On the fourth and final day of Who’s Next League, we sat down and talked with social entrepreneur Mariel Jumpa. She develops and empowers conscious change-makers with slow fashion ethics. She aims to empower a global community to continue spreading initiatives that generate positive impact and actions around the fashion industry.

Furthermore, she is the founder of Slow Fashion World, a platform connecting an international community of conscious change-makers fighting for sustainable development goals and enabling innovation and inclusion through their creative work and projects. She dedicates her time to building a global network and creating connections between Latin America and Europe.

Photo: Kim Weber pour Who's Next, Mariel Jumpa

Photo: Kim Weber pour Who’s Next, Mariel Jumpa

1. How would you describe your role within the fashion industry?

Project manager and communication and marketing consultant with a focus on cultural, social, and environmental sustainability.

2. What is your mission in a trade show like Who’s Next?

To discover creatives who want to work on communicating sustainability and traceability in their products. To inspire me with new trends, and concepts that we can amplify in other European markets in pop-ups, and collaborative events.

3. What changes in approach or innovations have you discovered?

Conscious beauty, it’s gaining strength and opening opportunities in conventional spaces such as trade shows. All brands know that their speech, packaging, and product go hand in hand with their proposal. Mono Skincare would be a great example.

4. How can you follow a slow fashion model and make it a business?

Focus on quality and be able to create hubs like Who’s Next x Ulule where collective campaigns are promoted, and brands can easily connect with potential buyers. The slow business is like slow food in Italy, if brands add history, values, and traceability together with a good marketing and communications plan, it is possible to attract an audience of buyers willing to invest in the long term.

5. What innovations or developments do you expect to see in new editions?

Traceability, transparency. Digital tools and solutions that allow brands, buyers, and attendees to understand what it means to be sustainable as a company. Talks in other languages on the topic of greenwashing and examples with case studies of brands that improve their processes.

6. What makes people like you decide to come to Who’s Next?

Networking, discovering new concepts, and above all opportunities to discover how honest marketing is managed in this type of event. For instance, it serves to develop proposals for our agency to facilitate businesses in Latin America to enter the European market.