On September 10, 2026, during New York Fashion Week, Sutton Stracke, star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and founder of circular fashion house Sutton Brands, hosted the 5th Annual Women Pioneers of Circular Fashion at the Martha Graham Center for Contemporary Dance. The event honored Susan Rockefeller, entrepreneur and founder of Musings Magazine; Julia O'Mara, co-founder and COO of Pickle; and Kristy Caylor, founder and CEO of Trashie for their contributions to advancing a circular economy in fashion.
The annual celebration, now in its fifth year, recognizes women who are moving the fashion industry toward more sustainable practices through entrepreneurship and innovation. The evening included a preview of Sutton Brands' Green Label and circular-fashion retail experience, a live performance by the Martha Graham Center for Contemporary Dance, and was filmed for Bravo's The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. It also marked the opening of the Name'Em City Pop-Up Tour, a five-city retail experience bringing Sutton Brands' circular-fashion concept to New York, Nashville, Dallas, Charleston, and Chicago through spring 2027.
"Every year we set aside one evening in New York for the women actually doing this work," said Sutton Brown, founder of Sutton Brands. "Susan, Julia, and Kristy have each solved a different piece of the same problem — how you get clothing moving again instead of sitting unworn. This industry has no shortage of conversation. These three have volume."
The honorees represent distinct facets of circular fashion. Susan Rockefeller has used storytelling and advocacy to encourage a more thoughtful relationship with what we make, consume, and value. Julia O'Mara is helping transform traditional fashion ownership by creating a shared approach to closets and clothing through Pickle. Kristy Caylor has made clothing take-back more accessible through Trashie, designing systems that encourage consumers to move unwanted clothing out of their closets and back into circulation. Previous honorees include Rachel Kibbe, Sarah Barnes, and Dana Thomas.
The event drew notable entertainment and fashion personalities, including RHOBH stars Erika Jayne and Tracy Tutor, designer Brian Atwood, The Real Housewives of London star Juliet Mayhew, model Lance Stefanakis, GURUS Fashion Director Nolé Marin, KJ Dillard, model Victoria Pousada Kriendler, and influencers Kay Dudley and Tay Dudley. It was presented in partnership with The Return, GURUS, Graham 100—celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Martha Graham Dance Company—Sutton, Est. 1971, S&M Wine Co., J.T. Meleck Distillers, and Berkeley College.
Sutton Brands, co-founded by Sutton Brown (formerly known to television audiences as Sutton Stracke), is a circular fashion house built on the belief that beautiful clothing should stay in circulation. Through curated collections, retail experiences, and take-back partnerships, the company connects designers, consumers, and reverse-logistics infrastructure to keep garments in use and out of landfills. Its sustainability philosophy emphasizes longevity, reuse, repurposing, and more conscious consumption, offering an alternative to the traditional linear fashion model. For more information, visit Sutton Brands Sustainability and SuttonBrands.com.
This event underscores the growing momentum behind circular fashion, a model that aims to reduce the estimated 92 million tons of textile waste generated annually. By honoring leaders who are implementing practical solutions—from shared closets to take-back programs—Sutton Brands highlights scalable alternatives to the linear take-make-dispose system. For industry players, the pop-up tour and Green Label preview signal that circular retail is moving from niche to mainstream, potentially reshaping how consumers acquire and discard clothing. As regulatory pressure on fashion's environmental impact increases, such initiatives could become competitive necessities. For consumers, the message is clear: keeping clothes in circulation is not just ethical but increasingly accessible, with more options to participate in the circular economy.
