Brittany Sierra spent nearly a decade building the Sustainable Fashion Forum. Then H&M’s investment arm used the same name for a gathering in Stockholm.
By Maya Ellison | M•I•A MEDIA GROUP
Brittany Sierra spent nearly a decade building the Sustainable Fashion Forum into a gathering place for people trying to change how the fashion industry does business. In October, she saw the name attached to another event, this one organized by the investment arm of H&M. Sierra took the dispute public, and the global retailer apologized.
H&M Group Ventures hosted the Oct. 22 gathering in Stockholm under the title “Sustainable Fashion Forum #1 – The Inspirational Session.” Sierra, a Black entrepreneur whose platform brings together people working in fashion, technology and sustainability, challenged the company’s use of the name in a LinkedIn post. The timing added to her frustration. H&M’s event came shortly before her own annual conference.
Sierra said H&M employees had attended her conferences, participated in her organization’s programs and subscribed to its content. She also said the company had discussed a possible partnership with her organization. From her perspective, the name belonged to a platform people at H&M already knew. That history was central to why she spoke up.
H&M drew a distinction between its investment arm and other parts of the company. In a statement to Atlanta Black Star, the retailer said employees in H&M Group Ventures had never spoken with Sierra or her organization. It said the Stockholm event was intended to bring businesses in its investment portfolio together to exchange ideas about developments in fashion. The company acknowledged that the choice of name was a mistake and said it had begun removing it from event materials and contacted Sierra directly to apologize.
The two sides also offered different accounts of a proposed $20,000 sponsorship. H&M said its U.S. team had agreed to sponsor an earlier in-person event and received an invoice. According to the retailer, Sierra later told the team the event had been canceled and the invoice voided. H&M said its records showed no outstanding sponsorship invoice. The company’s apology addressed the event name, while the sponsorship remained a separate point of disagreement.
What a conference name carries
For an independent conference, a name is how a returning attendee finds the next event, how a speaker tells colleagues where they appeared and how a sponsor connects one year’s programming to the next. When a global company uses that same name in the same field, an invitation or a social media post can leave readers wondering whether the two events are affiliated. The founder may then have to spend time explaining a distinction that mattered little to anyone before the second event appeared.
Sierra’s work also gives the dispute a particular resonance. Her forum examines why consumers adopt some sustainability practices and bypass others. In describing the 2026 program, she said conversations with industry leaders had surfaced questions about consumer trust, cultural relevance and whether companies could turn sustainability commitments into changes people would embrace. Those conversations are part of the work that gives a conference its identity long before anyone arrives.
H&M’s apology addressed the decision its investment arm made in Stockholm. Sierra’s challenge put the years before that decision back into view. Every time someone returned to her conference, recommended it to a colleague or agreed to speak, the name became a little easier to recognize. That recognition was something her business had earned, one event at a time.
