Fashion SDG Ambassadors
Interconnecting nature, gender, fashion, and social change.
We are bringing together 17 passionate fashion researchers from various fields who will make up our inaugural Fashion SDG Ambassadors. The program will be convening youth 18-30 from every continent as researchers. Each Ambassador will be partnered with a partner organization focused on one SDG to conduct further research, provide mentorship support, networking opportunities, and so forth.
The inclusion of young people in utilizing the SDGs as a pathway to change the fashion industry is absolutely critical. As we have seen with global movements such as #FridaysForFuture and many young people across the globe planning Black Lives Matter protests this year, youth have the urgency, capacity, and grit to organize, mobilize, and drive forward positive forces of change.
What is the program?
Through our SDG Research Ambassadors program, we're creating a network of passionate circular economy scholars who are researching at the intersections of knowledge and equity, through a collaborative and transformative lens.
The goal of this program is to:
Build professional capacity
Increase youth's policy & research skills
Researching and recommending best practices to local and state governments on textiles waste diversion and transparency index policy
Providing recommendations to large clothing manufacturing countries
The fashion industry is extremely interconnected, for it relates to several SDGs:
SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) with how the industry unfairly pollutes waterways and streams in the Global South
SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth): this goal - especially target 8.7., taking effective measures to eradicate forced labour, modern slavery, and human trafficking - strongly relates to the apparel industry, as it supports the slave trade of millions in the Global South.
SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) with the need to shift to a circular system
SDG 13 (Climate Action) how and why we need to transform our fashion ecosystem due to the extreme amounts of clothing going into landfills, microplastics in the ocean from synthetic fibres impacting the food chain, to big brands releasing copious amounts of CO2 into the air from fossil fuel material production
