We are excited to introduce the first in a series of resource and framework rollouts of 2024 for BLACK PEARL.
Welcome to the Sustainable Style Guide For Everyone—yes, everyone. If you wear clothes, this guide is for you. And, this digital resource is free; all are welcome to access it. Free download here.
This guide was written to represent knowledge, challenges, and, most importantly, solutions that cut across age, race, gender, disability, geography, socioeconomics, values, and beliefs. Everything in this guide can be applied to how you dress, what you look for, and the conversations you have as an informed citizen. It has also been crafted to connect this conversation culturally and globally.
The need to shift to a more sustainable way to enjoy fashion remains urgent, yet the fractured sustainability efforts of the fashion industry have left many citizens confused rather than empowered to make the best choices for people and the planet.
The Sustainable Style Guide For Everyone gives us an overview of the challenges but, most importantly, the solutions that work across age, gender, disability, geography, socioeconomics, values, and beliefs. These solutions can be applied to the every day, but also special occasions and red carpet events, empowering citizens to make informed decisions about the way they shop and dress.
Download the Sustainable Style Guide For Everyone
It is a free resource, part of our work on the pillar of educational programming.
DOWNLOAD HERE (print quality), or a SMALLER WEB FILE HERE.
About the Sustainable Style Guide for Everyone
The Sustainable Style Guide for Everyone offers a wide breadth of practical and insightful advice that is perfectly placed to answer the style challenges concerned citizens face today. Developed from the belief that sustainable fashion should educate shoppers about the impact of their choices, empowering everyone to make conscious and ethical decisions that align with their identities, values, and options, the guide covers dressing by value, and accessibility and gives a broad scope of the options. The guide ultimately aims to highlight how by adopting a more sustainable approach to fashion, we can collectively drive positive change within the industry.
What to Expect
Our solutions apply to all moments, from red carpet events and special occasions to everyday life. Education helps us all shape a sustainable and resilient future for generations ahead. BLACK PEARL believes that you should not have to go to school to learn about how sustainable fashion is perceived around the world and how it impacts people and the planet.
Meanwhile, dive into the Sustainable Style Guide! Discover practical tips to embrace sustainable fashion, shifting from fast fashion to thoughtful buying. Explore the significance of cultural heritage in fashion and learn to celebrate without appropriation. Find ways to reimagine and enjoy the beautiful pieces in your wardrobe and beyond. Let’s make conscious choices that reflect a culturally diverse and rich world.
This new approach also acknowledges that at times, sustainability discussions have felt elitist, distant, and alienating, depriving people of the opportunity to make sustainable decisions—decisions informed by truth. This guide responds to the need for a fresher, more relatable conversation about sustainable fashion—highlighting how sustainability doesn’t mean sacrificing style and how it can represent our identities, our creativity, our passions, and our values.
Designed by Co:Brand Creatives, the guide also highlights that sustainable fashion represents so many things to so many people. It is not binary; it is not all or nothing, vintage or second hand, expensive or low-cost, plant-based or pre-loved, locally made or culturally representative. It is any of those things. By exploring the options, the guide aims to help citizens to find ones that resonate with them, showing everyone that they belong in this space on their own terms. Sustainable fashion is for everyone.
Our Ask
The guide is a free resource; all we ask is that you amplify BLACK PEARL’s work and this guide so that as many people as possible have access to it! Reshare the guide, send it to your friends and family, and connect with BLACK PEARL across all of our channels. Specifically, please Sign Up for our communications | Join us on Instagram | Connect with us on LinkedIn.
With Thanks
Author:
Samata Pattinson
Thank you to everyone who played a vital role in crafting this Sustainable Style Guide. Your dedication and passion have been the driving force behind this collaborative effort to bring positive change to the fashion industry. A special shout-out to the sustainable fashion experts, designers, and environmental advocates for enriching the content with your invaluable insights. The hard work of the editorial team deserves sincere appreciation – your commitment to clarity and innovation has truly given life to this guide. To all who share our vision for a more sustainable and ethical future in fashion, your support means the world. Together, let’s continue inspiring conscious choices that celebrate style while respecting our planet and its inhabitants.
Contributing Writer:
Lori Fuqua
Technical leads and Coordination:
Mandy-Doris Teye and Victoria Giannoccaro
Communications:
Melanie Hughes
Design Lead:
Anu Dhesi, Co:Brand Creatives
Design Support:
Lucas Willis, Co:Brand Creatives
Guide Contributors:
Omoyemi Akirele of Style House Files and Lagos Fashion Week
Maxine Bedat, New Standard Institute Founder
Jean Chung, Stylist and Image Consultant
Dominique Drakeford of MelaninASS (Melanin And Sustainable Style) and Co-Creator at Sustainable Brooklyn
Maurício Duarte, Indigenous Designer
Micaela Erlanger, Stylist and Image Consultant
Shakaila Forbes-Bell, ‘Big Dress Energy’ Author
Kestrel Jenkins, Conscious Chatter podcast host
Samata Pattinson, BLACK PEARK CEO & Cultural Sustainability Pioneer
Andrew Morgan (Director ‘True Cost’, ‘TEXAS’)
Arieta Mujay, Cultural Curator
Evet Sanchez, Responsible Fashion Advocate
Liv Simpliciano, Policy and Research Manager, Fashion Revolution
Tara Swennan, Stylist and Image Consultant
Partners:
Lisa Marie Rae and Getty Images
We are working to ensure that the guide is available in different languages as soon as possible and are developing an interactive offering in the near future, which we look forward to sharing with you.
