Sustainable Sourcing for Fashion Online Short Course
Course description
Course overview
Sustainable fashion is no longer just a trend—it’s a strategic imperative for brands and retailers navigating today’s complex global supply chains. Yet without robust systems and informed decision-making, sustainability risks becoming a surface-level claim rather than a meaningful shift in practice.
This course explores how sustainability can be embedded into sourcing processes through traceability, transparency, and responsible management. You’ll learn why sustainability cannot be verified through product testing alone, and how due diligence, supplier engagement, and credible data are essential to authenticating sustainability claims.
Through weekly live online sessions, you’ll engage in presentations, discussions, and case studies led by your tutor, an industry expert with deep technical and commercial experience. You’ll also complete hands-on assignments designed to help you apply what you’ve learned to real-world sourcing challenges—and receive personalised feedback to support your progress.
Whether you're a sourcing professional, designer, technologist or sustainability lead, this course will equip you with the tools and insights to build truly responsible fashion supply chains.
Who this course is for
Anyone who would like to build their knowledge on how fashion could be more sustainable.
Key information
Topics covered
- What is sustainability and responsible sourcing and why is it important in fashion?
- The impact of textile and fashion industry on the environment
- Sustainability initiatives and developments that are currently available for our use
- Sustainable fibres and finishes/treatments
- Environmental sustainability
- Social sustainability
- Sustainable packaging
- Chemical compliance
- Animal friendly attributes
- Contribution to the community
- Naturally sustainable fibres
- Sustainable and responsibly sourced options for Cotton and other natural fibres, Polyester and other synthetic fibres, Viscose and other manmade fibres.
- More about sustainable cotton: key cotton certifications, standards and sources. (ex: BCI, Organic cotton, Faire trade etc.)
- More about recycled polyester and saving our oceans!
- What we should know about sustainability standards, certifications and the verification processes when claiming sustainability attributes on our products.
- An insight to due diligence, traceability systems and the guidelines
- Sustainable design inspirations
- Minimising waste
- Reduced chemical impact
- Reduced use of non-renewable energy sources
- Promoting reusability and longevity
- Introducing environmentally friendly technologies/sources
- Ethically responsible sourcing and production.
- Sustainability challenges
- Sustainability trends: examples from some brands/retailers and their sustainability initiatives
Learning outcomes
- By the end of the course, you will have;
- Developed a thorough understanding of sustainability and responsible sourcing in the fashion industry.
- Gained confidence in carrying out verifications and traceability requirements to market appropriate sustainability claims on your products.
- Developed a good understanding of sustainable design inspirations.
- A useful database of all available sustainability attributes with direct contacts and tools for efficient sourcing.
- Receive a digital badge and certificate of attendance
Materials
Course Specific Materials:
- Notepad and pen
- Pencils, sketchbook or paper, eraser, ruler, etc.
- Software to prepare assignments - Powerpoint, Word, Photoshop, etc.
Please see our Guide to taking online short courses.
Tutor
Katherine Soucie
Katherine Soucie is a textile waste designer, educator, researcher, and consultant with over 25 years of practice across Canada, USA, and the UK. She holds a PhD in Upcycling and Circular Textiles from Kingston University, a BFA and MAA in Textiles, and a BAA in Fashion. Her research and practice are driven by a long-term engagement with sustainable fashion and creative textile re-manufacturing.
Katherine brings direct sourcing, waste stream, and supply chain knowledge to this course. As a former textile buyer and sourcing specialist, she understands the commercial and practical realities of responsible practices and material procurement. She established her award-winning design studio and label Sans Soucie in 2002, specialising in the zero-waste transformation of pre-consumer hosiery waste sourced directly from major North American manufacturers including Gildan and Hanes, alongside smaller mills in the USA and Canada. This work developed into an artisanal and industrial upcycling method, alternative design system, and business model for working with post-industrial textile waste supply chains. Her work has been featured in British Vogue, showcased at various fashion weeks, exhibited in over 75 international shows across six countries, and commissioned for film and television.
She currently co-teaches sustainability short courses at Central Saint Martins, consults on circular textile reuse strategies, and runs her studio Sans Soucie in East London where she is developing new uses for UK sock manufacturing waste.
Manjula Witharana
Learn how responsible sourcing works in practice — beyond claims, labels and slogans.
Manjula is a sustainability and technical specialist in fashion supply chains with over 25 years of global industry experience, spanning sourcing, product development, material engineering and fabric technology, and sustainability. She has worked across the full supply chain — from fabric mills and garment factories through to brand and retail teams — giving her a deep, practical understanding of how sourcing and product decisions shape environmental, social and commercial outcomes.
A Chartered Engineer (CText ATI) with a First Class BSc (Hons) in Textile Engineering, Manjula combines strong technical foundations with extensive experience in sustainable sourcing, ethical trade, product compliance, certification systems and supplier risk management. Alongside industry roles, she does independent consultancy work, supporting brands and organisations to bridge the gap between sustainability ambition, technical development and commercial realities, and to embed responsible sourcing approaches that work within real supply chain constraints.
Manjula is particularly recognised for her ability to translate complex technical and sourcing systems into clear, workable decision making, helping teams understand what sustainability means in real supply chain contexts — not just in policy or marketing. Her teaching is grounded in real industry cases, audits and sourcing scenarios, equipping learners with the confidence, critical thinking and practical tools needed to make credible, defensible sourcing decisions in today’s fashion industry.
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