The CFDA released the Guide to Sustainable Strategies in January 2019 as part of the organization’s larger Sustainability Resource Hub.

The guide, authored by Domenica Leibowitz, seeks to provide a “how to” overview for sustainable fashion. The guide’s goal is to take the complex idea of sustainability and simplify it into clear, digestible resources and actions, available to all.

Materials

For most designers, the easiest first step toward sustainability is to swap out their materials for more sustainable alternatives. We have a feeling most designers will jump to this section first.

(Just don’t forget that materials are just part of a larger picture, and we hope you’ll think about the entire lifecycle of your product, if not the entire system of fashion!)

This section aims to help you understand some general ideas about how different materials are made and their sustainability impacts. We also share some resources and tools for choosing more sustainable materials.

View the “Materials” chapter of the CFDA Guide to Sustainable Strategies here.