The Sustainable Fashion Forum

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The Sustainable Fashion Forum

The Sustainable Fashion Forum is a one-day event and online platform that looks to the future by fost

11/02/2026

ICYMI: here’s what’s happening in sustainable fashion news 👀

→ Stella McCartney’s Kylie Jenner campaign sparked criticism over its fit with the brand’s sustainability commitments.

→ 62% of Americans plan to shop secondhand this holiday season, according to ThredUp.

→ The Garment Worker Center wants LA Olympics apparel contracts to support local factories and fair wages.

→ WRAP estimates expanding the UK’s circular economy could add 550,000 jobs by 2035 under its most ambitious scenario.

→ OEKO-TEX is hiring a U.S.-based TikTok creator to help shoppers understand its textile certifications.

→ And more!

Plus, the latest sustainability jobs in fashion. 💼

Each week, we break down the need-to-know sustainable fashion news, why it matters, and what it means for your work.

📰 Link in bio for the full Week/End recap.

10/24/2026

The EU is cracking down on fashion’s greenwashing. But will the new rules make shopping any easier? 👀

ICYMI: EmpCo, the EU’s new rules on sustainability claims, puts tighter restrictions on terms like “eco-friendly” and requires brands to back up what they say.

The goal? Information shoppers can trust. 👏🏾👏🏾 But here’s the bigger question: Does more credible information actually change what people buy? 🙃

People shop for clothes that fit their style, their budget, their lives. They’re not necessarily looking to become sustainability experts just to buy a sweater.

And that’s where things get interesting.

How do brands communicate meaningful progress without confusing customers, losing their attention, or going silent altogether? And could stricter rules unintentionally make it harder to demonstrate the commercial value of sustainability?

At SFF26, Sandra Capponi ( Good On You: sustainability ratings), Nynke Eggen ( The Sustainability Club · Sustainability consultancy), Jessica Howe ( DLA Piper), and SFF foundeDLA Pipery Sierra tackle these questions in “After EmpCo: What Can Fashion Actually Say?”

Expect competing perspectives, challenged assumptions, and a much bigger conversation about what it actually takes to make sustainability matter to customers.

And this is just one piece of SFF26.

Across two days, we’re bringing together leading voices in consumer psychology, culture, brand strategy, and sustainability to challenge how the industry thinks about consumer demand, adoption, and commercial value.

Because understanding sustainability is one thing. Understanding how to make it something customers actually want, choose, and value is another.

That’s the perspective we’re bringing to SFF26, and one you can take straight into your work.

SFF26 | October 29–30 | Online

Get your ticket. We’ll see you in the chat. 💬
Link in bio.

10/22/2026

It’s a Functional Fabric Fair × SFF26 crossover! 😎

What if we’ve been overlooking a piece of the puzzle when it comes to scaling next-gen materials? 👀

The conversation has largely focused on financing, production capacity, and brand adoption. All important. But what about the other end of the value chain?

Some established performance materials have something next-gen innovators are still working to build: consumer recognition, trust, and perceived value. Shoppers know their names, associate them with specific benefits, and actively seek them out across brands.

So here’s a question: What if next-gen material companies could bring fashion brands not just a better material, but consumer demand for it? 🤔

Could that strengthen their commercial appeal and help get more of these innovations into products?

Of course, demand alone doesn’t solve cost, performance, or supply challenges. But it’s a part of the business case worth exploring.

We’re bringing that conversation to the Main Stage at Functional Fabric Fair in Portland.

SFF founder Brittany Sierra will moderate alongside David Stover, co-founder and CEO of NetPlus | Bureo and Bill Morris, Materials Analyst at Bill | Fabrics Vetted + Textile Safety.

Coming to Functional Fabric Fair? Join the conversation Wednesday, October 28 | 2:55–3:40 PM.

10/20/2026

When it comes to sustainable fashion, we often say people won’t pay more or change their habits. But people do both when they see enough value in what they’re choosing.

Price and convenience absolutely matter…especially in this economy 😮‍💨 But what feels “too expensive” or “too much effort” can change depending on what someone believes they’re getting in return.

That’s perceived value.

Environmental and social benefits can provide that value for some customers. But what makes those choices worthwhile to a mainstream audience?

Culture helps shape what we want, what we want to be associated with, and what feels worth choosing. Brands invest in cultural relevance because they understand that. But making a brand desirable doesn’t automatically make its sustainability initiatives desirable too.

At SFF26, three conversations will explore how that value gets built, what it changes, and where it falls short:

Culture as Currency 🤑
Jasmine Bina will join SFF founder Brittany Sierra to explore how culture makes things desirable, and how sustainability teams can apply that thinking to their own initiatives.

From Stigma to Status: How Resale Became a Flex 🙃
If people always choose convenience, how do we explain the appeal of hunting for the perfect secondhand find? Beyond price, what made buying used something people show off? Depop’s Chloe-Louise Armer, ThredUp’s Danielle L. Vermeer, and Teen Vogue’s Alyssa Hardy join moderator Emily Stochl to explore what changed, and what repair and other sustainable offerings could learn.

When Brand Love Isn’t Enough 😬
What happens when people love a brand and the business still can’t sustain itself? Drawing on her experience at Mara Hoffman, Dana Davis joins Brittany Sierra to explore admiration, purchasing, and how financing, production timelines, and growth expectations shape what’s possible.

📅 Join us October 29–30 at SFF26.
💻 Fully digital, with live Q&As and on-demand access. Join from anywhere, with WiFi! 😉

10/18/2026

You’ve built the solution. Now, how do you get people to use it? 🤷🏾‍♀️

Fashion has spent years developing lower-impact materials, circular business models, and better infrastructure. There’s no shortage of solutions and innovations, but getting those solutions adopted is a challenge of its own.

It’s easy to assume that once the right systems are in place, behavior will follow.

But a repair service can launch and still go unused. A next-gen material can reach production without making it into a brand’s next collection. A take-back program can struggle to get customers to bring anything back.

So what’s getting in the way? 👀

Price and convenience might be part of the answer. But people also pay more, wait longer, and go out of their way for things they want.

The question is: what makes something worth the money, time, or effort, and for whom? 🤔

That’s where understanding consumer behavior becomes really important. What feels like an unnecessary expense to one person might feel like a worthwhile investment to another. Trust, identity, social influence, and perceived quality can all shape that decision.

For businesses, understanding those differences helps teams decide what to design, who it’s for, how to communicate its value, and what to test before investing further.

That’s central to commercializing sustainability: understanding the conditions under which people will choose a solution, participate, and come back.

And when teams can connect those choices to demand, repeat use, and business value, they have a stronger case for continued investment.

At SFF26, we’re bringing together behavioral scientists, consumer researchers, and sustainability leaders to explore exactly that. 🧠🤓

📅 October 29–30
💻 Fully digital, with live Q&As and on-demand access

Explore the program and join us at the link in bio.

10/16/2026

ICYMI, SFF26 IS FULLY DIGITAL! 💻

On October 29–30, the Sustainable Fashion Forum is bringing together sustainability leaders, behavioral scientists, consumer researchers, brand strategists, and industry experts for two days of conversations about one of the biggest challenges facing sustainable fashion: turning sustainability investments into consumer demand and business results.

Because developing better materials, building circular systems, and investing in sustainability initiatives is only part of the equation.

People have to want, choose, and adopt what we’re creating.

That’s why this year’s program puts consumer behavior at the center of the conversation.

Together with voices from Patagonia, Kantar, Depop, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and more, we’ll explore what influences purchasing decisions, how brands can make sustainability more relevant to customers, and what it takes to build the internal buy-in needed to turn promising initiatives into commercially viable solutions.

And now, you can join these conversations from wherever you are. No flights, hotels, or travel approvals required.

📅 October 29–30, 2026
💻 Fully virtual, with live Q&As and on-demand access

Registration is open! Get your ticket at the link in our bio.

06/29/2026

ICYMI: here’s whats happening in sustainable fashion news 👀

→ Adidas, Calvin Klein, and Uniqlo had sustainability ads banned in the U.K.

→ Reformation officially filed for an IPO after surpassing $500M in revenue.

→ A new Kantar report found consumers rank fashion’s sustainability issues differently than the industry.

→ New testing found PFAS levels in apparel have dropped dramatically following state restrictions.

→ The European Commission found inaccurate fiber labels on 37% of garments it tested.

→ And more!

Plus, the latest sustainability jobs in fashion. 💼

Every Sunday, we break down the need-to-know sustainable fashion news so you don’t have to.

📰 Link in bio for the full Week/End recap.

06/24/2026

Consumer behavior has entered the chat. 🧠

For the first time ever, we’re dedicating the entire Sustainable Fashion Forum to consumer behavior, consumer psychology, and the science of adoption.

And we’re bringing together an incredible group of behavioral scientists and sustainability leaders from Patagonia, Yale University, Climate Pledge Friendly, ThredUp, and more to help us unpack one of the biggest questions facing sustainability today:

How do you create products, programs, and systems that people actually want to participate in?

Because building better systems is only part of the challenge. The other part is creating the adoption, demand, and participation needed to make those systems work.

If your work depends on trust, behavior change, and turning sustainability into measurable business outcomes, this is the room to be in.

📍 Portland, OR
📅 October 28–30, 2026
🎟️ Tickets are now live. 🪩 Link in bio.

05/11/2026

The fashion industry has spent years building the systems sustainability depends on. SFF26 is designed to address the gap those systems can’t solve on their own: participation.

Whether you’re building circular systems, guiding sustainability inside a global brand, or integrating sustainability into retail strategy, the outcome is the same: you need adoption to prove business value.

The 2026 Sustainable Fashion Forum tackles the missing link between sustainability strategy and real-world traction, exploring how consumer behavior drives, strengthens, or stalls every initiative.

If your work depends on adoption, trust, and measurable outcomes, this is the room you need to be in.

Tickets are now live. Link in bio. 🤓🧠🎟️

05/10/2026

This week in sustainable fashion:
 → France’s anti-fast fashion law hit a roadblock
→ Nordic governments pushed for tougher greenwashing oversight
→ Secondhand had a moment at the Met Gala
→ A new player entered textile recycling’s feedstock bottleneck
→ Bestseller committed $3M to regenerative wool sourcing
→ And more!

Plus, new sustainability jobs are live on the SFF Job Board.

Every week we break down the need-to-know sustainable fashion news and the latest sustainability jobs in fashion, over on Substack.

📰 Link in bio for more news, jobs, and context.

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Portland, OR
97086-97299

Website

http://www.thesustainablefashionforum.com/

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