Circular Fashion & Beauty: Closing the Loop

Mr Edwin Keh is the CEO of The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel. He also teaches supply chain operations in the Operations, Information and Decisions Department of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Until April 2010 Edwin was the SVP COO of Wal-Mart Global Procurement. Prior to Wal-Mart Edwin managed a consulting group that has done work for companies on supply chain, manufacturing, and product design. The practice also did work for non-profit organizations and charities. Edwin co-founded the Consortium for Operational Excellence in Greater China (COER GC) sponsored by the Wharton School and Tsinghua University.
Edwin had a career as senior executive with several international consumer goods and retail companies. He also worked for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

2024 Sustainability Goals:

HKRITA will be launching an ambitious initiative called “The Open Lab.” The Open Lab aims to provide agile solutions for the textiles, apparel, and fashion industries in addressing climate change. It will serve as a collaborative space located in Hong Kong and will be launched in September 2024. We invite partners to join forces in developing technologies that drive sustainability initiatives at the forefront of the fashion and textiles industry. The intention is to fund projects and rapidly scale outcomes, making resources widely available to tackle the challenges posed by climate change.

Corane is the Circular Fashion Programme Manager of Redress. She is responsible for the programme management and development, targeting local and regional consumers, to accelerate the change to a circular fashion industry. In the past 2 years, she provided 100+ empowerment opportunities for consumers at schools, corporates and the community, as well as looking into research fields to inform the programme’s long-term direction of reducing fashion waste in Hong Kong.

Prior to Redress, Corane was an analyst at a global insights-led consultancy, who provided research and advisory services about sustainability, reputation and thought leadership to a portfolio of sustainable businesses and NGOs across APAC. Having an interest in fostering sustainability through learning and development, she currently advises various organisations to develop mainstream education for sustainability in Hong Kong.

Venisa leads L’Occitane Group’s sustainability transformation in Asia Pacific balancing the creation of social, economic and environmental values. She is responsible for crafting APAC’s strategy to align with the Group’s ambition to be B Corp certified by 2023. With over 15 years of experience in sustainability, real estate, and technology sectors, her expertise lies in stakeholder engagement, business operations and strategy, and risk mitigation in North America and Asia.
Venisa holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Electrical Engineering) from the University of Toronto and a Master of Business Administration from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

Venisa’s Sustainability Goal for this year is to bring more transparency in carbon footprint analysis while continuing to crystalize biodiversity actions in the region. She would like to see systemic change in rewarding those who contribute to HK’s net zero plan both at the personal and commercial levels.

Ms. Juliana Lam is the Founder and Chairman of Julius Group Holdings Ltd, an OEM gloves manufacturer. Julius Group is a forward-thinking company that believes in transforming the conventional gloves manufacturing business with ESG (environment, social and governance) as their core values. Building the best efficiency through big data and constant innovations in the industry is her belief in nowadays industrial mind, as well as partnering with top retail brands globally. She is working tirelessly to reinvent and build a sustainable business through technologies and innovative solutions. Ms. Lam was the only female award winner among the few Young Industrialist Awards of Hong Kong in 2014 and the first female President of The Association of Hong Kong Gloves Traders Limited.

She is also the Founder and President of UK-born retail brand INNOTIER, a company with a mission to develop products that help people live more sustainable lives with the global top technologies as a foundation.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

I hope to see more ethical companies in HK focusing on sustanability and ESG, raising awareness to protect our environment, reviving HK’s economy with brand-new innovations while working towards carbon-neutrality.