In 2007, Kelly Drennan founded Fashion Takes Action, out of her desire to create a better, more sustainable future for her, then, two young daughters. Her role at FTA is to remove the barriers to sustainability that exist for the entire fashion system – for those who make, sell, buy, wear, care, repair, reuse, collect, rent, resell and recycle clothes.

In 2014, Kelly created the annual World Ethical Apparel Roundtable (WEAR) Conference, hosting hundreds of industry experts in Toronto in an effort to motivate and inspire brands across North America. Through both the WEAR conference and WEAR webinar series, Kelly has reached thousands of global industry stakeholders through these forums, and is a sought-after speaker herself, having given hundreds of presentations to industry, academics and citizens, including a TED talk as part of the Global TEDx Countdown on climate action, and twice a speaker at Elevate.

Kelly continues to bring her sustainability expertise to Toronto’s Fashion Industry Advisory Panel, and to various fashion colleges and their curriculum committees. She regularly contributes to government discussions on textiles and circularity, and most recently is on the selection committee for the Canadian International Fashion Film Festival (CANIFFF).

In 2017, Kelly was the recipient of the prestigious Clean 50 award given to Canada’s climate leaders, where she was recognized for Education & Thought Leadership, and was the first recipient of the award for the fashion industry. She resides in Toronto with her husband and two teenage daughters.