Within this work, the company aims to embed sustainability across its global operations, anchored on two commitments of caring for the people making its products and managing its environmental impact. Among its many goals, Macy’s has set goals to achieve 100% preferred materials in its private brand products managed by the Macy’s sourcing team by 2030. As its products come from hundreds of vendors around the world, the team said sourcing strategy will play a central role in achieving that goal.

The UD researchers focused their project on three different types of apparel: denim, activewear and women’s tops. Findings combined qualitative information from interviews with Macy’s executives and policymakers from the U.S. Trade Association with quantitative data about current products.

The research provided valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities found in a sustainability journey. While the results varied for each category, the overall conclusions showed opportunities for Macy’s to meet its goals by diversifying sourcing markets to different countries, and identified challenges surrounding costs, supply chain tracking and trade policy.

“The findings from this project will be directly beneficial to my team’s work in Macy’s private brands," said Angela Katsios, Macy’s vice president of strategic sourcing and operations. “As we continue to evolve and learn, we also work closely with our colleagues at Bloomingdale’s to incorporate learnings into operations across our business.”

Macy’s set up in-depth interviews with the students and members of its sourcing, product development, and sustainability teams to outline the store’s vision and operations in supply chain, sustainability and other related areas. The former students also met with the assistant U. S. trade representative for textiles, the highest-ranking trade policymaker for the textile sector, to understand policymakers’ perspective on encouraging more sustainable apparel trade and related policy issues, such as tariffs and environmental provisions in US trade agreements.

They also examined thousands of apparel items made from recycled materials that Macy’s currently sells to learn variations in sourcing, pricing and the assortment of products.

The team members represented various backgrounds within fashion and apparel studies — apparel design, product development, sourcing, sustainability, supply chain and merchandising. The diverse viewpoints enhanced the project. “It turned out to be a great success as real-world challenges like sustainability and climate change are complex and require interdisciplinary collaboration,” Lu said.

This is not the first time UD students have worked with the retailer.

“Dr. Lu has been a great partner for so many years,” Rando said. “I knew the caliber of work he could do and I thought this is a great place to start this new initiative.”

The industry’s future will include the continued development of sustainable practices and products. When asked if having recycled materials in clothing is important to them as the next generation of industry leaders, and as consumers, the graduates’ answer was a resounding and collective yes.

“We’ve grown up with fast fashion at our fingertips,” Kuhn said. “Now, we’re seeing the effect it’s having on the environment, and we want to do better.”