FASHION WEEK NEWS
CFDA ANNOUNCES FUR IS BANNED AT NYFW
The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) announced animal fur will no longer be permitted at New York Fashion Week events, including runway shows or promotional events.
This new code of ethics will start at NYFW on September 2026 for the Spring/Summer 2027 season.
The ban includes farmed or trapped fur from animals killed for their pelts (mink, fox, chinchilla, rabbit, coyote, etc.). An exception is made for indigenous communities using fur acquired through traditional, ethical practices.
This is a major shift for American fashion culture for one of the most influential events to prioritize animal welfare.
Though the use of fur was rare at NYFW in previous seasons, the new rule is made to push designers toward more humane and sustainable practices.
The fur ban comes after years of collaboration between the CFDA and animal advocacy groups such as Humane World for Animals and Collective Fashion Justice.
New York Fashion Week has now joined a global movement, as London Fashion Week banned fur in 2023 and fashion weeks across Europe and Australia have further already incorporated the fur ban.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
SUSTAINABLE FASHION NEWS
THE FASHION PACT
Over 55 fashion CEOs across industry leading brands from Chanel, Kering, Moncler Group and Prada Group have collectively signed a renewed commitment to sustainability through The Fashion Pact initiative.
The pact ultimately unifies environmental data collection from fashion suppliers to support accurate sustainability reporting across the fashion supply chain.
The European Accelerator developed by The Fashion Pact was created as a standardized supplier questionnaire that collects key metrics on energy, water, and waste to streamline the process of environmental reporting.
The framework is designed to improve reliability and comparability of sustainable fashion data and to unlock financing for suppliers to support their sustainable efforts.
Source: Sustainability Magazine
INDUSTRY & BUSINESS NEWS
COST PER WEAR
A new customer-facing metric has appeared for fashion brands, reframing how brands and shoppers evaluate the true value of clothing beyond the price tag.
Vestiaire Collective pushed the CPW Metric into the mainstream, introducing the term within their 2024 “Exposing the True Cost of Fashion” Circularity Report.
Vestiaire developed a specific formula in collaboration with Vaayu Tech to analyze 250,000+ transactions and 13,400 survey participant responses.
How it Works:
CPW divides an item’s price (minus it’s potential resale value) by the # of times an item is worn = True Cost
# of Wears = Materials divided by Practices Used
Data from the metric proves that durable, pre-loved items offer better value over time.
AI is further being used as a tool to identify the longevity of a garment based on the materials used, production process, and how often an individual will wear the piece.
Why It Matters:
Research further shows that labeling garments with cost-per-wear information shifts shopping behavior by encouraging smarter, sustainable purchasing decisions.
Fashion consumers can use the CPW metric to make a purchase based on smart economic value and longevity of an item, not just as an ethical choice.
Today’s consumer mindset is increasingly looking for value over low prices, and the CPW metric allows them a practical way to compare across style and price points.
Progressive and resale brands are beginning to promote the metric on product pages or marketing as a transparency tool to justify pricing. Resale and circular platforms are leading this movement.
FASHION TECH NEWS
BENI LENS
Resale discovery startup Beni launched a breakthrough visual fashion search tool this month, allowing users to find secondhand versions of clothing - whether it’s a screenshot from an Instagram influencer or a Pinterest photo.
Image First Discovery
Users can upload a photo, screenshot, or take a live photo and Beni Lens turns that visual inspiration into real results you can shop in seconds.
Cross Platform Search
Beni pulls results across major resale platforms such as Poshmark, The RealReal, eBay, Depop, ThredUp, and more.
Personalized Filters
Shoppers can refine results by size, budget, condition, or brand preference to make the shopping experience tailored to their taste.
Beni operates through the Beni Chrome extension on desktop or through the iOS app, making secondhand clothing discovery accessible across social media, shopping sites, or real world images.
Why Beni Lens is Revolutionary in the Fashion Tech Space
Traditional resale search platforms rely on text or input keywords from the shopper. This can lead to missed items or listings through poor tag integration.
The visual search abilities of Beni Lens meets the shopper at the moment of inspiration and matches the way we shop today (through images and social media).
Further enhanced features at Beni include alerts for items, saving favorited looks, and creating a personal wishlist.
As the resale market in fashion continues to rise and dominate, tools like Beni Lens may become the new standard for retail fashion brands to enhance their overall online shopping experience.
Follow Beni on Substack.
ZARA GOES DIGITAL
VIRTUAL TRY-ONS
Zara has begun testing virtual try-on technology within their mobile app that allows users to visually see how the clothes digitally look on their body prior to making a purchase.
How It Works:
Users upload a selfie and a full body image and within seconds can try-on different looks.
Early testers of Zara’s virtual try-ons report the technology easy to use and realistic, offering their shoppers better understanding of fit and styling.
Virtual try-ons in fashion are a major shift in immersive digital shopping.
AI FASHION IMAGERY
Zara is adopting AI as a tool to create images of real models wearing different outfits in order to speed up its visual content process.
Other key fast fashion players such as H&M and Zalando are further experimenting with AI to produce efficient imagery.
Zara’s parent company Inditex states:
‘AI will complement, not replace, existing creative processes, with decisions made about alterations made collaboratively with models and with compensation in line with industry standards’.
Zara models must consent to having their images altered by AI and are paid the same as a traditional photoshoot.
Industry concerns still remain from critics that warn increased AI within the industry could reduce real world opportunities for photographers, models and production teams.
Source: Reuters
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