Your guide to Arizona’s 2025 Eco Fashion Week

Eco Fashion Week 2025 in Arizona—where sustainable fashion, upcycled denim, and local designers share the spotlight.

In the heart of the Arizona desert, where creativity blooms as wildly as the cacti, a stylish movement has been taking root. Eco Fashion Week, hosted by the visionary minds at FABRIC Incubator, is where conscious couture meets runway glam, and sustainability is always in season.

This event invites Arizonans to look beyond fast fashion and embrace a more meaningful, mindful wardrobe. Think recycled denim, zero-waste patterns, and runways with a conscience. If you haven’t circled scheduled April 19-26, 2025, on your calendar yet, here’s why you should.

Models pose on the Eco Fashion Week runway. (Photo by Xposed Capture, courtesy of Eco Fashion Week)

The Origins of Eco Fashion Week

FABRIC Incubator launched Eco Fashion Week in 2018 with one goal in mind: to spotlight sustainability in the fashion industry. Their mission to empower emerging apparel entrepreneurs naturally drew attention to designers who were already embracing eco-conscious practices like upcycling, ethical manufacturing, and using deadstock (leftover) materials.

The inaugural event introduced reFABRICate, a show originally focused on turning cutting floor scraps into wearable art. Local designers, led by the creativity of Astrid Olafsen, reimagined leftover materials from FABRIC’s own production into unique runway pieces. After Astrid’s passing in 2020, reFABRICate was reborn as a design challenge in her honor, awarding the RunzWithScissors Trophy, named after her brand.

The challenge then evolved to focus on denim—one of fashion’s most resource-heavy textiles. Through partnerships with organizations like Goodwill and, more recently, ThreadzAZ, reFABRICate participants now upcycle donated jeans into original runway-ready creations. This evolution not only honors sustainability but also invites community-wide participation.

A lineup that blends style and substance

Each year, Eco Fashion Week levels up—and 2025 is no exception. Among this year’s most exciting developments is a new partnership with ThreadzAZ, a nonprofit that provides free clothing to teens in need across the Valley. The jeans repurposed in this year’s reFABRICate fashion show were sourced through ThreadzAZ, infusing the designs with community impact.

Another major addition this year is the support of AZ Foothills Magazine, which joined as the event’s official media sponsor. Known for celebrating Arizona’s most fashionable, innovative personalities, AZ Foothills is helping amplify Eco Fashion Week’s reach to new audiences who appreciate the intersection of luxury, style, and social responsibility.

These partnerships reflect a larger goal: making sustainable fashion more visible, accessible, and aspirational. With support from influential local organizations, Eco Fashion Week continues to evolve into a platform that celebrates both artistry and activism.

The local-global connection

While its roots are proudly local, Eco Fashion Week is gaining traction on a global scale. In 2024, FABRIC hosted the first-ever Eco PARC Summit, a groundbreaking gathering of global supply chain executives focused on creating a circular fashion economy in the U.S.

This year, FABRIC is keeping the momentum going with a virtual panel featuring global leaders in sustainable fashion. Participants include Seed2Shirt, FabScrap, sustainable fashion researcher Jennifer Inaba, and the Sustainable Fashion Fund by Grapevine.

By bridging local action with international insight, Eco Fashion Week positions Arizona not just as a desert destination but as a hub for eco-fashion innovation.

One of Eco Fashion Week’s presenters. (Photo courtesy of Eco Fashion Week)

Events worth getting dressed up for

There’s no shortage of fabulous, thought-provoking programming throughout the week.

Saturday, April 19:

One perennial fan favorite is the repurposed jeans reFABRICate Fashion Show. This all-ages, all-levels challenge welcomes everyone from design students to industry veterans and passionate DIYers. It’s wildly creative, inclusive, and a celebration of sustainable self-expression.

A look made from repurposed jeans. (Photo courtesy of Eco Fashion Week)

Tuesday, April 22:

This exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of FABRIC’s sustainable fashion factory showcases how FABRIC is redefining apparel manufacturing with cutting-edge technology, including its sustainable roll-to-roll printer, digital product creation, batched-on-demand production model, and digital product passports.

Wednesday, April 23:

Another popular event is the Pop & Swap—a hands-on, fashion-forward experience where attendees can trade clothes instead of buying new ones. It’s equal parts style, sustainability, and fun, offering a low-pressure entry point into conscious consumerism.

Thursday, April 24:

Eco Fashion Week also features two high-impact panel discussions on Thursday. In these discussions, thought leaders tackle real-world sustainability challenges and offer practical solutions. Whether you’re a designer, shopper, or simply curious about fashion’s future, these discussions provide powerful takeaways.

Saturday, April 26:

This year also sees the debut of En Pointe, a unique collaboration between FABRIC and Ballet Arizona. This innovative fundraiser fuses dance, fashion, and tech, featuring garments upcycled from ballet costumes, printed with sustainable digital techniques, and embedded with digital product passports. It’s both a performance and a peek into fashion’s tech-enabled future.

Building a better fashion future

Behind the sparkle and denim, FABRIC Incubator is committed to re-engineering the very foundation of the fashion industry. By offering local, no-minimum, small-batch manufacturing, FABRIC empowers designers to produce on demand, minimizing waste and avoiding the pitfalls of mass overseas production.

This ethos is baked into every aspect of Eco Fashion Week. From the accessibility of the reFABRICate Challenge to panel discussions about circularity and digital solutions, the event is a living example of how sustainability can be scaled up and shared out.

FABRIC also provides education on topics like sustainable digital printing, sourcing deadstock fabrics, and using digital product passports to improve transparency. These tools and trainings make it easier for new designers to embed sustainability into their brand DNA from day one.

Folks from FABRIC give a presentation. (Photo courtesy of Eco Fashion Week)

What’s next for FABRIC and Eco Fashion Week?

FABRIC Incubator has bold ambitions for the future. The vision? To position Arizona as a national epicenter for sustainable fashion. That means continuing to grow Eco Fashion Week, expanding manufacturing resources, and cultivating a fashion ecosystem that supports ethical, tech-forward apparel businesses.

FABRIC recently partnered with EcoStance to offer Carbon Neutral Certifications to its entrepreneurs. Even better, event attendees will soon be able to offset their travel footprint directly through the Eco Fashion Week website—a small but mighty step toward personal accountability in the fashion space.

As FABRIC continues to advocate for circularity, community, and climate action, one thing is clear: sustainable fashion isn’t a trend—it’s the future.

How to purchase event tickets

Tickets for each event are available on the website, starting at $5 (standing room is free); some events require an RSVP.

This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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