When Stacy Flynn, Textile Development and Marketing ’99, returns to campus on April 9, she brings more than a success story—she brings a solution to one of the fashion industry’s oldest problems. As closing speaker for the 20th Annual Sustainable Business and Design Conference, themed “Industry Disruptors,” the CEO and co-founder of Evrnu will share how a 2010 trip to China redefined her career. On that trip, Flynn, who spent years in traditional industry roles, witnessed the environmental cost of the fast-fashion system she had once admired. That experience changed her trajectory and led her to build a business confronting the fashion industry’s massive waste and pollution problems.
In her recent TEDx talk, “How Fashion Won the War on Waste,” Flynn recalled that turning point: “I realized I couldn’t participate in my industry in the way that it was currently designed. I actually had to step out and try something new.” That effort became the startup Evrnu. Along with business partner Christo Stanev, Flynn created a system that mimics nature’s regenerative cycle by turning old clothes into high-quality, recyclable materials that work with existing factory equipment.
A revolutionary in her field, Flynn is focusing her work on a novel material called NuCycl r-lyocell, a sturdy fiber made entirely from cotton textile waste. Through a process that recycles its own resources, cotton waste is turned into a pulp and then into fibers designed to replace and outperform environmentally harmful virgin textiles. According to Textile Exchange’s Materials Market Report 2025, these conventional options, most of which are fossil-based, comprise over 90% of global fiber production.
Now based in Upstate South Carolina, a region that once produced half of the world’s cotton fabrics, Evrnu is growing. “This is the perfect place to set up a new garment recycling facility,” Flynn said in her TEDx talk. “And that’s exactly what we’re doing.” Since the 2022 commercial launch of Evrnu’s technology, Flynn has faced financial hurdles and industry resistance—but she is undeterred. As she told Forbes at the time of the launch, “Everyone’s waiting to see what happens. But to not move is no longer an option.”
For Flynn, the mission is simple: “The answer is not to destroy fashion. The answer is to stop destroying everything in its name.”
FIT’s 20th Annual Sustainable Business and Design Conference takes place April 8 and 9 on campus from 10 am to 6 pm each day. Learn more about this year’s schedule, speakers, and workshops at fitnyc.edu/sustainabilityconference.