A real-world case study on PFAS fabric sourcing: I asked multiple suppliers for compliance documentation and received none. This article exposes the growing gap between PFAS regulations and textile supply chain transparency—and introduces a material traceability system designers can use to document risk and responsibility.

You can’t mass-produce synthetic performance wear, market it as “wellness,” and expect no consequences. The Lululemon investigation is just the beginning. The real problem? Fashion has no system for validating what it puts into products before scaling them.

The fashion industry produces 30 billion unsold garments every year. That number is not a tragedy. It is a design feature — and I have spent 15 years inside production at the highest levels watching it play out in real time. I am Gina Vincenza Van Epps, Emmy Award-winning celebrity seamstress, author of the Modern Garment District Model, and the person behind Shakira's Super Bowl Halftime Show costumes. I built a system to fix what is broken. Now I am putting the tools in you