about

Anika Kozlowski is an Assistant Professor of Fashion Design, Ethics and Sustainability at Toronto Metropolitan University in Canada. An intuitive systems thinker, Anika’s background reflects this holistic and interdisciplinary approach with a Ph.D. and MaSc. in environmental sciences, and undergraduate degrees in microbiology and fashion design. Her background brings a unique set of skills and perspectives to her research & design practices. She teaches in the Fashion & Environmental Applied Sciences and Management programs.

Through her professional practice she has specialized in sustainable fashion for 20 years. Anika has been interviewed, featured and writes for numerous publications such as The Conversation, CNN, CBC, New York Times, The Walrus, Vogue, Vogue Business, Elle Canada, I-D, Vice, and The Fashion Law. She has been invited to present her work at design conferences in Copenhagen, Helsinki and London, taught women to sew at a cooperative in Kigali, Rwanda, and has worked in numerous collectives to highlight sustainable fashion. Having won awards for her work, she continues to push responsible design, research systems change and transformative practices, while educating tomorrow’s industry leaders. She advises for organizations such as The Biomimicry Institute, the Joe Fresh Innovation Centre and TMU’s Fashion Zone. Anika enjoys mentoring and providing sustainability consulting for emerging small-scale fashion brands.

Anika values the importance of developing a research practice and design methods that drive regenerative circular systems, the role and application of biomimicry and synthetic biology, new business models, consumer behaviours (cultures) and cross-disciplinary innovation. This continues to form the basis of her on-going research, which focuses on the dynamic praxis of circular design, design thinking & systems thinking. Essentially, redesigning the fashion system.

Research focuses include the sustainable practices of micro-and-small sized sustainable fashion enterprises, sorting practices for donated secondhand clothes, textile waste pathways, bio-design, sustainability reporting, interdisciplinary collaboration and sustainable fashion pedagogy.