Jeff Bezos Teams Up with CFDA to Propel Sustainable Fashion Innovation

The man who changed global commerce with Amazon now wants to transform fashion. Jeff Bezos, through the Bezos Earth Fund, has signed a partnership with the Cfda Foundation to fund The Next Thread Initiative, a $6.25 million program that seeks to accelerate sustainable fashion innovation and education in the United States.

The initiative, which will be rolled out over the next three years, has a threefold objective: to support independent designers, offer scholarships to students and promote the dissemination of projects that demonstrate that sustainability and profitability can go hand in hand.

“This collaboration offers tangible support for building a more sustainable future for fashion,“ said Steven Kolb, president and CEO of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (Cfda). Kolb underscored the role of Lauren Sanchez Bezos, wife of the entrepreneur, at the helm of the Bezos Earth Fund, noting her “ability to turn ideas into action and drive innovation.“

The program has three main axes. The first is the Independent Designer Awards, with grants of between $50,000 and $500,000 to promote pioneering projects in sustainable materials, circular design or low-impact production. The most promising projects selected will be able to access additional funding to scale their proposals.

Cfda and Bezos Earth Fund team up to promote awards, grants and sustainability outreach

The second component will fund scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students, with endowments ranging from $25,000 to $75,000, in order to reduce economic barriers and strengthen emerging talent in sustainability applied to design. Finally, the third component will focus on communication: events, exhibitions and digital programs aimed at bringing the sustainable solutions and practices developed under the initiative closer to the general public.

The Bezos Earth Fund, which manages a $10 billion budget to protect nature and mitigate climate change, will allocate part of its future investments to materials, industrial innovation and the transformation of supply chains in fashion. Tom Taylor, president and CEO of the Bezos Earth Fund, said, “Fashion has always been a mirror of culture, and now it can become a catalyst for change.“

Cfda has been integrating environmental criteria into its strategy for more than a decade. In recent years, it has promoted the Sustainability Resource Hub, an open-access platform with tools and resources for the sector, as well as collaborations with the Danish trade fair Ciff and eBay to promote the circular economy.