EPN Signature Earth Day Event: Farm to Fashion: Natural fiber footprints and futures

On Earth Day 2025, Ohio State’s Environmental Professionals Network will host a free event examining the sustainability stories of natural fibers from farm to fashion. Ensuring sustainability in the fashion industry requires a significant variety of leaders at different stages of the supply chain, ranging from agricultural producers to fashion designers and even to consumers, to implement pro-environmental decisions. From reducing the impact of fiber production by employing regenerative agricultural practices, to limiting carbon emissions by transitioning from importing fibers to sourcing fibers from local farms, and to encouraging consumers to opt for purchasing clothing that is sustainably sourced, there is a lot of ground to cover in the “farm to fashion” space. 

The EPN’s 2025 Signature Earth Day program will attempt to cover some of that ground by bringing together nearly a dozen expert speakers and exhibitors who will weave together the sustainability stories of four types of fibers: Wool, cotton, hemp, and flax. During the event’s evening presentations, after introductions from “farm to fashion” leaders Dr. Tasha Lewis, Lisa Goldsand, and Dr. Helen Trejo, we’ll hear agricultural and fashion stories for each of these four fibers. Each fiber will be described through Pecha Kucha-style storytelling, which involves speakers narrating their fiber's sustainability journey through 15 images, each shown for 20 seconds. 

Wool and cotton fibers are mainstays in both the historical and contemporary composition of our clothing; the two fibers share a mixed bag of beneficial and harmful procurement practices. We’ll hear from positive forces in the sustainable procurement of wool and cotton (speaker biographies below), including: Celeste Malvar-Stewart (wool), and Sarah Moore, Matt Griffin, and Bill Bridgeforth (cotton). 

Unlike wool and cotton, hemp and flax are examples of up-and-coming fibers that make up a relatively small percentage of the fiber market in contemporary garment production. Despite their smaller footprint in today’s market, both have rich agricultural histories and are gaining momentum in sustainable fashion production circles, largely due to leaders like speakers TJ Richardson & Justin Helt (hemp) and Abbe Turner & Lily Turner (flax). Sustainability strategies in the hemp and flax emerging markets present opportunities that can be extended into other, larger impact fibers like cotton and wool. 

Prior to the main presentation portion of the event, you’ll want to join us at the Fawcett Center at 4:30 p.m. for an excitingly large variety of exhibits, including tables and show-and-tell items related to wool, cotton, hemp, and flax fibers in fashion. The program will also feature posters from nearly 25 Ohio State Environment and Natural Resource senior capstone projects. Even more, the event will highlight nearly 40 National Science Foundation EmPOWERment trainees, who will present their sustainability research project posters. Also at the event, sponsored by the Environment and Natural Resource Alumni Society (ENRAS), Dr. Tim Haab (director, SENR) will lead the induction of the Class of 2025 ENR Honorary 100 members! 

Farm to Fashion: Natural fiber footprints and futures is a free public event, hosted in-person at The Fawcett Center in Columbus, Ohio, and virtually, worldwide, through the EPN YouTube channel livestream.