As part of the opening of London Fashion Week, Stella McCartney brings a curated installation celebrating sustainable British innovation, reinforcing her longstanding leadership in responsible fashion and her appointment today as an Ambassador of the Sustainable Markets Initiative, founded by His Majesty King Charles III as Prince of Wales in 2020. Marking the occasion at London Fashion Week, His Majesty presented McCartney with a sustainably sourced Mongolian cashmere scarf made by Erdos, embroidered with the Terra Carta seal.

Hosted by the British Fashion Council, the exhibition brings together pioneering material innovators including FEVVERS, Sequinova, Radiant Matter and YATAY. Each represents a new generation of solutions - from plant-based alternatives to feathers and mycelium-based leather alternatives to biobased and plastic-free sequins.

Currently, the global fashion industry produces over 100 billion garments annually, contributing to 10% of global emissions, 20% of global wastewater, and a fifth of the world’s plastic waste. In response, the private sector is shifting toward implementing circular practices across the value chain. As the private sector’s ‘go-to’ CEO platform for driving the sustainable transition, the SMI connects key stakeholders across the fashion eco-system, intersecting design, retail, finance and beyond to accelerate private-sector progress in the industry. Complementing this work, Stella McCartney co-founded the SOS Fund – providing critical early-stage investment to next-generation material innovators, and helping to scale the solutions needed to decarbonise fashion at speed.

“The Sustainable Markets Initiative is an organisation I have proudly supported since its inception in 2020, and I am so grateful to His Majesty for this recognition. For me, the most important thing about the SMI is that its focus goes beyond discussion to driving action. I am deeply honoured to become an Ambassador.”

- Stella McCartney

For over two decades, Stella McCartney has built her brand as cruelty-free and sustainable from the ground up - never using leather, feathers, fur or exotic skins, and consistently challenging the industry to rethink materials and supply chains.

Her work has spanned next-generation material innovation, regenerative agriculture, supply chain transparency and the publication of impact reporting long before such transparency became industry standard. By convening innovators within a fashion context, she continues to champion collaboration between science and design, demonstrating that lower-impact alternatives are not conceptual but commercially viable and scalable.

“We are proud to welcome Stella McCartney as an official Sustainable Markets Initiative Ambassador as we continue to accelerate the private sector shift toward circular and responsible fashion. As a pioneer in sustainable fashion, her expertise and unwavering commitment will help drive meaningful progress across the sector. Stella’s leadership is deeply aligned with the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Fashion Task Force, chaired by Federico Marchetti, which, together with the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance, promotes regenerative practices and supply chain transparency through digital passports. Together we are joining forces to put Nature, People and Planet at the heart of global value creation.”

- Jennifer Jordan-Saifi, CEO of Sustainable Markets Initiative

A member of the Sustainable Markets Initiative Fashion Taskforce since its inception in 2020, Stella’s ambassadorship reflects both a lifelong alignment with His Majesty’s environmental leadership and a natural extension of her own career-long commitment to responsible fashion.

The event underscores her belief that sustainability must move beyond intention into delivery - embedding innovation directly into collections, accelerating adoption across supply chains and helping reshape the fashion ecosystem through collaboration and accountability. The installation will be showcased once again at the upcoming SMI 2026 Roundtables & Exhibition taking place at Hampton Court Palace in March.

—ENDS—

Notes to editors

Media contacts

Jilly Hurley, Chief Communications Officer

Email: j.hurley@sustainable-markets.org

SMI Communications Partner

Email: sodali@sustainable-markets.org

About the Sustainable Markets Initiative

The Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) is the world’s go-to private sector organization for sustainable transition; characterized by our unique brand of 'private sector diplomacy'.

Together, we seek to mobilize the trillions of dollars required to achieve a sustainable future. Investment at this scale requires global systems-level change with a default sustainable orientation across markets, industries and supply chains. Here, our mandates, the Terra Carta and Astra Carta, provide practical private sector trajectories.

The SMI’s Fashion Task Force is led by Federico Marchetti and includes the world’s top fashion brands. Together with the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance, the Fashion Task Force has led pioneering regenerative cotton and cashmere projects while reinforcing supply chain transparency through digital passports.

The SMI believes that with bold ambition and courageous leadership, we can seize a new era of global prosperity that will last for generations to come. We call this ‘The Growth Story of Our Time’. Read more: www.sustainable-markets.org

About Stella McCartney

Stella McCartney is a luxury lifestyle brand that was launched under the designer’s name in 2001. It emboldens confident femininity with elevated yet effortless, conscious fashion. The brand is committed to being an ethical and modern company, believing it is responsible for the resources it uses and the impact it has on the environment. It is therefore constantly innovating new ways to become more sustainable, from designing to store practices and product manufacturing. As a lifelong vegetarian, Stella McCartney never uses any leather, feathers, fur or skins in any products for both ethical and environmental reasons – pioneering a movement for the use of alternative materials. Supporting regenerative agriculture and circularity, the brand is embracing new business models that will transform how clothes are sourced, produced, sold, shared, repaired and reused, promoting long-lasting products with extended use to reduce environmental impact.

At the beginning of 2025, Stella took back full control of her namesake fashion house whilst continuing to advise Bernard Arnault and LVMH as a Global Ambassador on Sustainability. Stella McCartney is proudly now an independent, female founded and led brand.

Today, Stella McCartney spans women’s ready to wear, unisex capsules, kids’ clothing, accessories, a performance wear collaboration with adidas and more – with 35 directly owned stores and 9 franchise stores across New York City, Paris, Milan, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Our collections are now sold in 77 nations through 863 specialty shops and department stores, and ship to 100 countries via online. Discover more at stellamccartney.com.