Four students from Parsons School of Design — Cayman Chen, Zoe Gras, Freda Xinyue Xia and Hera Ford — have been awarded scholarships from the inaugural Next Thread Initiative, a new partnership between the Council of Fashion Designers of America and the Bezos Earth Fund. Announced on 18 September 2026, the programme will award $3 million in grants to independent designers and $1.5 million to aspiring designers pursuing sustainable fashion over three years. Parsons took more awards than any other school, underlining sustainability's place at the core of its curriculum.