Scott Cline is the former owner of Plato’s Closet stores in Cary and Durham. From 2011-2019 he oversaw a team of 50 employees and three stores that bought and sold about 250,000 clothing items per year. He saw first hand the transition away from brands emphasizing classic style and quality and towards fast fashion brands like Forever 21 and H&M. He became aware of the astounding amount of discarded clothing in our communities and learned the vast majority of clothing will end up in a landfill or baled up and sold by weight overseas. He is encouraged to find these materials increasingly being repurposed into things like insulation and hopeful that greater awareness can reduce the excessive waste.

Understanding business and consumer choices involving the environment has been the focus of Susan Kask’s 35+ year career as a professor and consultant. Dr. Kask’s expertise in valuing non-market environmental goods evolved into a specialty in sustainability metrics development. She has published numerous articles and book chapters. These projects provide the foundation for her current work with business bringing sustainability values and metrics directly into business choices.
Over the course of her career Dr. Kask has held positions as an Energy Economics Research Fellow in New Zealand, Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Associate Professor in the Business School at Western Carolina University and Full Professor at Warren Wilson College. She is currently a consultant and the founder of Values2Action LLC and Chief Sustainability and Strategy officer at Himalayan Wild Fibers LLC, a textile fiber company.

Eric Henry’s journey into sustainability started January 1, 1994, the day NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) was enacted and he saw the business he started in the late 70’s completely destroyed. He realized then there is more to a business than a bottom line and changed to run TS Designs based on a triple bottom line of people – planet – profit. The vision of TS Designs is to make the highest quality printed apparel in a domestic transparent and trackable supply chain. TS Designs became the first certified B Corp in North Carolina.

Current president of TS Designs, Eric got his start when he launched Creative Screen Designs in 1978 while attending North Carolina State University. Two years later, he and Tom Sineath merged companies to incorporate TS Designs.

Dr. Karen K. Leonas, Professor of Textile Sciences, in the Department of Textile and Apparel, Technology and Management. She is a member of the graduate faculty in Textile Technology Management, Fiber and Polymer Sciences, and Textile Chemistry. Dr. Leonas teaches a variety of classes including an introductory class, The Textile Industry, and graduate courses in Sustainability and Textile Technology Management. She has received numerous award for outstanding teaching and advising.

Her research has spanned several areas and she is well known for product development, medical textiles, and reducing/evaluating the environmental impacts of textile and apparel production and consumption. Her strengths in chemistry and polymer engineering, combined with understanding the development, production, distribution and consumption allows for insights to address sustainability through the textile and apparel supply chain. Several years ago, she chose to focus her research on this complex and critical area. Specifically she has investigated polymer degradation in various environments (marine, freshwater, agricultural, body fluids), microfiber release and transmission, new product development using recycled and bio materials materials (recycled PET, Nylon, PLA, Cotton, etc.), processing technologies to reduce environmental impact, and water scarcity/footprint to name a few. She is a strong advocate for a circular economy (closed loop manufacturing) business model. Dr. Leonas has received numerous awards and recognitions for her research.

Dr. Leonas frequently partners with industry and is on the New York Academy of Sciences Change Fashion Advisory Board, Walmart Technical Collaboration Board, Walmart Sustainability Collaboration Board, AATCC Sustainability Committee, The Sustainability Consortium – Co-Chair, Clothing, Footwear and Textile Committee, are several of her memberships. In addition, she is active in the University and Community efforts promoting sustainable practices.

Dr. Leonas received her BS in Textile Chemistry from NC State, her MS in Clothing and Textiles from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and her PhD in Textile Chemistry/Textile Physics with and emphasis in Polymer Engineering as part of the PATRA (Polymer and Textile Research Association) from the University for Tennessee, Knoxville. She worked for Burlington Industries, Industrial Fabrics Division and has been on the Faculty at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, University of Georgia, and Washington State University prior to being asked to join the Wilson College of Textiles faculty. She has served in various administrative roles including Graduate Programs Coordinator and Department Head at several of these Universities.