Design for Good

Since 2018, I’ve taught Sustainable Enterprise and Strategic Management of the Natural Environment at Syracuse University’s Whitman School, with fall 2025 enrolling nearly 60 students. Each semester, I use Simon Sinek’s Start with Why framework to help students articulate their purpose and connect it to sustainability. Over seven years and 250+ submissions, students—many for the first time—express deep introspection, humanistic values, and a desire for connection with nature and others. This year’s responses showed particular wisdom. We need principled, critical thinkers who can align purpose with enterprise to drive sustainable innovation. ~ Mark Coleman

By Julia Weinreich

fashion design — Photo by Los Muertos Crew via Pexels

My love for design began before college. My great-grandparents hand-made curtains, making fabric both functional and expressive at their company. It was their craft and designs that caused a generational appreciation for design. This eventually shaped my passion. It made design feel very personal and instilled in me from childhood. That’s why, at Syracuse University, I decided to concentrate in Design Studies and minor in Entrepreneurship. This was where I wanted to investigate how creativity could play a significant role in my future. But as I grew more aware of the developing influence of sustainability in the fashion industry, it became clear how frequently the term was abused. I noticed that it was treated more like an advertising term than a true commitment. Greenwashing was unavoidable: an increasing number of businesses claimed to be “sustainable”, “ethical”, or “eco-friendly”, yet they seldom lived up to such claims. This made me feel obligated to comprehend what sustainability actually entails and how it may be sincerely included in the task that I intend to do.

It was only when I attended a sustainable fashion course in the design school last semester that my whole perspective flipped. I learned about the misery inherent in the apparel industry for the first time: from factory workers being exposed to toxic chemicals, poor working conditions, poor ventilation, long hours, and remunerations that keep whole communities below the poverty line. I was amazed by how environmental wreckage is linked to textile production, from polluted water to huge quantities of CO₂ and microplastic shedding. I learned how greenwashing makes such issues possible by persuading consumers that minor, superficial changes will suffice. These were not coincidental, but rather the expression of deeper economic systems designed to put profit above people and the planet. This course taught me to identify the economic roots of social and ecological problems, and how real change can only come with the transformation of the conditions that first created these problems.

I learned through Sustainable Enterprise how vital it is for business owners to remedy these market failures. Because the traditional market fails to recognize negative externalities like pollution and labor exploitation, those practices become the standard in the industry. In reality, though, those mistakes are being corrected through entrepreneurs creating sustainable models through ethical sourcing, open supply chains, circular design, and ecologically friendly materials. They prove that when companies act morally, they don’t have to sacrifice financially. This course allowed me to think of entrepreneurship as a means of innovation and a means of environmental healing. It also made me reflect upon greenwashing and the fact that business owners should promise to be transparent and to take quantifiable action instead of hiding behind sustainability as a marketing tool. Honesty, responsibility, and long-term vision form the core of a business worth building to last.

One of the things I learned from this course is that social and environmental challenges present tremendous economic opportunities. Companies that fix real environmental destruction, not just greenwashing, are economically incentivized by the market as more people look for authentic, sustainable solutions. Other potentials involve designing durable products of high quality, investing in regenerative agriculture, using recycled or circular materials, and developing business models that reduce waste and overproduction. These ideas really resonate with my own routines. I buy second-hand clothing from online thrift stores, Depop, Poshmark, and eBay. I love how clothes feel alive and tell stories. In light of this aspect of my lifestyle, it was easier to grasp how shifting consumer behavior can favor industries that exist to promote sustainability and how companies that embrace authenticity over greenwashing are more likely to gain trust from and retain customers.

Outside of fashion, studying sustainable energy and other industries in their transition to low-carbon business models opened my eyes to the system that is sustainability. Renewable energy, electrification, waste to value innovations, and circular economic models have shown me how these issues are all interlinked. We cannot talk about fashion sustainability independent of water systems, energy use, transportation, or agricultural inputs, let alone global trade. These other industries have helped me understand the breadth of potential sustainable enterprise can have to reshape the economy and why cross-industry understanding is key.

Of course, this course brought into sharp focus the many barriers facing environmentally relevant industries. On every front, sustainable entrepreneurs face challenges: from cost barriers to supply chain inertia, from a lack of regulation to consumer expectations for cheap and fast products. At the same time, greenwashing is probably one of the biggest obstacles of all since it confuses consumers, slows progress, and rewards companies performing sustainability rather than practicing it. The course helped me appreciate why entrepreneurship requires courage, transparency, and the ability to disrupt the “norm”.

Sustainability has changed for me from a catchphrase to a value, an obligation, and even the foundation upon which I wanted to base my future in the fashion industry. My inspiration grew to include academic learning, personal life choices, family history, and a deep understanding of global economic structures. I aspire to practice fashion and design in a manner that favors transparency and resists greenwashing. I would like to contribute to the making of products and stories that show regard for the people who make them and take care of the environment from where they come. I want to communicate truthfully, design with intent, and be of service to create a world in which ethics and aesthetics are one.

This class has not only taught me but also changed my whole perspective as a designer and entrepreneur. Now I know creativity goes hand in hand with responsibility, and every design decision counts. My “Why” is set in this conviction: design should never happen at the expense of someone else’s well-being or the health of the planet. I would like to be part of building a fashion industry that respects people, preserves ecosystems, and supports sustainability – not just as a buzzword, but as a real pledge into action.