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At a time when sustainability is slipping down the executive agenda in retail, Kathleen Talbot’s career journey tells a different story. The Reformation chief sustainability officer (CSO) and vice president of operations built her career around environmental impact, following her purpose into an industry she never initially considered.
“I still see myself as a sustainability professional first who happens to work in fashion,” she shared in the latest instalment of the BoF Careers webinar series, Building a Career in Fashion.
After receiving her MA in Sustainability from Arizona State University, where she researched food systems, Talbot delivered a convocation speech with a stark reality check: “This is important work, but there probably are not jobs posted for this. You will have to go out and make them yourselves,” she said to her fellow graduates.
Talbot went on to begin her professional career in education and academia. She taught at the Global Institute of Sustainability and then became the sustainability officer at Marymount California University. While these roles were formative, she wanted to “shift from theory to practice,” she shared.
She was drawn to Reformation’s mission and founder Yael Aflalo’s vision, sharing: “There are more connections between fashion and food than I initially thought, especially in our work supporting regenerative agriculture in cotton, wool and leather supply chains.”
Since joining Reformation in 2014, Talbot has risen to the role of CSO and VP of operations. In her dual role, she leads sustainability initiatives, manages factory operations and creates customer-facing campaigns to raise awareness about the environmental and social impact of the fashion industry.
Now, Talbot details more about her time in the industry – from navigating quickly evolving regulations to proving that environmental impact and business success can coexist.
For the full interview, watch our LinkedIn Live, Building a Career in Fashion with Kathleen Talbot.
With sustainability falling down the executive agenda, is it still a viable career path in fashion?
I think sustainability is still a viable career option, and frankly, it is a mandate. The work is not going away because building more resilient and regenerative businesses requires real leadership. The future of fashion is about going beyond compliance and addressing the most pressing issues at the intersection of our industry – as well as the people and planet that depend on it.
That said, if you do not have the grit to manage the ebb and flow that comes with this field […] consider shifting to public policy, non-profit work or technical roles that drive impact within fashion. We need to [broaden our definition of] climate action and sustainability leadership.
How did you transition from food systems research to fashion sustainability?
I have always had sustainability in my title, which is unusual. […] I focused on food systems during college and graduate school, worked in non-profits and then started my professional career in academia.
I wanted to shift from theory to practice. I did not seek out fashion — I was drawn to Reformation’s mission and the founder’s vision. If it were not for [Reformation], I would not have necessarily made it into this industry.
I still see myself as a sustainability professional first who happens to work in fashion. Interestingly, there are more connections between fashion and food than I initially thought, especially in our work supporting regenerative agriculture in cotton, wool and leather supply chains.
Is a degree necessary for sustainability roles in fashion?
A degree is not necessary, but it is much more common today than a decade ago. […] Now, pretty much everyone we bring onto the team has formal training — whether a degree or certificate program — because it is a more competitive space.
The more typical path into sustainability is actually internal promotions, because so much of the role involves knowing the business structure and how to influence people within the organisation. Our senior director of sustainability started as a production manager and moved over five years ago.
Build technical chops, whether through degree programmes, certificates or independent study. You can not just want to do good; you actually have to bring something to the work.
Consider what you are actually good at and what you want to spend your day doing. If you love spreadsheets, go into merchandising or finance — we need sustainability champions there too. Our sustainability team is small, but we have [advocates] across raw materials, product development, planning and operations [making] as much impact [on the organisation] as anyone.
How has the sustainability field evolved since you started in 2012?
When I graduated in 2012, I was asked to give the convocation speech, and the gist was: ‘This is important work, but there probably are not jobs posted for this. You will have to go out and make them yourselves.” Not exactly inspiring.
The challenge then was [to define] what sustainability [meant] as a role and how it was relevant to business. When I started at [Reformation], we had to create an in-depth “impact of fashion” page to help customers connect clothes with global issues like climate — and it was not widely understood.
[…] The biggest challenge now is navigating quickly evolving regulations while focusing on durable sustainability commitments that do not swing based on public sentiment.
What were some early career mistakes you learned from?
While I reliably raise my hand to do things I have never done before […] there is a higher risk of failure. One example is when we set up our LA office in 2014. We used cloth napkins in bathrooms instead of paper towels because we thought disposables were not “eco” […] — it was not scalable at all.
A bigger mistake was when we first created fibre standards and […] we did not allow any cotton whatsoever — no certified, organic or regenerative. We even had a shirt that said “F Cotton”. In retrospect, that was too dogmatic. We now source incredible organic and regenerative cotton with on-farm programmes.
On the personal side, I did not always cultivate important relationships early on, which ended up being costly mistakes for influence and internal engagement.
How do you translate sustainability goals across teams and up the corporate ladder?
If you work in sustainability, you are probably altruistic — you want to do the right thing for the sake of it. But in a corporate setting, that will not resonate with everyone. It took me several years to stop leading with “because it’s good for people and the planet” and reframe it around business goals. […] Consider what will motivate your audience and why they might say “no”, then address that openly.
From a communications perspective, I have great partners on brand and creative who help distil core messages and make them accessible. They would say “talk to me like I am a second grader” and help create the fun, accessible calls to action that sustainability nerds [like me] never land on their own.
It took me several years to stop leading with ‘because it’s good for people and the planet’ and reframe it around business goals.
How do you balance commercial operations with sustainability commitments?
Having a dual role — CSO and VP of Operations — might seem odd, but I would recommend it. […] It has made me a better CSO because I understand the business pressures and real tensions between business and sustainability.
One of our core tenets is that we do not say “no” if we do not have a commercially viable alternative. […] Our founder did not want sustainability to be a police officer or cheerleader on the side — they should be doing the work and making decisions while applying a sustainability lens.
How do you keep up with rapidly changing regulations and consumer expectations?
First and foremost, it is about [your] network. I have incredible peers across brands who have different expertise […] and we lean on each other rather than trying to be experts in everything.
We get guidance from multi-stakeholder initiatives like Fashion for Good […] and industry publications like BoF help with synthesis — if it is hitting headlines, we know what to address.
Customer sentiment is the hardest to follow. We have a customer strategy team that does surveying and focus groups. We try to balance stakeholder needs while staying sturdy in our core strategy, not changing our mission based on one year’s survey showing sentiment shifts.
How can job seekers find employers that align with their sustainability values?
Be realistic about finding an employer that hits all your personal values perfectly. If your career purpose needs to be rooted in mission-focused work, seek out social enterprises or explicitly mission-driven companies.
To evaluate [whether] companies are legitimate, read their sustainability reports to see if claims [are supported by] actual numbers and work, not just commitments. Leadership matters — check if their thought leaders publish perspectives. Ask about culture and values in interviews, especially when talking to peers about what purpose means to them.
Sometimes you [may] not align completely with a company’s mission but [may] find an incredible leader who will mentor you while doing good work in their programmes.
How do you see the sustainability landscape changing in the next 5-10 years?
I see a real market shift toward fashion brands integrating circularity principles into their impact strategy and programming, [and] this will continue growing. There will also be a significant [move] in compliance reporting and assessments as regulations roll out for implementation. Optimistically, more of these rules might sit within legal or finance verticals rather than being core to sustainability or ESG mandates.
Stay open and curious. Really consider what work needs to be done and how you can contribute. […] Build technical chops, whether through degree programmes, certificates or independent study. You can not just want to do good; you actually have to bring something to the work.
Communication skills are crucial and frankly harder to find as I am growing the team. Building strategies for how you talk about the work is just as relevant as the technical aspects. [Another valuable path is to] go into communications and creative as a sustainability champion.
Disclaimer: This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.