MANUFACTURING
Levi Strauss Awards Fellowships to 10 Textiles-Industry Entrepreneurs to Further Their Approach to Sustainability
Blue-jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. is putting its pocketbook behind an effort to make fabric and apparel production more environmentally friendly and socially aware.
The San Francisco company awarded fellowships to 10 entrepreneurs to attend a workshop designed in partnership with the Aspen Institute. There they will create solutions to reduce their water impact in order to advance a more ecological outlook on making textiles and clothing.
In addition, fellows may receive up to $50,000 in funding to implement their water-saving solutions in their production process.
Some 100 people from 10 countries applied for the annual fellowship, which is in its first year. “We’re impressed by the caliber of applications we received from around the world and inspired by the bold thinking and shared commitment to creating a more sustainable apparel industry,” said Chip Bergh, Levi’s president and chief executive. “Our goal is to fuel the next generation of apparel makers and accelerate sustainability innovation, and we’re excited about what this group of fellows will accomplish.
The fellows are Miriam Dym, founder of Dym/California Textiles, which focuses on producing local slow textiles in San Francisco; Mo Elliott, founder and chief executive of Fayettechill Clothing, which creates nature-inspired clothing in Fayetteville, Ark.; Jesus Cirizia Larraona, founder and executive director of the Colours of Nature, a natural dye company in Auroville, India, specializing in indigo; Kevin McCracken, cofounder of Social Imprints, a full-service merchandising company in San Francisco that employs at-risk populations; and John Moore, cofounder with surfer Kelly Slater and creative director of Outerknown, a sustainable menswear brand in Culver City, Calif., that blends function and style starting at the supply chain.
Other recipients were Pauline Munga, founder and creative director of Home Abroad, a startup in New York featuring ethically made fashion that incorporates African textiles; Wesley Owiti, chief executive and cofounder of Cherehani Africa, a social enterprise in Nairobi, Kenya, focused on women’s empowerment and financial inclusion through sustainable fashions; Kavita Parmar, founder and creative director of the IOU Project, an experiment in Spain to rethink how goods are produced and sold that empowers artisans and protects the environment; Benita Singh, cofounder and chief executive of Le Souk, an online global textiles marketplace based in New York; and Rebecca van Bergen, founder and executive director of Nest, a New York–based nonprofit committed to the social and economic advancement of the fashion and home industries’ informal workforce.
