Tonight, Humane World for Animals will be attending a dinner in New York City with about one hundred fashion elite insiders, including Anna Wintour, Chloe Malle, Tory Burch and many more. Here’s why:
Since working with the Council of Fashion Designers of America to announce a fur-free New York Fashion Week last December, we at Humane World for Animals have been partnering with the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund on its Material Innovation Challenge. This year’s challenge asks designers to design a signature look using only sustainable and animal-free bio-based fabrics.
This very partnership systemically reimagines how fashion is created. By working directly with the fashion industry, we can connect designers to the companies developing animal-free materials to ultimately reduce the fashion industry’s reliance on animals.
PJ Smith/Humane World for Animals
In order to do that, we compiled a list of the top bio-based material companies that could provide material at scale and connected them with the designer finalists. We then worked with each designer to be a resource for the materials, animal welfare and sustainability. We hope to continue to build on those relationships as these designers will undoubtedly become powerhouses in American fashion.
Madison Voelkel/Madison Voelkel
Last week, I was in New York to see the 10 finalists present their designs, each of which used at least two bio-based materials. The event was incredibly inspiring because, for so long, cruelty has been part of the status quo of fashion.
But these designers showed that a different status quo isn’t only possible—it’s really happening. They showed that fabric made from oranges and soybeans in place of silk and cashmere could be as beautiful as they are sustainable, and at least a few of the designers have confirmed that they are planning to use these materials in future collections.
Madison Voelkel/BFA.com
This partnership is all part of our mission to end animal cruelty wherever it exists. We work tirelessly around the world to help the most vulnerable animals, and a big part of that work is helping scale innovation, whether that’s technologies looking to replace animal testing in laboratories or on the runway.
In remarks I gave at the event, I mentioned that as we’ve been working with some of the most notable names in fashion to announce fur-free policies, such as the New York Fashion Week, Michael Kors, Tory Burch and so many others, we understood that to help animals, we also had to consider our impact on the planet, which is why the materials at the challenge were not only animal-free but plastic-free.
I have no doubt that these bio-based textiles are already helping steer the fashion industry toward a cruelty-free future.
The event last week was a celebration of this coming future—and it brought together many people who are invested in seeing cruelty go out of fashion, including Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal who has sponsored bills in New York to regulate the sale of fur.
All of this speaks to a truth we are seeing across the industry, as iconic fashion brands and runways all over the world reject fur: that creativity can go hand in hand with compassion and sustainability.
The end of fur seems to be just the beginning of a new era of innovations in fashion.
Madison Voelkel/BFA.com
We look forward to celebrating the winner of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund challenge and helping advance a more humane sustainable future for fashion come to life before our eyes in the years to come.
Thank you to all designer finalists for creating such beautiful looks and the innovative material companies that took part in this year’s CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Material Challenge: Amadeu, beLEAF, BioFluff, BioFur, Ecopel, KD New York, Kelptex, Lab-Grown Leather, Muush, Orange Fiber, Ponda, TENCEL, Uncaged and VEGEA.
Kitty Block is president and CEO of Humane World for Animals. Follow Kitty Block on X.
