Everything that happened during the UK’s Sustainable Fashion Week 2026

Amid an increasingly shifting regulatory landscape, this year’s Sustainable Fashion Week (SFW) in the UK sought to prove what a sustainable fashion future looks like when national collaboration is welcomed open-armed. Taking place from September 26 to October 4, SFW saw over 347 grassroots community activities held across 41 regional hubs.

Following the theme ‘Threads of Resistance’, this year’s event, programmed by A Single Thread, addressed the culture of relentless consumerism, and called on people to pivot their focus to what they already own. Its mission is to promote practical action like buying less, keeping clothes in circulation, and exploring fast fashion alternatives through community-led events.

Beyond the schedule, and as eyes turned to discussions of sustainable and circular acceleration, retailers and brands across the country also used the period as an opportunity to unveil eco-centric initiatives and partnerships. Here is, almost, everything that happened throughout the week.

City hubs and regional activities

Institutes, organisations and brands in UK cities took it upon themselves to serve as the hosts of SFW hubs over the course of the week. Norwich University of the Arts partnered with local entities like Norwich Castle Museum and John Lewis Norwich on student showcases, eco-printing workshops, and city-wide exhibitions. Sustainable brand Maku oversaw the Hastins hub, holding visible mending workshops alongside the ‘Keepers Clothes’ exhibition at Depo.

In Bristol, where A Single Thread was founded, the BS3 Slow Fashion Fest involved community clothing swaps, visible repair stations, denim upcycling workshops and more. Bristol Folk House held a Japanese sashiko stitching class by textile specialist Ronnie Wright, while a Slow Fashion Day hosted alongside Rethrindle and Rebel Patch explored high street alternatives.

Screenings and panels

Alongside practical workshops, SFW also used screenings and panel discussions to address the wider fashion system and changes needed. The screening of ‘Woman Grows Jeans’, a film following the production of the UK’s first homegrown, handmade pair of jeans, was followed by a policy debate featuring Anna Bryher, policy lead at Labour Behind the Label, while Smart Works Bristol and stylist Becky Barnes hosted a sustainable styling session.

The ‘Out of Fashion’ panel, meanwhile, brought together SFW founder Amelia Twine and other experts to discuss how communities can create bottom-up solutions for a more sustainable fashion system. The programme was followed by upcycling workshops, including sessions showing participants how to turn old jeans into tote bags and transform bouclé jackets into Chanel-inspired pieces.

The focus on community action continued with an online ‘Start Your Own Repair Workshop’ session, which shared advice on finding venues, facilitating sessions, applying for funding and managing administration. The aim was to provide participants with the tools to bring repair activities into their own neighbourhoods.

Sustainable fashion shows

Sustainable fashion shows also formed part of the nationwide programme, one having taken place at Blenheim Palace, where a runway took place for the third year running. The event, organised by the Cherwell Collective, brought together more than 10 designers and over 70 looks, all of which used rescued, upcycled, pre-loved or non-textile materials.

The show has involved more than 360 community members since its launch and has also received recognition through the Cherwell Business Awards and Oxford Climate Awards. Its focus extends beyond materials, however, with inclusivity positioned as a central part of the event. Designers and participants were selected from different backgrounds and levels of experience, underlining a message that sustainable fashion should be accessible to all.

Campaigns and movements

The week also provided a platform for campaigns seeking to connect fashion sustainability with wider environmental and social issues. One campaign from A Single Thread called for greater scrutiny of the materials used in school uniforms, highlighting concerns around polyester, microplastics and potentially hazardous chemicals. The campaign has requested for the UK Government to restrict hazardous substances such as PFAS in school uniforms and encourage retailers to move away from plastic-based synthetic fibres.

Elsewhere, sustainability initiatives looked beyond clothing itself to explore new uses for textile waste. In Kent, Maidstone Borough Council began testing whether discarded textiles could be repurposed as material for pothole repairs through a trial with sustainable materials company Recool. Five potholes on council-owned land were repaired using an experimental low-carbon material containing recycled textile waste, with the council set to monitor their performance over the coming months.

National and international initiatives

While much of SFW's focus remained firmly rooted in communities, the week coincided with several larger industry initiatives aimed at tackling fashion's environmental impact at scale.

Fashion Renewable Collaborative

Levi Strauss & Co. and Marks & Spencer, alongside Schneider Electric's SE Advisory Services, launched the Fashion Renewable Collaborative to help fashion suppliers transition towards renewable electricity. The initiative is designed to merge brand engagement and give suppliers support in accessing renewable energy solutions.

The Circuit launch

Marks & Spencer has also come together with New Look, Sainsbury's, Oxfam and textile development company Circle-8 to launch The Circuit. The initiative aims to build the infrastructure needed to recover non-reusable textiles and convert them into raw materials for future textile production. Its first phase is due to begin in January 2027 at Oxfam's site in Batley, Yorkshire, focusing on automated sorting, traceability and connections with recycling technologies.

The Climate Pledge Fashion Coalition

Internationally, Amazon, Stella McCartney and Canopy co-founded The Climate Pledge Fashion Coalition, bringing together more than 60 fashion brands, retailers, manufacturers and innovators to help scale lower-carbon materials and production processes. The coalition is targeting net-zero emissions by 2040 and will focus on financing, commercial adoption and policy development around sustainable materials and technologies.

Primark extends Circ partnerships

Primark also announced a multi-year agreement with textile-to-textile recycler Circ, committing to introduce recycled polyester made from textile waste into its clothing from 2029. The deal represents Primark's first multi-year offtake agreement with a textile-to-textile recycler and is intended to reduce reliance on virgin polyester while helping scale Circ's technology for separating polyester and cellulose from polycotton blends.