Dr. Bonita Best has executed her vision to turn waste into opportunity with Runway Recycled, an initiative whose aim is clear: to transform fashion waste into opportunities through sustainability, education and empowerment for underserved communities beyond the main fashion hubs.
“This is me being a change agent and doing what I love, which is helping people help themselves and that’s a mission that I’ve always had, regardless of what I did,” she said.
Best had long dreamed of launching a boutique that showcased eco-chic, curated styles, but that vision didn’t resurface until Best was waiting backstage for her moment on the runway.
“The things that I’ve experienced as a model, sitting backstage, I’m thinking, ‘Okay, what happens to clothes after a fashion show? What really happens to them?’” she recalled. “If they don’t get sold off the runway or if a buyer or retailer is not there to buy their items, what happens to them?”
Unsold pieces either get auctioned off or are left in closets, basements, garages or storage units eventually facing disposal, which could mean landfill waste or even air pollution from burning. That awareness led Best, an eco-chic visionary who’s redefining style, to launch Runway Recycled, a nonprofit sustainable option for the fashion industry that’s serving as a catalyst for change.
“It is a place to empower women and use fashion with a purpose,” she said. “It’s fashion with a purpose because everything has a reason, so there are no mistakes. I don’t believe that there are mistakes. These fashions belong to people, and they help people look good and feel good. We have a lot of it, so why not use it in that way to make a statement and be unique and be different?”
Runway Recycled bridges the gap between style and accessibility by offering different programs that are designed to empower those with the skills, knowledge and opportunities to thrive in sustainable fashion.
Those programs include the Boutique Business Lab, an immersive training program designed to empower aspiring sustainable designers, entrepreneurs and community leaders; Boutique on Wheels (BOW), a program that delivers sustainable fashion directly to underserved communities; Garment Library, a program that offers a borrow-wear-return system that combines sustainability with elegance; and Catwalk for Change, a program that fosters creativity, elevates talent and drives community connection.
Dr. Bonita Best, an eco-chic visionary, is doing what she loves with Runway Recycled
At its core Runway Recycled values empowerment, sustainability, community and innovation. Their goal is to build an industry with eco-friendly, conscious designers who make significant impacts. Their impact began with their Aspiring Sustainable Designers Bootcamp, which laid the foundation for the 2024 Sustainable Apprenticeship Program, launched last November. That program provides hands-on experience and mentorship, cultivating the next generation of eco-conscious leaders in fashion.
“I’m fulfilling a mission, and it makes me feel good,” Best said. “I’m doing it because I’m serving a purpose and that’s what my mission personally has been, is to help people help themselves, and that is in everything that I do.”
Runway Recycled also hosts networking events, bridal trunk shows, workshops, prom dress giveaways and Eco-Chic Trunk Shows, a celebration of sustainable fashion and community. Labeled as a signature event of Runway Recycled, these specific shows feature interactive experiences, community talent and sustainable designers. But it doesn’t stop there. Since their inception they have provided sustainable fashion access to hundreds of individuals and their families, diverted more than 4,000 pounds of clothing from landfills and have trained four sustainable designers, three stylists and 10 entrepreneurs through their programs. The movement for fashion equity is something that Best is passionate about and this is just the beginning. Through their online presence, she plans to see Runway Recycled expand into more communities as the demand grows.
“I just consider myself a change agent and I like to help people,” Best said. “I’ve been blessed; not that I have a lot of money, but I just make good use of my money and put it where I want it.”
