The CFDA IMPACT program teamed up with the Best Buy Foundation and Dominique Drakeford and Whitney McGuire, Founders of Sustainable Brooklyn to empower the next generation of Black and Brown creatives and business professionals within the American fashion industry.

In 2020, CFDA established the IMPACT program to further the economic mobility and social inclusion of Black and Brown creatives and adjacent business professionals in fashion by expanding access to jobs, providing career development and exploration, and building community among existing and emerging talent in the fashion industry.  

In support of that mission, we are excited to unveil our partnership with Best Buy Foundation. With the Reimagining Equity in Sustainability series, CFDA and the Best Buy Foundation aim to provide youth with broader exposure to the career pathways in the fashion industry – expanding beyond the emphasis on design and other creative centered disciplines to incorporate tech, sustainability, business functions, and other core disciplines.  

The series provided a foundational outlook on how the fashion industry plays a part in solving our most pressing societal issues – climate change and inequality. Through innovative programming and exposure to diverse leaders, IMPACT hope to empower Best Buy Teen Tech Center youth’s ability to envision new possibilities within the American fashion industry.   

Sustainable Brooklyn led a three-day series to provide youth in Detroit and Brooklyn with the knowledge and skills to reframe consumption, which resulted in an understanding of the ways innovation and creativity provide solutions to unsustainability. Students learned about the indigo plant and textile innovation from enslaved people, George Washington Carver’s contributions to modern agriculture, Fannie Lou Hamer’s community-based systems, and hip hop and streetwear culture innate creativity as sustainable practices. Tracy Reese, Designer, CFDA Executive Board Vice Chairwoman, Black Advisory Board Chair, and Detroit native, joined us to further the students’ understanding of sustainable innovators in their community.    

In developing this initiative in collaboration with Best Buy, CFDA’s IMPACT overall goal is to affect social change in the fashion industry by creating youth development programming that enable youth to have agency in fashioning a more just future.    

“We’ve appreciated CFDA’s ability to be authentic and engaged co-designers in our teen programming at the Best Buy Teen Tech Centers in Detroit and Brooklyn. The CFDA team has continued to work closely with our Best Buy Teen Tech Center staff to ensure programming is exciting, relevant, and personal. I deeply appreciate the creative and energetic partnership we are continuing to develop with CFDA,” said Jacqueline Gonzalez, Associate Manager of Social Impact & Advancement at Best Buy.  

“We laud Best Buy’s commitment to bringing cross industry collaboration and learning to Best Buy Teen Tech Centers across the nation. In partnership with CFDA IMPACT, the solution-oriented innovation and creativity for reimagining sustainability was amplified.  I look forward to further integrating fashion with technology in providing access and opportunity to talented teens throughout the country.” said CaSandra Diggs, President of the CFDA.

To learn more, head to CFDA IMPACT.