CFDA’s New Materials Hub assists fashion sustainable practices

The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), has partnered with Ugg to roll out the Materials Hub on its website in October.

The new center will aid the fashion sector in discovering and connecting with key innovators, sellers, and vendors, and resources across fashion’s material sourcing community, as more designers and companies seek out avant-garde materials.

The Materials Hub, which is available to the public, builds on the CFDA’s decade-long commitment to design-centered sustainability projects. This includes the organization’s online Sustainability Resource Hub, which contains a guide and toolbox for sustainable practices. There’s also the Sustainability By Design: Rethinking NYFW Impact Report, which was produced in partnership with the United Nations Office of Partnerships and Conscious Fashion in association with the Boston Consulting Group.

The CFDA and Ugg hope that the Materials Hub will assist designers in a variety of ways, including aggregating resources that can highlight leaders, encouraging collaboration between designers and innovators, assisting designers in mapping out ways to strengthen their impact within materials, and providing educational and professional development opportunities for all.

The CFDA and Ugg will collaborate on a series of public webinars about material innovation, including a tour of the Materials Hub site, a fireside chat with Andrea O’Donnell, president of Ugg & Koolaburra by Ugg at Deckers Brand, about how Ugg aims to advance sustainability, and moderated discussions about packaging and fiber/fabric innovation. Webinar registration will start in late September via the CFDA’s digital channels.

The Materials Hub is a follow-up to the Materials Index, which was launched in 2019. According to a CFDA spokeswoman, some components of the Materials Index will be included in the Materials Hub. He said the group aims to reach as many people in the business as possible as an open resource, but he couldn’t provide precise predictions.