Natalia Allen

At Parsons The New School for
Design, Natalia Allen was known
as the "black girl building surf-
boards with computers in them
in the fashion department", she
recalls. It wasn't necessarily a
compliment. But as a senior in
2004, she won the school's
coveted Designer of the Year
award. Now 28 and still an
iconoclast, Allen is working with
Best Buy, Nike and Cambridge
University, and is helping the
Pratt Institute develop new business
models for a sustainable fashion economy.
"Enough with the gimmicks and green washing",
says Allen, whose own fashion line debuts in fall 2011.
"We need to get retailers, manufacturers and the guys
on Wall Street to dream with us in a different way."

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