Today’s Solutions: December 21, 2024

Fashion

To achieve a more sustainable future, the fashion industry needs to overhaul its current practices. Here, we document that progress by covering everything from sustainable textiles to inclusive clothing lines to innovative materials.

Torn pieces of textiles floating in the air

Designers turn unrecyclable clothes into high-quality textiles

One of the biggest environmental concerns regarding textiles is that most of them are difficult to recycle once they reach the end of their use. This is because these materials typically contain a variety of types of fibers, quality levels, and colors, which makes sorting difficult on an industrial Read More...

students at Valayanchirangara primary school walk comfortably in unisex uniforms

Unisex uniforms at Indian school starts gender equality movement

A small government primary school in the south Indian state of Kerala started a quiet revolution aimed at tackling gender inequality. Now, the revolution has spread across the entire state. Their agent of change? School uniforms. Three years ago, Valayanchirangara primary school decided to Read More...

Thrift store rack

This thrift store provides clothing specifically for the transgender community

Jacob Nash was inspired to open his thrift store, Margie’s Closet after a good friend asked if he knew anywhere they could donate clothes specifically for the transgender community. Realizing such a place didn’t exist, Nash started one of his own. Located in Ohio, Margie’s Closet is the Read More...

child sitting in car seat

New Hampshire mom designs innovative car seat-friendly coat for kids

Anyone with kids knows how difficult it is to put young children in car seats in bulky winter coats. Innovative thinker and mother Dahlia Rizk was all too familiar with this challenge raising her children in the chilly winters of New Hampshire, so she decided to come up with a coat that would make Read More...

a woman models a cardigan showcasing visible mending

Meet the knitwear designer teaching this waste-reducing knitwear trend

Scotland-based knitwear designer Flora Collingwood-Norris is on a mission to teach people how to mend their clothes in the name of using fewer resources and avoiding waste. The fashion industry is pretty wasteful, so why fan the flame by purchasing more clothes to replace torn or damaged Read More...

Person holding ELLE magazine at newsstand

Major fashion magazine is first to ban fur in publication

Following the lead of several major fashion brands, ELLE will become the first fashion magazine to ban the promotion and advertisement of fur across all of its online and print editions. The company’s decision extends across all 41 branches of the publication and will go into effect in 33 Read More...

Two people exchange sustainably wrapped gifts

A secondhand gift-giving guide for a more sustainable holiday

Do you want to make the holiday season more sustainable this year by practicing less consumerism, but are unsure of how to navigate giving pre-loved gifts with grace? A survey by online secondhand marketplace Vinted revealed that one in six people are dedicated to giving repurposed presents this Read More...

donated clothes spill onto a wooden table top from a red gift bag

This online fashion outlet lets refugee women pick out clothes for free

Before the UK’s first lockdowns in March 2020, Sol Escobar had been spending her weekends volunteering at the Calais refugee camp and helping out resettled refugee families where she lives in Cambridge. Once the lockdowns began, Escobar wanted to figure out how she could continue supporting Read More...

fresh green seaweed

This brand offers natural and sustainable textile dyes made of seaweed

Last month at Dutch Design Week, Dutch designer Nienke Hoogvliet and entrepreneur Anne Boermans showcased their brand Zeefier, which offers natural dyes made exclusively out of seaweed. Hoogvliet has been researching how to create a range of sustainable and eco-friendly dyes using different Read More...

three sad minks in a small cage

Ireland to become 15th European country to ban fur farming

Minks, foxes, weasels, and other furry friends can breathe a collective sigh of relief—Ireland is to go ahead with its fur farming ban, which will be enforced in 2022. This makes Ireland the 15th European country to do so. Ruth Coppinger, a politician from the People Before Profit/Solidarity Read More...