The Best Fashion Schools in San Francisco for Sustainable Fashion Designers

Often overshadowed by the big fashion hubs of New York and Los Angeles, and the Best Countries to Study Fashion Design 2023, San Francisco is up and coming in the fashion world, providing young designers with a unique learning opportunity to study fashion in the U.S. capitol for sustainable fashion. 

San Francisco is at the heart of the growing movement towards ethical and sustainable fashion, with eco-fashion brands such as ‘Everlane,’ that sells modern basics with radical transparency and ethical factories, basing themselves in the Bay Area.

“I love how easy it is to get inspiration in a place where I never run out of things to do,” Chloe Brunton said, a current fashion student studying at San Francisco State University. 

Two of the best fashion schools in San Francisco

With many fashion schools to choose from within San Francisco, the Academy of Art University’s School of Fashion ranks the highest, according to Study.com, as it provides a highly accomplished and extensive degree in fashion. With a spectrum of options to choose from, the Academy’s degree allows you to home in on the specific element within fashion that you want to focus on, from ‘Fashion Design,’ ‘Fashion Art Direction,’ to ‘Fashion Journalism.’ 

‘Unspun’ is another example of a San Francisco based company that is paving the way for sustainable fashion. According to the Unspun website, the brand’s mission is “ to permanently alter how garments are made with technology used for good.” The idea originated from trying to capitalize on San Francisco’s technology sector, by using 3D scans to fit jeans to people’s exact measurements to reduce waste from the design and manufacturing process.

The second-highest-ranking school is San Francisco State University, that provides a degree in ‘Apparel Design and Merchandising.’ With a slightly different approach, its course focuses on “human behavior, social problems, and environmental concerns,” according to the University website. In keeping with the San Francisco sustainable fashion movement, the degree teaches students about social responsibility and ethical behavior within local and global apparel industries, which seems like an invaluable skill in the growing trend of working towards a more eco-fashion industry. Unlike other fashion degrees, you would graduate from San Francisco State with a Bachelor of Science, making it a unique qualification, equipping you to work in diverse categories of the fashion industry. 

With the growing popularity in this sector of fashion, if students want to learn at the heart of where sustainable fashion is blooming, then San Francisco is the place to be. 

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