Inaugural CFDA x Bezos Earth Fund Next Thread Scholarship Awards More Than $500,000 to 12 Student Designers
The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) has announced the inaugural recipients of the CFDA x Bezos Earth Fund Next Thread Scholarship: 12 emerging student designers awarded more than $500,000 in total for tuition and thesis materials for the 2026-2027 academic year. It is the CFDA's largest scholarship and its only scholarship dedicated to sustainability in fashion design.
The recipients, five rising seniors and seven master's students across eight schools, form the class with the highest number of graduate-level recipients of any CFDA scholarship class to date. Each award is sized individually to close the gap between what a recipient owes and what they can cover in tuition and fees, with a separate stipend for thesis collections built on sustainable materials and processes. Three Scholars with Distinction were named: Zion Burrell of FIT, Hera Ford of Parsons, and Grace Wang of New York University.
The selection committee included Bezos Earth Fund Vice Chair Lauren Sánchez Bezos, CFDA President and CEO Steven Kolb, and designers Joseph Altuzarra, Stacey Bendet, Tommy Hilfiger, Grace Ling, Sami Miró, and Tracy Reese.
The Next Thread Initiative totals $6.25 million. Of that, $1.5 million funds student scholarships over three years, from 2026 to 2028, and $3 million will go to awards for independent American designers and brands. The 12 scholars study at Parsons, FIT, Pratt, Drexel, New York University, Marist, Academy of Art University, and California College of the Arts, with Parsons alone accounting for five of them. (Source: Council of Fashion Designers of America)
Source: Council of Fashion Designers of America
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于纽约第五大道的 Parsons 设计学院校舍，首届 Next Thread 奖学金得主中有5人就读于该校。Wikimedia Commons 图片（CC0）。 / Photo: The Parsons School of Design building on Fifth Avenue in New York; five of the inaugural Next Thread scholars study there. Image via Wikimedia Commons (CC0).
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