Sustainable Business and Design Conference: 2022 Pathways to Impact: Visions for Representation in Fashion

FIT’s 16th annual Sustainable Business and Design Conference: Pathways to Impact centers on four core themes that highlight the intersectionality of sustainable practices. Over the course of two intensive days, attendees will be immersed in keynotes, talks, and panel discussions providing pathways to Social Justice x Social Responsibility, Environment x Materials, Consumption x Waste, and Design x Business. The speakers are trailblazers in numerous facets of sustainability and emphasize the FIT community’s commitment to best practices in all its operations—including student projects, faculty and staff initiatives, and campus facilities.Panel: Gianna Pilar González, Multi-Disciplinary Artist, Hacking Couture; Mimi Plange, Creative Director, Co-Founder, Mimi Plange; Allison Ko, Fashion Design Student, FIT; Moderator: Ariele Elia, Assistant Director of the Fashion Law Institute, Fordham Law; and Adjunct Instructor, Cultural Awareness, Design Responsibility, and the Law at FIT.Giana Pilar González, Design Consultant, Founder, TEOSANTOS: Giana Pilar González works at the intersection of art and commerce, digital and analog, and personal identity and dominant cultural systems, creating experiences and exchanges that invite audiences to deconstruct and reinvent the systems they encounter. In 2013, she founded TEOSANTOS, an innovation and experience design consultancy in New York City.Mimi Plange, Fashion Designer: Award-winning Ghanaian American designer and Unfashion visionary, Mimi Plange launched her own lifestyle brand in 2010. She is a graduate of the San Francisco Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, and holds a degree in Architecture from the University of California. Plange’s designs have been worn by First Lady Michelle Obama, Serena Williams, Viola Davis, and Awkwafina—for her very first Screen Actors Guild Awards—and have appeared in the New York Times, Ebony, Marie Claire, Essence, Glamour, and other media. In 2016, she took part in the Celebration of Design Event hosted by Michelle Obama at the White House.Alison Ko, Fashion Design Student, Sustainability Council Member, Fashion Institute of Technology: Allison Ko is senior at the Fashion Institute of Technology, majoring in Fashion Design with minors in Art History, History, and International Trade and Marketing. She is a peer mentor on campus and an active member of the Sustainability Council, both of which allow her to give back and support the community around her. She is passionate about functional fashion and enjoys upcycling existing garments in her personal design work. In the coming future, she plans to enter the activewear/outdoor sector, bringing a fresh perspective and the urgency of environmental prioritization.Ariele Elia, Assistant Director, Fashion Law Institute at Fordham University School of Law: Prior to joining the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham, Ariele served as the assistant curator of Costume and Textile at The Museum at FIT for seven years, where she curated or co-curated a number of exhibits, including: Faking It: Originals, Copies, and Counterfeits and Black Fashion Designers. Elia authored and currently teaches the course “Cultural Awareness, Design Responsibility, and the Law” at FIT. Her most recent publications include "Dapper Dan: The Original Streetwear Designer and Influencer” and “Fashion's Destruction of Unsold Goods: Responsible Solutions for an Environmentally Conscious Future.