7 Awesome, Influential Women in Sustainable Fashion

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Women have been the driving force behind sustainable  fashion, and we want to honor some of the industry’s most awesome ladies by highlighting their achievements and undeniable passion for creating a fashion system that serves us all!

1. Yael Aflalo

This LA based dame first started her fashion career as a designer in 1999. Upon learning the negative environmental and social impacts of fast fashion, she decided to create a fashion label that was blended her SoCal trend sense with sustainable fashion principles. In 2009 Reformation was born, a brand that uses sustainable repurposed and vintage materials and designed designed, manufactured, photographed, packed, and shipped from the brand’s vertically integrated LA headquarters.

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2. Summer Rayne Oakes

Summer Rayne is the ultimate fusion of fabulous and green, since her impressive resume spans top notch modeling gigs, a degree in entomology, founding a sourcing platform for designers and an online farmers market to help sustain local foods systems (just to name a few). As a leading environmental activist and sustainability entrepreneur, we love that she has used her talents and intelligence to demonstrate that sustainable fashion can be simultaneously chic and effective.

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3. Safia Minney

Considered to be the leader of the Fair Trade fashion movement, as the founder of fashion label People Tree, Safia Minney has turned her lifelong interest in the well-being of the earth and social justice into an exemplary business. Determined to help the fashion industry clean up its act, she has successfully set the stage for others to follow suit in turning sustainability into the mainstream fashion market.

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4. Amy DuFault

Amy has been a driving force behind the promotion of sustainable fashion and  eco fashion designers since before the term “sustainable” become a buzz word. The former editor of EcoSalon, she now writes regularly for Ecouterre, The Guardian and directs communications from the Brooklyn Fashion & Design Accelerator alongside repping for sustainable fashion designers, sitting on major fashion panels and hosting awesome eco fashion events.

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5. Carrie Parry

Aside from her adorable and super chic ’50s inspired sense of style, Carrie Parry is also a fashion designer with a commitment to environmentally conscious and ethical production. Her impeccably tailored line is made from sustainably sourced, artisan crafted materials, and is all made in the heart of New York City.

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7. Hannah Jones

As the Chief Sustainability Officer for global activewear giant Nike Inc., Hannah Jones has definitely played an integral part in injecting an appreciation for and motivation to achieve sustainability in the world of apparel production. Innovation is her favorite word, especially when combined with resources, materials, and system change, and she’s paving the path for future sustainability leaders in the corporate setting.

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7. Orsola de Castro

Founder and designer of fashion label From Somewhere, Orsola de Castro has created groundbreaking designs through the concept of “exquisite rubbish” by utilizing the surplus and discard textiles from luxury fashion houses. She’s known for taking on the entire collection of expelled Speedo racing suits and turning them into luxury dresses that were sold at   UK based high end departments, as well as being the founder of Esthetica, the sustainable hub for London Fashion Week.

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