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.
Who this course is for
- Sourcing, buying and product development professionals
- Designers and technologists seeking to integrate sustainability into material and product decisions
- Sustainability, responsible sourcing and compliance professionals
- Graduates and career changers seeking practical, industry relevant sustainability knowledge
No prior sustainability qualification is required. An interest in fashion, textiles or supply chains will be beneficial.
Key information
Topics covered
Week 1 – Foundations of Sustainable and Responsible Sourcing
- What sustainable and responsible sourcing means in practice
- Environmental and social impacts of global fashion supply chains
- Fast fashion vs slow fashion: system‑level impacts and commercial drivers
- Understanding sustainability claims, credibility and greenwashing risk
- Introduction to risk‑based sourcing approaches and supplier prioritisation
Week 2 – Sustainable Materials and Industry Initiatives
This week sets the commercial and operational context for sustainable sourcing decisions.
- Environmental and social impacts of key fibres: cotton, polyester, viscose and leather
- Preferred fibre options and initiatives, including BCI, organic, recycled, Canopy/Hot button, bio‑based and alternative materials
- Ethical and responsible sourcing considerations at raw‑material level
- Technical and commercial trade‑offs in material selection
- Circular fashion, recycling and upcycling in real supply chains
- Industry initiatives and supplier‑ready solutions used by brands today
Week 3 – Certifications, Chain of Custody and Ethical Audits
This week focuses on credibility, verification and managing risk through systems — not logos alone.
- Understanding standards, certification and verification
- Chain‑of‑custody systems, including scope certification and transaction certification and verification
- Fibre, chemical, social and circular certifications including GOTS, GRS, RWS, OEKO‑TEX, C2C
- Ethical and social audit frameworks including SMETA/SEDEX, RBA, Amfori BSCI and SA8000
- What certifications and audits can — and cannot — evidence
- Using documentation and audit data to support sourcing decisions and claims
Week 4 – Purchasing Practices, Human Rights, Lifecycle Thinking and emerging legislation
- Responsible purchasing practices and their impact on suppliers and workers
- Sustainability legislation (CSRD, CSDDD, ESPR, EU Green Claims Directive, EPR for Textiles etc.
- Key labour and ethical risks in fashion supply chains
- Wages and living‑wage challenges, and how brands assess and respond to them
- Design‑led sustainability and early‑stage product decisions
- Packaging, consumer use, repair, take‑back models and end‑of‑life considerations
- Ethical considerations are explored as part of sourcing and business decision‑making — not as standalone compliance exercises.
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, and researcher with over 25 years of practice across Canada, the 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. As a former textile buyer and sourcing specialist, she brings direct waste stream and supply chain knowledge to her teaching. She established the award-winning studio Sans Soucie in 2002, transforming pre-consumer hosiery and sock manufacturing waste sourced from major North American manufacturers including Gildan and Hanes. This work developed into an artisanal and industrial upcycling method and business model for post-industrial textile waste supply chains. Her work has been featured in British Vogue and exhibited in over 75 international shows across six countries. She consults on circular reuse strategies and runs her studio Sans Soucie in East London.
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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