Here at SUMAS, we are well known for our theoretical and practical, sustainable fashion degrees and courses. If you are interested in sustainable fashion, we highly encourage you to take a look at our programs on offer. Being thought leaders in sustainable fashion, and in light of Fashion Week, we decided to put together a list of sustainable fashion influencers and accounts to follow in 2021.
Celine Semaan
Céline Semaan is a “Lebanese-Canadian designer, writer, advocate, teacher, activist, and public speaker.” She is also the founder of Slow Factory Foundation, a sustainable fashion agency and “public service organization working at the intersection of environmental and social justice.” Celine coined the term ‘Fashion Activism’, and is a sought after public speaker and journalist, often discussing topics such as circular economy, zero waste, cultural appropriation, and decolonisation in fashion. Even though Celine’s work transcends the fashion industry, the heart of her work remains in slow, sustainable, and regenerative fashion.
Aja Barber
Aja Barber is a writer, stylist and consultant living in South East London. Her work is focused around the fashion industry, sustainable fashion, and consumer buying habits. Aja’s work “builds heavily on ideas behind privilege, wealth inequality, racism, feminism, colonialism, and how to fix the fashion industry with all these things in mind.”
Fashion Revolution
Fashion Revolution is a global movement calling for “a fashion industry that values people and planet over profit and growth.” The group has affiliated themselves with local groups all around the world, and focuses on advocacy, movement building, research, resource creation, education, and public pressure as some of the ways to achieve their vision. The group is also responsible for the viral #Whomademyclothes campaign, and host an annual fashion revolution week (the only fashion week that wasn’t cancelled in 2020).
Clare Press
Clare Press is a sustainable fashion journalist, author, and presenter based in Sydney, Australia. She is the creator of Wardrobe Crisis podcast, and the author of Wardrobe Crisis, How We Went From Sunday Best to Fast Fashion, as well as Rise & Resist, How to change the world. Clare also produces and co-hosts the UN’s Ethical Fashion podcast with Simone Cipriani, and was VOGUE’s first ever Sustainability Editor for Vogue Australia from 2018-2020.
Dominique Drakeford
Dominique Drakeford is a writer and public speaker, with more than 10 years of environmental justice advocacy, and youth development experience. She works “at the intersections of sustainability and fashion to heal our relationship to the Earth and spark equitable change for economic well being.” She is also the founder of Melanin and Sustainable Style, a digital interview based magazine “that discusses the issues and celebrates the success of communities of colour in Sustainable Fashion and Beauty spaces.”
Slow Fashion Movement
Slow Fashion Movement is a community of people advocating for a slow fashion world where buying a “t-shirt that is made in a sweatshop or a pair of jeans that has coloured a river blue” is not a possibility anymore. The online community has created an online global event called Slow Fashion Season which aims to educate people about slow fashion, and get people to make the switch away from fast fashion wherever possible.
Sustainable Fashion Forum
Sustainable Fashion Forum is “an online platform and offline conference for conscious fashion enthusiasts looking to make a tangible impact in their communities and beyond.” The forum started in 2017 as a passion project, and has since become a global community network “of curiously passionate sustainable fashion advocates.”
At SUMAS, we are committed to preparing our sustainable fashion students to be industry thought-leaders. We hope that this list of sustainable fashion influencers and accounts will give you the inspiration you need to start your sustainable fashion journey.