About Us

New Standard Institute: A think and do tank using data and the power of citizens to turn the fashion industry into a force for good.

 
Advisory Council

Manufacturing

Delman Lee, TAL Apparel

Saqib Sohail, Artistic Milliners

Business

Peter Allen, Kantamanto Market

Kate Daly, Closed Loop Partners

Eric Dayton, Askov Finlayson

Celine DeCarlo, Mara Hoffman

Mo Mullen, West Elm

Ben Pundole, Edition Hotels

Jake Sargent, SOFTMATTER Ventures

Al Uzielli, Ford

Technology

Leonardo Bonanni, Sourcemap

Manuela Zoninsein, Palantir

Philanthropy

Casey Supple, Executive Director, Advancement at University of Miami Business School,  former CDO of Columbia’s Earth Institute

 

Environment, Human Rights & Labor

Tamara Cincik, Fashion Roundtable

Orsola de Castro, Fashion Revolution

Dr. Mireille Faist Emmenegger, Quantis

Dr. Linda Greer, NRDC

Sarah Kelley, Island Foundation

Kate Logan, Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs

Ashila Niroshi Mapalagama, Stand Up Lanka

Dr. Christoph Meinrenken, Columbia University Earth Institute

Dr. Senthilkannan Muthu, PhD in Textiles Sustainability

Liz Ricketts, The OR is Present

Jennie Romer

Dr. Beth Sauerhaft, American Farmland Trust

Christian Smith, Zalando

Dr. Verena Seufert, Institute for Environmental Studies

Leah Thomas, intersectional environmentalism

Dr. Robert Yokelson, University of Montana

Veronica Yow, RARE Foundation


Communications

Susan McPherson, McPherson Strategies

Michael Shank, PhD, Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance

 

Fashion, Culture and Media

Andrea Arria-Devoe, Goop

Whitney Bauck, Fashionista

Sarah Berner, Olivia Palermo Group

Babs Burchfield, Conscious Commerce

Alexandra Carl, stylist

Sandrine Charles, Black in Fashion Council

Amanda Chen, Participant Media

Jordane Crantelle, creative strategist

Ashleigh Cummings, actress

Emily Deschanel, actress

Zoey Deutch, actress

Garance Doré, Atelier Doré

Amanda Hearst, Maison de Mode

Bella Heathcote, actress

Lauren Hurst, Skylight

Laura Jones, celebrity stylist

Angela Lindvall, model, social entrepreneur and activist

Penny Lovell, celebrity stylist

Carineh Martin, Co- Founder of RAD

Arizona Muse, model and advocate

Misha Nonoo, designer

Arianne Phillips, Costume Designer and Co- Founder of RAD

Carrie Ellen Phillips, BPCM

Hassan Pierre, Maison de Mode

Nikki Reed, actress

Cameron Russell, Model Mafia

Taylor Schilling, actress

Kate Sekules, NYU Costume Studies

Sarah Slutsky, celebrity stylist

Sarah Spellings, The Cut

Tabitha St. Barnard-Jacobs, Women's March

Tara Swennen, stylist

Mathew William Swenson, Intelligence

Meadow Walker, model, founder Paul Walker Foundation

Amber Valletta, model and advocate

 
 
Strategic Partners

Intelligence

 

INTELLIGENCE is a design + communications firm that addresses creative and cultural needs in the most human way. INTELLIGENCE is centered around vibrant individual talent, replacing the traditional agency process with nimble, passionate custom freelance teams. Our network of creatives continue to shape many of today's most iconic and respected brands.


SHO + CO

 

Oleskey, Ainsberg, and Yin developed the concept for SHO+CO based on their long and successful history working with talent and brands, combined with expert negotiation practices and strategic client direction. With dual headquarters in both new york and los angeles, this highly-specialized boutique agency is focused on celebrity and influencer initiatives including product placement and red carpet dressing, licensing and collaboration deals, and casting and booking talent for advertising campaigns, ambassadorships, magazines, digital content and global events.


GWM Consulting

 

GWM Consulting specializes in expert communications developed across over fifteen years of experience in the luxury brand and fashion sector across the UK, Europe and the US. In 2016, sensing a shift in client, media and consumer needs, GWM Consulting was founded in order to balance out the years of experience in bigger client and team management with a more intimate, partnership-driven mentality outside of traditional ‘Public Relations’. George MacPherson’s mission is to develop and execute an evolved communications practice that matches and anticipates consumer-focused shifts within the fashion industry, creating narratives tied to activations, events and people which anchor brand and partner investments to unique experiences.


Cordes Foundation

 

The Cordes Foundation was founded in 2006 by Ron and Marty Cordes. Following the sale of Ron’s investment management business, the couple blended Ron’s experience in financial services with Marty’s work on issues that affect women and girls to create a family foundation focused on social entrepreneurship, impact investing and the economic advancement of women. In 2014 when their daughter Steph Cordes joined as Vice Chair and Eric Stephenson as Portfolio Director, the Foundation expanded its strategic focus to include ethical fashion brands, sustainable supply chains and engaging millennials in impact investing. The same year, the Foundation committed to catalyzing 100% of its balance sheet for impact.


Dr. Linda Greer

 

Since joining NRDC in 1981, Linda Greer has been finding ways to reduce the presence of toxic chemicals in our air, water, food, buildings, and consumer products. She spearheaded environmental health efforts in China, including an inventory of the country's mercury use and an initiative calling on corporations to take responsibility for the environmental impact of their factories located there. She also launched NRDC’s Clean by Design program in 2009 to address the environmental impacts of the fashion industry. Greer sits on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology. She has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Tufts University, a master's in environmental science and engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a PhD in environmental toxicology from the University of Maryland. She is based in Washington, D.C.


 
 
Team

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Maxine Bédat is the founder and director of The New Standard Institute. Prior to NSI, Maxine co-founded and was the CEO of the fashion company Zady. For its work in sustainability, Zady was named one of the world’s “Most Innovative Companies” in retail by Fast Company. Bédat has been recognized by Oprah in her Super Soul 100, for leaders elevating humanity, serves as an ambassador for Rainforest Alliance and is on the Council of NationSwell. She has spoken at some of the world’s leading conferences, including the WWD Apparel/Retail CEO Summit, and has been regularly featured as an expert by Bloomberg, Forbes, Business of Fashion, CNN and the Huffington Post. Bédat began her career in international law working at the Rwandan Criminal Tribunal and received a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School.


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Alejandra Pollak is Director of Operations of New Standard Institute (NSI)—a think and do tank advancing data-driven solutions to transform the $2.5 trillion apparel industry into a force for good for people and planet. Alejandra currently leads NSI’s efforts to translate solutions into policy and legislation to drive the apparel industry to meet its environmental and social objectives. She facilitated the initial research for the book Unraveled: The Life and Death of a Garment by Maxine Bedat, which was longlisted for the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award 2021. Prior to NSI, Alejandra was Merchandising and Operations Manager of Zady—a pioneering fashion lifestyle destination and brand recognized by Fast Company as one of the world's most innovative companies in retail. Outside of fashion, Alejandra exercises her love of animals and passion for conservation as an active Board Member of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), where she led board-level development strategies as chair of the International Development Committee. Alejandra is politically active at the local and national levels and lends her time and skills to various causes. She led the voter protection volunteer coordinating efforts at the New York Democratic Lawyers Council—the voter protection arm of the New York State Democratic Party—for the 2020 elections cycle and 2021 Georgia Senate run-off elections.