My Clothes My World FTA

This past March, FTA partnered with Thrive Youth’s Learn Create Explore Camp to pilot a full-day, arts-based sustainable fashion workshop for youth ages 10–13. (Thrive Youth Development Canada)

Funded by the Johansen Larsen Foundation and co-developed with Thrive Youth, the workshop invited participants to explore the environmental impacts of fashion through inquiry, creativity, and hands-on making. Youth engaged with textile reuse and creative upcycling while discovering the 7Rs and the role they can play in creating positive change.

As organizations begin planning summer programming, Thrive Youth’s March Break initiative offers a great example of how school breaks can become opportunities for meaningful sustainability learning.

Interested in bringing climate education with a fashionable twist to your program? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch to explore partnership opportunities.

Photos: Adrian Cross

This World Oceans Day on June 8, the United Nations is calling on people everywhere to help protect our blue planet and reimagine a healthier future for our oceans.

When we think about ocean pollution, fashion isn’t always the first industry that comes to mind. Yet the clothes we buy and wear have impacts far beyond our closets, from the microfibres released during washing to the textile waste that can end up in waterways and coastal ecosystems.

This World Oceans Day, consider bringing conversations about fashion, sustainability, and ocean health into your classroom.

Swipe through to learn more, and check out our educational resources to help students learn about the relationship between fashion and ocean health.

This World Environment Day, we’re joining ’s call to move together for climate action! This year’s theme, Limbo Reimagined, invites us to ask how low our emissions can fall when we act together.

At My Clothes My World, we’re bringing that question into the classroom by asking students to reflect on their fashion impact. Experts suggest staying within planetary boundaries means limiting purchases to just five new garments per year. So, how low can you go?

Try this prompt with your students, then take it one step further with UNEP’s Dance Challenge! Learn the moves, film your class, and share using . Don’t forget to tag and !

June 1-6 is Canadian Environment Week!

Canadian Environment Week is a great opportunity to bring climate learning into the classroom through the engaging lens of fashion!

If you follow My Clothes My World, you already know that fashion is a useful entry point for teaching about any dimension of the climate issue; from biodiversity loss, to pollution, to microplastics, to human rights and labour, to carbon emissions, to deforestation, overconsumption and much, much more.

We all get dressed every day. This makes clothing and fashion a useful hook for engaging students in climate action and an important avenue for making an impact!

Want to bring climate learning to your classroom through the lens of fashion? Check out our unit plans through the link in our bio!

Unit Plan: Solving Fashion’s Waste Problem (Grades 7-8, 9-12)
Unit Plan: Rethinking the Fashion System (Grades 9-12)
Unit Plan: Lifecycle of a T-Shirt (Grades 4-6, 7-8, 9-12)

Calling all Family Studies and Home Economics teachers!

FTA’s Youth Education Program Leader, Dara Gellman, recently joined the Ontario Family Studies and Home Economics Educators Association (OFSHEEA)’s podcast What the Family Studies? to talk about the My Clothes My World program and how clothing can open up powerful, blame-free conversations about sustainability, overconsumption, waste, and everyday action.

Listen now to learn more about how you can integrate climate education into your Family Studies and Home Economics courses! Find the link in our bio.

Fashion, Sustainability & Your Classroom: A Workshop for Family Studies and Home Economics Educators

Join My Clothes My World and the Ontario Family Studies and Home Economics Educators Association (OFSHEEA) for a virtual professional development workshop exploring how climate change and sustainability can be taught in Family Studies courses through the relatable lens of fashion!

The workshop will:
Introduce the My Clothes My World climate education program
Unpack the scale of fashion’s waste problem
Share practical, hopeful classroom strategies to help students move from apathy to action

Attendees will automatically be entered into a draw to win a prize giveaway of curriculum resources worth $150!

When: May 12th from 7:00 - 8:00 PM EST
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free for OFSHEEA members, $5 for non-members

Sign up at the link in bio

What if fashion education wasn’t an extra, but part of how we prepare young people for the future?

After our recent webinar with .uk, one thing felt especially clear: when young people learn about fashion through the lens of climate, human rights, and waste, they build far more than awareness. They build creativity, confidence, critical thinking, and the courage to question the systems around them.

For teachers, this is a powerful opportunity.
For students, it’s a chance to see that fashion connects to the world they’re inheriting, and the one they can help reshape.

Through , we’re helping students explore the life cycle of clothing, rethink overconsumption, and imagine better solutions for the future of fashion. In 2025 alone, engaged 4.6K+ students through education programming, and the program has now reached upward of 45,000 students since launch.

Because this isn’t just about what young people buy.
It’s about what they will build, challenge, design, and lead.

Teachers, parents, and youth educators: if you want to bring these conversations into your classroom or community, learn more at fashiontakesaction.com.

Follow for more, and explore My Clothes My World through the link in bio.

FutureOfFashion CircularFashion TeachersOfInstagram

Calling all Toronto-area high school fashion program students & teachers 📣

We’re inviting student designers to take part in an Upcycling Challenge as part of ReMode Toronto 2026, happening Sunday, April 19 at .

We’re looking for a team of 4–5 students from up to 5 schools to create one upcycled look using materials sourced from . It’s a chance for students to put their sewing and design skills into action, experiment with reuse, and showcase their creativity at a public event celebrating circular fashion.

Here’s what participating teams receive:
• Up to 5 schools will be selected
• Each student receives a $25 Value Village gift card
• The winning team will receive a $100 gift card
• Finished looks will be displayed at ReMode Toronto for hundreds of attendees to see

IMPORTANT: participating teams must be able to deliver their finished look to Evergreen Brick Works on the morning of April 19 for display during the event.

If you’re a teacher with a high school fashion program and want to get involved, register at the link in bio!

This is exactly the kind of hands-on learning we love to see through My Clothes My World — helping students connect creativity, fashion, and sustainability in real ways.

Excited to be presenting at tomorrows Beyond COP21 Symposium for high school students across Ontario!

The material our clothing is made of greatly impacts the environment. Be sure to always check clothing labels and do your research before making a purchase! Save this post and use the table as a guide to help determine whether the material of clothing you are buying is eco-friendly.

*recycled polyester is more eco-friendly if the label reads "post-consumer recyled polyester" which means it was made from used clothing, rather than plastic bottles or "rPET".