Drink more water. Exercise more consistently. Be more present. New Year’s resolutions can be a helpful push toward progress, but many of us make the same pledges each year, with little success.

Sustainable fashion is no exception. When Vogue Business asked industry leaders and experts to share their hopes for 2026, their responses could just as easily have come from any year prior.

Still, the new year is a chance to reset and refocus, so here are five New Year’s resolutions for the fashion industry to forge ahead with sustainability. Maybe 2026 will be the year things finally change for good.

1. Invest in resilience

In 2025, sustainable fashion was defined by instability, from tariffs and regulatory U-turns to extreme weather and supply chain disruptions. This will continue throughout 2026, pushing resilience ever-higher up the agenda for businesses. This is a critical reframing of sustainability plays — rather than making the moral case for change, sustainability teams are now making the business case on the basis of present and future risks, and the rising cost of inaction.

“The macroeconomic environment will remain a headwind for many organizations, which means sustainability investments must demonstrate real value and resilience,” says Claire Bergkamp, CEO of global non-profit Textile Exchange.

Exactly what resilience looks like depends on the business. Brands that rely heavily on natural materials might be prudent to invest in regenerative agriculture, protect water supplies and support biodiversity through nature credits. Businesses that operate in areas vulnerable to geopolitical disruption will want to diversify their supply chains or deepen relationships with strategic suppliers. Others might prioritize supply chain transparency and traceability, in a bid to weed out any potential malpractice that could transpire into reputational risks. Whatever resilience looks like to you, it will be essential to riding out whatever 2026 brings.

“Companies that invest early in understanding their supply systems, recognizing that there are no quick wins, and that choose credible standards and collective action as core strategies will be best positioned for the future,” adds Bergkamp.

2. Protect workers better

While companies seek to protect their profits, they should also be protecting their workers better — a win-win for boosting productivity, creating a happier workforce and building resilience upstream. There is a well-established roadmap for this, says Bangladeshi trade unionist and former child garment worker Kalpona Akter.

“In 2026, the industry must prioritize legally binding agreements, enforceable labor rights, living wages and freedom of association; just transition frameworks that protect jobs and incomes; direct engagement with unions and worker organizations; and shared responsibility, rather than pushing costs down the supply chain,” she explains. “Without these shifts, sustainability will continue to fail the people who make fashion possible. Change happens faster and more meaningfully when workers are organized, informed and protected.”

While the need for better worker protections has always been present, the consequences of inaction are rising, says Politecnico di Milano associate professor Dr. Hakan Karaosman. Over the past year, two distinct strands of his research have converged, revealing a growing reckoning for fashion production. Garment workers are facing increasingly dangerous conditions — not least because of extreme heat — and the recent probe into Italian luxury supply chains has cast new light on the challenges of working in fashion factories. These factors could drive potential workers away from fashion production — an existential threat to brands.

“The luxury industry relies on labor and craftsmanship, yet there is a growing disparity between its future skill requirements and the reality that younger generations are not interested in pursuing these jobs,” he says. “Fashion has long neglected its most important asset: its people. This must change.”

Could 2026 be the year fashion finally guarantees better working conditions and legal protections for garment workers?Photo: NurPhoto via Getty Images

3. Restructure teams for success

Each year, the Vogue Business sustainability leaders survey checks in with brands to understand how their sustainability strategies are operationalized and executed. Each year, the key takeaway’s the same: in-house sustainability teams are overstretched and under-resourced, with many siloed and shut out from decision-making processes. 2026 could be the year that finally changes, says Hannah Phang, co-founder and chief marketing officer of sustainability consultancy and talent platform The Now Work, as brands reap the rewards of changes set in motion in 2025.

New data systems, governance structures and internal education programs hurried together to fulfil changing regulation could now form the basis of real transformation, she says. “The biggest signal of this [potential shift] was the news that Vinted became France’s largest retailer,” Phang says. “It was a powerful reminder that when you truly commit to a new model, and design your organization around it, you can deliver huge commercial success.”

Yet most organizations aren’t structured to execute the strategies they set, Phang continues. “So many solutions exist, but progress is blocked by the way work is designed, resourced, communicated and executed. My hope for 2026 is that the industry prioritizes building the internal architecture for sustainability to succeed: designing strategies that fit organizational culture and structure, not strategies that assume ideal conditions. We need a better balance between compliance, which raises the floor; and transformation, which raises the ceiling. Most teams are still stuck at the floor.”

4. Align incentives and unlock funding

Once brands have their internal teams set up for success, they will need to address their third-party partners, says Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) president and CEO Lewis Perkins. That means breaking down the incentives and malincentives that actually motivate behavior one way or the other.

“Decarbonization is fundamentally an alignment challenge. If suppliers see the business reason to invest, and are rewarded for that investment, decarbonization projects will accelerate,” he explains, noting that one of the key mechanisms for brands to incentivize behavior change is purchasing practices. “Ultimately, brands must also align their own purchasing practices with their climate goals: this allows suppliers to invest with the confidence that they will have continued business for taking on these bigger investments.”

A defining question for 2026 will be how to address the “missing middle”, Perkins adds. “What happens to the mid-size factory upgrades that are too large for individual brands or philanthropic grants, but lend themselves to collaborative pooled funding? They may still be perceived as too risky or too expensive for commercial banks to fund on their own, but these projects actually deliver emissions reductions at scale like heat pumps, boiler replacements, or water-reuse systems.”

In order to make improvements to factories and decarbonize, suppliers need more support (financial and otherwise) from their brand partners.Photo: Jade Gao via Getty Images

5. Build stronger relationships with suppliers

For years, the need for collaboration has been a common cliché in sustainable fashion circles. Now, businesses need to take a second look at why it is so clichéd, and what they can do to act on it. “Real change depends on partnership and on understanding the different realities that people across the supply system are navigating every day. At the end of the day, people are trying to do what is best for themselves and their communities within the circumstances they face. If we want to secure a healthy planet for the next generation, we have to build solutions that reflect those realities and ensure that everyone across the system has the support they need to transition,” says Bergkamp.

Forming stronger supply chain relationships means interrogating assumptions, biases and malincentives, adds Kim van der Weerd, co-founder of producer-led sustainability think tank Fashion Producer Collective.

“Changing how we relate to each other isn’t a technical question, it’s a cultural one. It’s about whose labor is valued and whose voice is heard; whose risks are acknowledged, whose constraints are taken seriously and which choices feel possible,” she says. “If we want to navigate uncertainty differently — and make upstream engagement meaningful — we need to rethink the culture that structures our relationships, decisions and priorities. This isn’t just a sustainability imperative; it’s a way to make the whole industry more resilient and adaptive.”