Sarah Jay
Our thirty-fifth member of the month is Sarah Jay
UCRF is running a ‘Member of the Month’ feature on this blog, where a member, selected at random from the membership database, is sent five questions to give us all an overview of our members. Our thirty-fifth participant, Sarah Jay, is a fashion researcher, investigator, and sustainability practitioner working across material health, labour rights, reuse and waste systems, and forensic traceability, with a focus on connecting evidence, supply-chain realities, and human and environmental health.
—1 How would you sum up your research/practice?
I've been fortunate to build a curiosity-fuelled career that has taken me into classrooms, backstage at fashion shows, onto red carpets, and into rag houses, landfills, fibre farms, and garment factories around the world. I'm a thrifter, collector, crafter, and consumer through and through, and fashion remains a medium I genuinely love. My research and practice largely centre on:
1) Material health, toxins & ingredients of concern
2) Human & labour rights
3) Reuse and waste systems
4) Forensic traceability of material origins
5) Thrifting and upcycling
— 2 How do you address fashion and sustainability in your work?
I began my career as a stylist, but soon became preoccupied with the sheer volume, excess, and off-gassing of the clothing I was personally and professionally consuming.
I've dressed some of the world's most notable models and musicians, styled editorials and campaigns for global brands, and led wardrobe departments through fleets of meticulously organized Winnebagos full of clothing to help characters come to life in the way that only one's habiliment truly can.
I'm also a certified factory auditor and investigator. I've documented unsafe and non-compliant working conditions in garment factories around the world, gathered worker testimonies to support precedent-setting class action litigation and remediation plans, and collected soil, water, sand, and textile samples in some of the world's most polluted garment-producing regions. I've witnessed heat stress on factory floors, textile waste piling up in rag houses and burning in landfill, and the enduring grief of Rana Plaza's survivors. I've also witnessed the exceptional skill of home workers and remote crafting communities, the dignity and independence that come with safe work and the freedom to organize, and the ingenuity of designers and makers around the world who prove every day that fashion and sustainability are not mutually exclusive.
My chemical sensitivities have been a genuine limitation in my life, but they've also served as a career compass. They led me to campaign work with Environmental Defence and, more recently, the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, helped inspire the Emmy-nominated documentary Toxic Beauty, and sparked my research into the origins of cosmetic squalane. While squalane is often plant-derived, it can also be sourced from shark liver despite labelling claims to the contrary. It's a reminder that consumers cannot rely on labels alone, and that brands require more advanced tools to improve visibility of remarkably complex and opaque material supply chains.
I'm encouraged to see more companies adopting forensic chemistry techniques, including stable isotope analysis, to verify sourcing claims, as well as the growing success of organizations like Oritain. If there's a common thread throughout my career, it's curiosity. It has allowed me to bridge very different parts of the fashion system and connect people to knowledge, evidence, and opportunities that help move the industry forward.
— 3 What are the conflicts you have encountered around fashion and sustainability in your work?
I've encountered conflicts of many kinds in my work.
Most recently, they've centred on the realities of working within a global network while navigating funding scarcity, mounting anti-ESG sentiment, and rising operating costs. How do we finance our important work? How do we move forward as a team when we're not aligned internally? How do we remain united when the needs, priorities, and expectations of our constituent groups—and the place-based realities of how we each participate in the global fashion system—are so disparate?
There is also the question of focus. Fashion's challenges are vast and varied. How do we leverage the diversity of expertise across our network to meaningfully address such a broad range of issues? And how do we decide what deserves our attention first when there is genuine urgency on so many fronts? Inevitably, there are competing priorities.
Then there's the conflict I carry personally. How do I reconcile my own love of clothing, my instinct to collect, consume, and create, with my desire to live more simply and in greater alignment with the values my work represents?
Perhaps tension is simply inherent to sustainable fashion. The familiar tropes remain compelling because they remain unresolved: a quality product should ensure quality of life; empowerment through dress should also mean empowerment through garment labour; and what makes us feel beautiful shouldn't come at the expense of human or environmental health.
— 4 What do you consider the key sources and cases when it comes to fashion and sustainability?
I'll take the opportunity to give a shout-out to my team at Fashion Revolution for their 2025 #WhatFuelsFashion report, which shines a light on one of fashion's most overlooked climate challenges: the fossil-fuelled heat used in textile dyeing, finishing, and manufacturing.
The report makes a compelling case for industrial electrification as one of the sector's greatest decarbonization opportunities, reducing emissions while protecting workers from heat stress and toxic air pollution. It equips brands, policymakers, investors, and campaigners with the evidence needed to drive accountability, while reframing heat stress as both a climate and human rights issue. Ultimately, it reminds us that a just transition must improve outcomes for both people and the planet through worker-led due diligence, meaningful social dialogue, and greater systemic accountability.
— 5 Could you recommend some less-known sources or cases you think should be more widely shared?
One of the elephants in the room of the sustainable fashion conversation, in my opinion, remains material health and the growing body of evidence surrounding human and environmental harms associated with synthetic textiles. I'm currently working at the Canada Plastics Pact to support the transition to a circular plastics economy, so all things plastic are top of mind. While much of the sustainability conversation focuses on carbon, water, waste, and labour, I think we also need to be paying closer attention to the chemistry of our clothes, microfibre pollution, and the health implications of the materials we wear every day.
A few people and organizations whose work I think deserves much wider attention include:
Dr. Caroline Shaw — Lead author of Microfibres and Health: State of the Evidence and Research Gaps, a landmark review synthesizing current evidence on inhalation, ingestion, occupational exposure, and the emerging links between textile microfibres and human health.
Dr. Lukas Kenner — I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Kenner at INC-4 in Ottawa.His research examining the accumulation of nano and microplastics in blood clots and cancer tumoursis helping advance our understanding of the health implications of plastic pollution inside the human body.
Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) — An organization I'm proud to support. Physicians hold a unique position of public trust, and CAPE is bringing that voice to some of the most pressing environmental health issues of our time, from heat stress and air pollution to toxic chemical exposure. Their work reminds us that environmental protection is, fundamentally, a public health issue.
Thank you Sarah for sharing your work!
