09/12/2026
A fully online fashion student just earned a place among the country’s 12 inaugural CFDA x Bezos Earth Fund Next Thread Scholars. 🧵🌱
Meet Catrielle Barnett (𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘵) — an online BFA Fashion Design student in our School of Fashion, Academy U School Of Fashion, and one of only 12 emerging designers from eight schools nationwide chosen for the inaugural class of Council of Fashion Designers of America x Bezos Earth Fund The Next Thread Initiative.
Her collection, Reclaiming Identity, transforms community-sourced quilts, reclaimed denim, and donated textiles into sculptural garments — keeping the stains, stitches, and repairs visible so each material’s history stays part of the design. Working in CLO3D and zero-waste patternmaking, she’s reached up to 98% fabric efficiency, treating sustainability as the creative challenge itself.
Finalists presented to a selection committee that included Bezos Earth Fund Vice Chair Lauren Sánchez Bezos, Council of Fashion Designers of America President & CEO Steven Kolb, and designers Joseph Altuzarra, StaceyBendet, Tommy Hilfiger, 𝐆 𝐑 𝐀 𝐂 𝐄 𝐋 𝐈 𝐍 𝐆 ®, SAMI MIRÓ, and Tracy Reese.
The Next Thread Initiative — a $6.25M program supported by a Bezos Earth Fund grant — is the CFDA’s largest scholarship and its only one dedicated to sustainability. Its inaugural recipients share more than $500,000 in support for the 2026–2027 academic year.
She built it all through ’s online BFA — the same program, the same faculty, the same standard, wherever you are. Congratulations, Catrielle! 👏
Academy of Art University
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