on notice, Pariag said. Setting science-based targets, for instance, was seen as “cutting-edge” a decade ago; today they’re table stakes. When the bar rises, he added, so should the level of ambition.
“What’s seen as transformative behavior may, in a few years, be adopted by the majority of businesses,” he said. “And if, as we are hoping, that’s going to be the direction of travel, you’re going to see that become part of the strategies of many more brands and become something more standardized.”
