Our coalition works to create ethical and sustainable supply chains that connect farmers, processors, manufacturers and designers in the local fashion and textile industry. 

We educate the public on the harm done by “fast fashion” and the importance of supporting our local “slow fashion” clothing and textile economy. Slow fashion is the movement of designing, creating, and buying garments for quality and longevity. It encourages slower production schedules, fair wages, lower carbon footprints, and (ideally) zero waste.

Fast Fashion – cheap, trendy, mass-produced - is a threat to our environment. The fashion industry makes up 10% of humanity's carbon emissions, is the second-largest consumer of water worldwide, and is responsible for 20% of industrial water pollution worldwide. Textile dyeing is the world’s second-largest polluter of water. Washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year — the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles.

85% of clothing ends up in the landfill producing harmful gases and toxins into our air and waterways. The Fast Fashion trend is growing. According to Business Insider, people bought 60% more garments in 2014 than in 2000, yet they only kept the clothes for half as long.

Textile waste can come from many sources including post-consumer waste, sample production during the design process, the cutting room during the manufacturing process, excess fabric, and unsold clothing. Currently when people donate clothing a very small portion of it actually gets recycled (about 1%) and often the majority ends up in a secondhand market overseas, which is detrimental to local textile markets in developing countries.