–Katya Moorman
Earth Day is around the corner and, if I’m being honest, I had no desire to write about it. Not because I don’t care (I do, deeply), but because it’s become so predictable. Expect the usual reels: burning planet, cute baby animals, calls for collective action… cue existential collapse.
But then I told myself: get over it, Katya. What do you actually want to talk about?
I want to talk about fashion—the space I live in and believe in—and the companies that are actually doing the work. The ones that give me hope. Who are solving for waste, redesigning systems, and showing that fashion can be beautiful, functional, and good for the planet.
So for this Earth Day, here are 5 companies innovating in bold, meaningful, scalable ways. Not for a campaign. Not for Earth Day. But for every day.
SXD – New York, NY
Waste is a Design Flaw. I first heard this from William McDonough, one of my personal heroes and co-author of the seminal book Cradle to Cradle, along with Michael Braungart. They popularized the idea that design should start with the end in mind…and that shouldn’t be a landfill or the shores of Africa!
For the most part the fashion industry seems to have missed that memo. There are, of course, zero-waste brands like JRAT and ZWD but they’re indie and bespoke. Not scalable. Great as individual companies but not for solving industry level problems.
So I’ve been excited to discover SXD.
SXD is a zero-waste design tech company using patent-published AI to eliminate material waste before it starts. (And yes, I also feared AI was just going to replace human models… not help fix fashion’s biggest design flaws.)
Founded by Shelly Xu (who is also a zero waste designer), SXD partners with brands and designers to transform traditional production into one that is smarter, cheaper, and drastically more sustainable. Their AI platform reengineers garment patterns to use every inch of fabric—scraps, deadstock, off-cuts—reducing material use by up to 46% and emissions by up to 80%.
But SXD isn’t just about optimization; it’s also about justice. They currently employ 60 seamstresses who are climate refugees—primarily women displaced by rising sea levels—and pay 2–4 times the local wage. These are real livelihoods created by real savings from a smarter system.
The fashion industry currently landfills or burns the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles every second. SXD is proving that waste is a design flaw—not an inevitability—and that the tools to eliminate it already exist.
SUAY Sew Shop – Los Angeles, CA
SUAY is a community-built upcycling and repair house located in LA’s Art district neighborhood that’s quietly become a circularity powerhouse. Founded by longtime garment worker advocate Lindsay Rose Medoff, SUAY diverts post-consumer waste—like hotel linens, damaged garments, and off-cuts—from landfill and transforms it into new clothing and home goods, all while paying a living wage and operating with radical transparency.
To date, SUAY has diverted more than 3.7 million pounds of textiles from landfills and extended the life of another 2 million pounds through their signature Community Dye Bath™ and repair services.
When wildfires swept through parts of California, SUAY became a vital resource, offering emergency textile care and donation processing. And they’re now working with The Or Foundation to support Kantamanto Market in Ghana, one of the largest secondhand clothing markets in the world and a dumping ground for the Global North’s waste. You can support this effort directly by Sponsoring a Bag here.
SUAY isn’t interested in small gestures or feel-good messaging—they’re building a local, resilient ecosystem for circular fashion, one that could be replicated far beyond LA.
unspun – San Francisco, CA
Unspun has a goal of eliminating global garment waste—starting with jeans. Their approach flips traditional fashion logic on its head: instead of mass-producing garments that may or may not sell, Unspun makes jeans after you order them. Using a quick body scan from your phone, they generate a digital pattern and create your jeans on demand, creating a custom fit with zero waste. This personalized approach makes it extremely size inclusive as well.
But Unspun’s ambitions go beyond denim. At the heart of Unspun’s innovation is its proprietary Vega™ 3D weaving machine, which weaves entire garments directly from yarn, bypassing rolls of fabric entirely. How insane is that? With this technology is the ability to eliminate a huge section of the supply chain. (take that tariffs!) They’ve already partnered with Pangaia, H&M, and other global players to scale this tech.
Unspun’s vision is radical but entirely necessary: a world where nothing is made unless it’s needed. And they’re building the tools to make that future possible.
FABSCRAP – New York, NY / Philadelphia, PA
I’ve been a fan of FABSCRAP for years, and as they grow, they just keep getting better. If you’re unfamiliar, FABSCRAP is a nonprofit tackling one of fashion’s most overlooked problems: pre-consumer textile waste. That’s the bolts of fabric, swatches, and trims that brands discard long before a garment is made—and until FABSCRAP came along, there wasn’t a real system for dealing with it.
Today, over 800 brands—including Eileen Fisher, Marc Jacobs, and Oscar de la Renta—send their excess fabrics and notions (buttons, zippers, etc.) to FABSCRAP. Their smart two-tier system ensures proprietary materials get shredded for insulation or industrial use, while everything else is resold or donated to designers, students, and artists.
But FABSCRAP is more than a recycling service. Through workshops, educational programming, and a thriving volunteer network, they’re turning waste into inspiration—and building a hands-on culture of circularity. Over 1 million pounds of textile waste have been diverted from landfill and incineration, and their expansion from NYC to Philadelphia shows this model is ready to scale.
FABSCRAP is proof that real solutions often start behind the scenes—and that the infrastructure is just as important as the aesthetics.
NFW (formerly Natural Fiber Welding) – Peoria, IL
NFW is another personal favorite—I’m obsessed with materials, and they’re creating what I truly believe are the textiles of the future. Their recent collaboration with Another Tomorrow on a limited-edition MIRUM® moto jacket sold out almost instantly, proof that the demand for plastic-free, high-performance alternatives is real. (My go-to backpack from Lost Woods is also made from MIRUM, so I can vouch for both the aesthetics and durability.)
NFW is a material science company developing high-performance fabrics from renewable plant-based sources—no plastic, no petroleum, and no greenwashing. Their technology doesn’t break natural fibers down and rebuild them with chemical binders. Instead, it enhances those fibers at the molecular level, essentially “welding” them together to improve strength, stretch, and moisture management—preserving the integrity of materials like cotton, hemp, and flax while dramatically improving their performance.
Their two flagship materials are MIRUM® and CLARUS®. MIRUM® is a natural, compostable alternative to leather made from ingredients like cork, rubber, coconut husk, and plant oils—completely free of PU, PVC, or plastic finishes. CLARUS® strengthens and enhances natural fibers to offer the kind of durability and stretch typically reserved for synthetics, but without shedding microplastics or requiring fossil fuels.
These innovations are already being used by brands like Stella McCartney, Pangaia, Allbirds, Reformation, and Ralph Lauren, whose RLX Clarus Polo delivers synthetic-level performance from natural materials. And importantly, NFW’s technologies are designed to integrate with existing supply chains, making it possible for brands to scale without reinventing their production infrastructure.
In short, NFW is building the blueprint for a regenerative, circular textile system that leaves toxic synthetics behind.
These are just a few of the companies giving me hope right now—not through performative green marketing, but through real innovation, material intelligence, and systems thinking. Earth Day may be once a year, but the work of re-imagining fashion happens daily. Let’s stay focused on the people and ideas actually moving the needle.
Note: this was also sent out as our Newsletter/Letter from the Editor. Want it in your in-box? Subscribe here!
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