A weekly community driven conversation that focuses on The Canvas' community of companies, brands and partners working towards a more mindful and transparent world.
Patrick Duffy, Founder, Global Fashion Exchange
Patrick Duffy founded the Global Fashion Exchange (GFX) in 2013 with the mission to challenge the fashion industry to create a more sustainable world through inspiring forums, educational content and cultural events, including fashion swaps and consulting.
As an expert in developing networks and activating ideas, Patrick guides creative teams for GFX in 30+ countries where GFX has taken place at institutions like V&A inLondon, Federation Square Melbourne, Madison Square Garden in NYC and more. Patrick experience producing events and creating marketing campaigns for some of the world’s most recognized brands across the art and fashion space include HM, Moët Hennessy, Microsoft and spans 15 years, hundreds of events in 5 continents. In addition to his work with GFX, Patrick also manages global partnerships for Common Objective (CO), an intelligent business network for the fashion industry, has launched “Mr Duffy” a 100% circular and sustainably focused clothing collection with partner Fashion 4 Freedom in Vietnam and is a partner at Design Pavilion, NYC’s Largest public interfacing event with over 7 million visitors in partnership with Times Square and NYEDC during NYCx Design week each May.
ShihYun (Eliana) Kuo, COO and Co-Founder of Lablaco
Born in Taipei and living between Paris and Milan, ShihYun, Kuo is a Data and Digital Innovation Entrepreneur and Speaker with more than 8 years of experience in Luxury Retail Buying and Merchandising Management, Data Systems and Digital Media. After obtaining a luxury fashion MBA at SDA Bocconi School of Management, she entered the luxury industry as a Retail Business Analyst in Etro, following APAC Merchandising and then buying supervisor in Giorgio Armani HQ, in Milan.
Building a global platform to accelerate digitization of fashion industry has always been her personal goal since 2010. In 2016, ShihYun has finally founded Lablaco, the first Circular Fashion Platform with the mission to accelerate the digitalization and transition towards the Circular Economy of the Fashion Industry. By leveraging Blockchain within an open source platform, Lablaco aims to redesign a new ecosystem for fashion industry by introducing new sustainable business models and re-defining the relationships among retailers, brands, designers, influencers, content creators and consumers in a single system.
Lorenzo Albrighi, CEO & Co-Founder of Lablaco
Lorenzo was born in London on November 1987 by an Italian/American father and an English mother, growing up between Florence and Milan, grew a deep passion for the Italian fashion scene, which brought him to start sewing as an apprentice tailor at 20 years old in the historical sartoria A. Caraceni in Milan, serving clients from Karl Lagerfeld, Gianfranco Ferrè, Calvin Klein and many other high profile individuals.
Having worked for almost ten years in the fashion industry and launching his ready to wear line, he met ShihYun Kuo, working at Giorgio Armani as. Buying and Merchandising Manager for Asia Pacific and realized the current fashion system is broken as it is now one of the largest polluting industries in the world. So they Founded Lablaco in 2016, the first Circular Fashion platform with mission to tackle fashion’s biggest challenge of redesigning a new digital and circular fashion system for a transparent and sustainable future for brands and consumers worldwide.
