Pull & Bear is sponsoring another season at London Fashion Week, being the principal partner for the British Fashion Council’s NewGen initiative. But with LFW’s new big sustainability requirements in force, it’s interesting to see a fast fashion house being embraced by the industry like that. Especially at a time when fast fashion is the third biggest polluter in the world, and its umbrella company Inditex is famously cryptic on its supply chain, having given no information on individual factories in the past.
The NewGen talent is made up of young, independent designers (like Paolo Carzana and Charlie Constantinou) who mostly strive for sustainable and ethical fashion practices. So, isn’t being sponsored by Pull & Bear, a major fast fashion brand (owned by Inditex, the same company that owns Zara and Bershka) a bit redundant?
Tbf, the fashion industry has been struggling. The BoF/McKinsey State of Fashion report for 2025 predicted another “sluggish growth” year for the fashion industry. And fashion week is expensive. Many London designers aren’t showing this season: Ahluwalia isn’t presenting; Johanna Parv, Masha Popova and Ancuta Sarca are only doing digital shows; Conner Ives, Chopova Lowena and KNWLS only show once a year.
With the luxury slowdown, we can’t be expecting brands that hold sustainability at their core to be throwing big budgets on LFW. But fast fashion houses can. Turns out Pull & Bear isn’t the stepdad, P&B is the dad that stepped up for NewGen designers. And it’s actually pushing for young talent, and sponsoring their shows.
Pull & Bear has even launched its “Canvas for Creativity” initiative where it showcases emerging talent with collaborative collections. For its first edition, Pull & Bear has linked up with Chet Lo and Johanna Parv as “guest creative directors”. NewGen designers get to show their work on a different kind of platform, have fun with Pull & Bear’s extensive resources and give their fanbase a more attainable price point.
This isn’t new: H&M has been doing collabs like this for years, with guest designers like Maison Margiela, Simone Rocha and Mugler, among others. And you see independent designers very often link up with bigger companies for limited edition collections (Charlie Constantinou x 66º North, Martine Rose x Clarks or Nike, etc). Young designers take on collabs to give their own companies a boost, but also bring some creativity to the big brands.
Featured image Pull & Bear x Chet Lo©
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