Events

In honor of earth day, the Center for Retail Transformation in the School of Business at George Mason University is hosting a panel, “Sustainable Fashion: Transforming the Industry from Design to Delivery,” on April 20th, 2021.

The first in our transforming retail series, this panel features four entrepreneurs transforming the fashion industry – from design to delivery – to be more sustainable through innovations in science, technology, and business models.

There will be candid conversation on the challenges confronting the fashion industry and solutions available to address critical societal issues to make fashion more sustainable.

Our panel of experts include:

• Alissa Baier-Lentz, Co-Founder and COO of Kintra Fibers: Alissa Baier-Lentz is the co-founder & COO of Kintra Fibers, a materials science company that provides apparel brands with performance oriented, 100% bio-based and compostable fibers. Kintra’s proprietary materials decarbonize the synthetic textile value chain and eliminate microfiber pollution from our oceans and soils. A fashion industry entrepreneur, Alissa grew frustrated by the transparency issues, misinformation, and challenges sourcing a planet-friendly material. She joined nano engineer Billy McCall to launch Kintra and provide brands with farm-to-fabric traceable materials that make no compromise between performance, price, and the planet. Kintra has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, The Sourcing Journal, The Interline, and Milan Fashion Week, among others, and Alissa has been recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Retail / E-Commerce list.

• Emily Erkel, Co-Founder and CMO of LePrix: With over 15 years of retail strategy experience at Gap, Chanel, and Hermès, as well as a management consultant advising large retail and e-commerce clients on IT, international expansion, and consumer insights, Emily Erkel is the Co-Founder and CMO of LePrix, the leading wholesale resale platform connecting consumers to luxury consignment shops.

• Camilla Olson, Founder and CEO of Savitude: An experienced VC and founder of two predictive modeling companies in biopharma (one with a $95M buyout one year after launch and the other is the basis of CERTARA which IPO’d again Dec 2020 and quickly rose to a $4B valuation), Camilla Olson pivoted to the fashion industry running her own ecommerce label for five years and now serves as founder and CEO of Savitude, an inclusive fashion company with an emphasis on analytics to expand consumer coverage.

• Lisa Morales-Hellebo, VC and Co-Founder of REFASHIOND Ventures: With 25 years of experience, working with startups to F500s on strategy and execution across branding, product development, and innovation and a passion for helping fashion tech and supply chain startups achieve industry adoption and growth, Lisa Morales-Hellebo is a Venture Capitalist and Co-Founder of REFASHIOND Ventures, an early-stage supply chain technology venture fund that invests in startups refashioning global supply chains. Lisa has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Women in Supply Chain by Supply Chain Digital and as Top Female Leader in Supply Chain by Supply & Demand Chain Executive Magazine.

We invite you to engage with the sustainability challenges in the fashion industry with us by joining the conversation on April 20th.