Objective: To highlight community solutions for reversing unsustainable trends in fashion and textiles

Description: Our wardrobes and textiles protect us from the elements and enable expressions of culture and individuality. Responsibility for closing the fashion loop lies not only with consumers, who are affected by price, trends, advertising, and available options but also with communities and companies who design, produce, and market products and set the policy infrastructure. The fashion industry sector and textiles stand out because people identify so intimately with purchasing decisions about what they wear. We’re seeing sustainable fashion trending in the media as consumer concern rises over the negative impacts of this industry on the environment. Better sourcing and production efforts, consumer messaging (uniqueness and quality over quantity), reuse and vintage models, and more product information are all emerging solutions. This webinar will showcase local and regional fiber and textile systems that drive environmentally and socially healthy production chains and businesses, support local job creation, and rebuild markets for regionally produced fashion and fiber-based products.