CFDA Partners With Ugg to Offer Online Materials Hub
The Council of Fashion Designers of America has teamed up with Ugg to roll out the Materials Hub on its site in October.
As more designers and brands are increasingly searching for avant-garde materials, the new hub will help the fashion industry discover and connect with key innovators, vendors and resources in material sourcing.
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The open-access Materials Hub builds upon the CFDA’s more than decade-long commitment to design-centered sustainability initiatives. That includes the group’s online Sustainability Resource Hub, which offers a guide for sustainable strategies and a toolkit. There is also the Sustainability By Design: Rethinking NYFW Impact Report, which was created in partnership with the Boston Consulting Group and in collaboration with the United Nations Office of Partnerships and Conscious Fashion. There are other resources as well.
With the Materials Hub, the CFDA and Ugg hope to help on multiple fronts such as aggregating resources that can highlight leaders, encourage collaboration between designers and innovators, assist designers in mapping out means to strengthen their impact within materials and provide educational and professional development opportunities for all.
As part of the partnership, the CFDA and Ugg will host a series of public webinars about material innovation including a walkthrough of the Materials Hub site, a fireside chat about how Ugg aims to advance sustainability with Andrea O’Donnell, president of Ugg & Koolaburra by Ugg at Deckers Brand, and moderated discussions about packaging and fiber/fabric innovation. Registration for the webinars will start in late September via the CFDA’s digital channels.
The Materials Hub is an extension of the Materials Index, which debuted in 2019. Some elements of the Materials Index will be incorporated into the Materials Hub, a CFDA spokesman said. As an open resource, the organization hopes the reach will be as industry-wide as possible, he said, unable to share specific projections.
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