Sustainable Design Masterclass
Pre-Recorded Lectures
Learn at your own pace with six pre-recorded 45-60 min lectures by the instructor + additional guest speaker webinars & interviews with industry innovators.
Access to Textile Database
The course includes access to downloadable materials including a textile sourcing database, sustainable strategy tracker and other tools to track and report your sustainability initiatives.
Weekly Group Meet-ups
Enrollment includes access to a monthly group meetup. Use this time to discuss the lectures, get questions answered, hear industry insights, get advice, and chat with fellow students.
This course will cover sustainable alternatives for every aspect of the sourcing, product development, and manufacturing process from start to finish. We will look at incorporating sustainability into product design and manufacturing as well as consider some of the ways that other designers incorporate sustainability into their business models.
What we will cover:
Introduction to Sustainable Design Strategies with industry examples
Setting sustainability goals & brand mission: inventory your sustainable strategies and how to scale them
Life cycle thinking: why circular design is crucial with case studies of businesses who are getting it right
Textile Sourcing strategies & access to textile milll database
New Technologies in textiles, manufacturing, transparency & design
Understanding the redesign process
Understanding how to produce locally and internationally
and more…
Additional interviews with guest speakers who are changing the landscape of the fashion industry
Referrals to apparel manufacturers within our extensive database
Additional resources, learning and group networking
One free hour of consulting
Who is this class for?
This course is suitable for those with some or no previous sustainability education
Fashion designers, sourcing & production teams, marketing & stylists
Beginner to advanced
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Tara St James has worked in the fashion industry for over 20 years. In addition to founding her own sustainable brand, in 2009 Study NY, she has consulted for both small and large brands and has a broad expertise in sustainable design and supply chain. Tara worked as Production Coordinator and Research Fellow in the Sustainable Strategies Lab at Pratt’s Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator. She has built a sustainable textile library and sourcing service to help designers find responsible solutions. Tara has taught Corporate Social Responsibility, Supply Chain, and Sustainable Materials & Eco-Labels as a part of FIT‘s Sustainability Certificate. She has extensive lecturing and teaching experience in NYC. She has also critiqued and lectured at Parsons, Pratt, and Kent State.
In 2011 Study NY was awarded the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation Grant for sustainable design. In 2013 St James's Anti-[fashion]-Calendar was named one of Sustainia100 Solutions for Sustainability--a global initiative to promote innovative global solutions across all industries. In 2014 Study was awarded runner up in the CFDA / Lexus Eco-Fashion Challenge.
Tara St James thrives on challenging her own preconceptions about design and is vocal about her choice to use sustainable and ethical design principles.