David Dubinsky Student Center, Room A317

If the future of fashion didn’t involve growth or physical product, what could that look like? This session will explore the landscape of alternative economies (well-being, degrowth, circularity) and non-extractive value in fashion. Through a dynamic lecture and thought-provoking activities, participants will develop an understanding and interaction with alternate future visions for the fashion system.

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FIT Breezeway

Join us outdoors for interactive activities led by faculty, staff, students, and alumni to learn about sustainability projects, initiatives, and events at FIT.

Event Schedule

FIT Student Sustainability Initiatives and Opportunities Table
Join student members of the Sustainability Council for a hands-on creative experience featuring natural dyeing and junk journaling. Pick up a journaling kit made with salvaged materials and explore creative ways to give materials a second life.

Stop by to get creative, learn more about the Sustainability Council, and discover its initiatives across the FIT community.

The FIT Style Shop’s Vintage Swap
The FIT Style Shop invites the campus community for an exclusive vintage swap event at the Sustainability Fair. Explore a curated collection of unique, timeless pieces selected with a keen eye for fashion trends and sustainability. Whether you’re a vintage enthusiast or new to the scene, you don’t want to miss this amazing opportunity to score rare finds and learn the art of vintage buying.

Sustainable Style with Depop
Join members of the Depop team for a tabling session exploring how resale and circular practices are shaping the future of fashion. Discover the Depop app, participate in a clothing swap, and learn new ways to rethink fashion, extend the life of your clothes, and embrace a more sustainable approach to style.

Take the Fill It Forward Challenge
Fill It Forward to encourage our community to choose reusable water bottles over single-use bottles. Fill It Forward works with charitable partners to make a difference around the world. Each time you refill your bottle and scan the QR code, not only can you track your environmental footprint, but you’ll unlock a “donation” that will be given to a charitable organization. It costs you nothing, but makes a huge difference to those in need!

Sustainability Grant Recipients Showcase

• Threads of Empowerment Grant
  A collaborative initiative, led by Deborah Hernandez from the Department of Textile/Surface Design and Lorenza Wong from the Department of Textile Development and Marketing, that will launch a community-focused swatch library at FIT. The project connects the FIT community with rug makers in Nepal to foster global knowledge exchange and inspire environmentally responsible textile design.
  
  
• A Revolution in Biomaterials
  An initiative led by Gwen Sanchirico from the Department of Science and Mathematics that expands FIT’s biomaterials library and offers interactive opportunities for the community to explore biomaterials as alternatives to petroleum-based synthetics.

Sustainability Opportunities at FIT 

Sustainability Grants
Learn how to apply for a $5,000 Sustainability Grant, administered by FIT’s Sustainability Council in support of projects related to social, environmental, and/or economic areas of sustainability.

Ethics and Sustainability Minor
The minor in Ethics and Sustainability draws on the expertise and critical thinking of faculty across the campus in all three undergraduate schools. Minoring in Ethics and Sustainability provides students with knowledge and tools to understand and critically assess environments, materials, economics, aesthetics, philosophical concepts, social responsibility, and the impact of actions. The minor is designed to cultivate understanding of the interconnected topics, information, and applications related to ethics and sustainability.

Sustainable Materials and Technology Minor
The Sustainable Materials and Technology minor provides an understanding of the different kinds of challenges faced by our society and teaches students how to apply fundamental scientific knowledge and practice to help solve real-world problems. This minor will complement students’ major-course knowledge and prepare them to lead their industries to a more sustainable future.

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Natural Dye Garden, Feldman Center, 9th Floor Rooftop

Join us in FIT's rooftop Natural Dye Garden to learn about the variety of plants and help with one of our last harvests of the growing season.

RSVP Required: Open to FIT faculty, staff and students only

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Robert Lagary Board Room, C903

FIT's Department of Modern Languages and Cultures invites Italian-born, New York–based photographer Salvatore Corso and urban anthropologist Professor Ida Susser from Hunter College to talk about marginality and resilience in Naples, Italy.

Susser will discuss the pioneering work of American anthropologist Thomas Belmonte in Naples in the 1970s, drawing on her expertise in urban anthropology and the urban commons to connect his classic book The Broken Fountain with Corso's photographic project La Terza Via/The Choice. Together, their dialogue explores Naples as a city shaped by inequality, improvisation, and resilience, contributing to broader conversations on urban sustainability and neighborhood change.

Salvatore Corso, Photographer 
Ida Susser, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center

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Robert Lagary Board Room, C903

What does a more sustainable future for cut flowers in New York look like? Join Jessica Balnaves of Flower Aggregate to explore the growing “slow flowers” movement, locally grown and seasonal floristry, and the environmental impact of the global flower industry—while discovering how sustainability can inspire creativity, connection to place, and beauty

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Joyce F. Brown Academic Building, Room 306

Assistant Professor Sal Giardina sits down with Rick Horwitch, Chief of Supply Chain and Sustainability Strategy at Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services, for an insightful conversation on the evolving world of quality, traceability, and sustainable sourcing. Together, they explore what sourcing managers need to know as sustainability shifts from a marketing claim to a critical job requirement and how smarter practices can drive both impact and value.

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Feldman Center, Room C301

Join us for a conversation with FIT alum Miyah Harris, education coordinator for Materials for the Arts (MFTA), as she discusses the work MFTA does with circular design, upcycling, and fashion.

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David Dubinsky Student Center, Room A685

Take a moment to see, touch, and explore the material qualities of artisanal textiles and rugs. This hands-on experience offers an opportunity to learn about their origins, construction, fibers, and the traditions and techniques behind their making. An assortment of textile samples and small rugs from the Philippines, Thailand, the United States, South Africa, and Kathmandu, Nepal will be available to examine. Participants are invited to ask questions and consider fibers sourced from the earth alongside regenerated materials, discovering how material, craftsmanship, and cultural context come together in textile design.

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Katie Murphy Amphitheatre

How is local production shaping design, material development, and new possibilities for regional fashion and textile production? Designers Mimi Prober, Melissa Ventosa Martin, founder of Old Stone Trade, and Karuna Scheinfeld, co-founder of Four Objects—along with New York Fashion Innovation Center product and marketing director Susan Easton—will discuss what it means to design with New York–sourced materials.

Followed by a networking reception

This event is part of the Museum’s at FIT (MFIT) Fashion Culture programming and was organized in collaboration with the FIT Sustainability Council for FIT’s Sustainability Awareness Week.

RSVP required

 

Image: Mimi Prober, produced by People’s Revolution for NYFW: The Shows. Photo: Randy Brooke.

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Feldman Center, Room C804

Join faculty, staff, and students for demonstrations and hands-on activities related to biomaterials in the science laboratory. Come see how math and science support sustainability across the arts, business, and design.

Julian Silverman, PhD, Assistant Professor, Science and Math
Pushpi Paranamana, PhD, Assistant Professor, Science and Math
Gwen Sanchirico, Technologist, Science and Math

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