2026 Better Buying Institute Teaching Innovation Award

Download Full Call

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

The 2026 Better Buying Institute Teaching Innovation Award

 

Submit through Oxford Abstract by April 1, 2026

 

The 2026 Theme: Raising Awareness about Responsible Purchasing Practices

The ITAA Teaching Innovation and Resources Committee invites submissions for the 2026 Better Buying Institute Teaching Innovation Award. This award encourages the development and dissemination of innovative teaching strategies that address emerging issues in the apparel and textile fields. Applicants are invited to submit a paper that meets the following criteria: 

 

Applicants are invited to submit a paper that meets the following criteria:

  • Thematic Fit: Appropriateness of the materials to the theme.
  • Audience: Appropriateness of the teaching materials to the audience.
  • Innovativeness: Originality of the materials and approach.
  • Effectiveness: Clear articulation of learning objectives, and how results are measured and reported.
  • Presentation Quality: Clarity, detail, and completeness of the teaching materials and activities.
  • Winners must agree to present their paper at the 2026 ITAA conference. 

 

Theme:

Over the last decade, research carried out by Better Buying Institute, other non-profit organizations, and academic researchers has confirmed the critical role that brand and retailer day-to-day business practices—their purchasing practices— have on the achievement of social and environmental sustainability goals in the apparel industry (e.g., Anner, 2019; Better Buying Institute, Jan 2023; 2021). The concept of responsible purchasing practices has been defined based on extensive data and stakeholder engagement (Better Buying Institute, n.d.; Working Group on Responsible Purchasing Practices, n.d.). Implementing responsible purchasing practices has been linked to stronger buyer-supplier relationships and are key to ensuring resilient supply chains and reducing the risk of labor and human rights abuses (Better Buying Institute, 2024). 

 

Business leaders are examining the pressures their forecasting, development, costing, sourcing, payment, and other practices place on their suppliers’ businesses and subsequent ability to invest in more efficient technologies, better working conditions and wages, and climate change interventions (e.g., Eilleen Fisher, 2022; New Balance, 2023;). These leaders are embedding responsible purchasing within their business model, and educating across their corporate workforce, from the C-suite down (e.g., Target Corporation, n.d.). They are socializing suppliers’ feedback about pressure points internally and working cross-functionally to find new ways of working that better support good business throughout their supply chains and positive impacts on workers and the environment. At the same time, emerging regulations, especially in Europe, relating to human rights due diligence require buying companies to ensure that their own business actions do not create human rights risks in their supply chains (European Commission, 2024).

 

As a result, there is a critical need to ensure that everyone working within the apparel industry, including students who plan to join the workforce, understands the risks stemming from poor purchasing practices, and the need to find ways to work differently and more responsibly. Educating the next generation of the apparel workforce can support long-term industry transformation and the establishment of a global apparel sector that places responsible purchasing at the heart of its business model.

 

The theme of the inaugural 2026 Better Buying Institute Teaching Innovation Award is Raising Awareness about Responsible Purchasing Practices. We welcome submissions related to this topic that introduce students preparing to join the apparel industry to the varied ways that purchasing practices of brands and retailers can be problematic, and support them to begin their exploration into more responsible ways of working. 

 

References* (Please note that the website does not have a hanging indent option so that we could follow the correct APA format.)

Anner, M. (2019). Squeezing workers’ rights in global supply chains: Purchasing practices in the Bangladesh garment export sector in comparative perspective. Review of International Political Economy, 27(2). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09692290.2019.1625426 


Better Buying Institute. (2024). Better Buying Partnership Index Report. Author https://betterbuying.org/download/bbppi-2024/


Better Buying Institute. (2023, January). Better Buying Special Report: Purchasing practices and factory-level noncompliances: How the available research can inform supply chain due diligence. Author. https://betterbuying.org/download/purchasing-practices-and-factory-level-noncompliances-how-the-available-research-can-inform-supply-chain-due-diligence/


Better Buying Institute. (2021). Better Buying Special Report: Purchasing practices and sustainability: What improvements are suppliers seeing? Author. https://betterbuying.org/download/special-report-on-sustainability-june-2021/


Better Buying Institute. (n.d.). The Five Principles of Responsible Purchasing: Better Buying launches high-level principles for brands and retailers. Author. https://betterbuying.org/research-tools/better-buying-purchasing-practices-index-summaries/


Eileen Fisher. (2022). Benefit corporation report. Author.  https://www.eileenfisher.com/ns/journal/benefit-corp-report-2022-FINAL-rc.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOor22YViQO-WDOqVp30G73bxA3kbQUTI8qVVNQU04DZQVNrrIVNy


European Commission. (2024). Corporate sustainability due diligence. Author. https://commission.europa.eu/business-economy-euro/doing-business-eu/sustainability-due-diligence-responsible-business/corporate-sustainability-due-diligence_en


New Balance. (2023). New Balance sustainability and impact report. Author. https://www.newbalance.com/on/demandware.static/-/Library-Sites-NBUS-NBCA/default/dw87610e36/pdf/New_Balance_Sustainability_and_Impact_Report_2023.pdf


Target Corporation. (n.d.). Responsible sourcing and manufacturing practices. Author. https://corporate.target.com/sustainability-governance/responsible-supply-chains/sourcing-manufacturing-practices


Working Group on Responsible Purchasing Practices. (n.d.). The Common Framework for Responsible Purchasing Practices. Author. https://www.cfrpp.org/the-common-framework


* Due to the sale of key assets, references available on the Better Buying website are in the process of being moved to the publications page of the Cascale website (https://cascale.org/resources/publications/).  Please contact Marsha Dickson (dickson@udel.edu) if you have trouble accessing these or any of better Buying Institute’s reports.


Submission Eligibility:

Only ITAA members are qualified to submit papers to the Better Business Institute Teaching Innovation Award Competition. Instructional materials for the teaching strategy must have been developed for, and delivered in, textile and apparel or related undergraduate or graduate courses at a post-secondary institution. Submissions may not have been previously published elsewhere. Author(s) must be the original developer(s) of the submitted teaching strategy.

 

Submissions will be accepted from instructors working independently as well as from faculty members who have worked collaboratively to develop the teaching strategy. This award is also open to graduate students. Submitting author must be a current ITAA member. Submissions will be double-blind reviewed under the supervision of the Chair of the Teaching Innovation and Resources Committee. All submitted papers with assessment data must have proof of approval by a university’s institutional review board for human subjects.

 

Submission Guidelines:

All submissions must be in PDF format. Prepare three files, as follows:

 

File 1 - Title page in PDF with submission title, author name(s), institutional affiliation, program, keywords and contact information. Name this file following this format: Abbreviated Title_BBIAward_File1.

 

Follow this format for the title page: 

This Is the Title of the Submission 

 

 Author Name(s), Some University, USA 

 

Author Program Name 

 

Keywords: list up to three keywords 

 

Lead author email address 

 

File 2 – One file in PDF format that includes all information as outlined below with NO identifiable author information to ensure blind review. Name this file following this format: Abbreviated Title_BBIAward_File2. Due to space limitations on the ITAA website, this file may NOT exceed 10MB. If applicable, authors are encouraged to include links to external web sites where large files such as student assignment examples can be found. 

 

Submission of papers (File 2) for review should include the following: 

  • Title page which includes title of the submission and keywords ONLY. 
  • Abstract (maximum 150 words) 
  • Project description, including: 
  • An introduction explaining: 
  • course(s) for which this activity is appropriate and where course(s) fits in the curriculum. 
  • instructor and students’ knowledge/skills required to complete activity. 
  • recommended format (in-class or homework activity, individual or group-based, online activity, etc.) 
  • Detailed description of the activity including: 
  • clear explanation of integration of how the theme is integrated into the activity 
  • learning objectives, direct and indirect assessment tools 
  • directions and resources needed to complete the activity 
  • evaluation process 
  • Conclusion explaining: 
  • number of times the activity has been delivered the course 
  • changes that have been made to the activity (if any) and rationale 
  • assessment of learning outcome(s) results (students’ quotes or reflections about the activity are recommended) 
  • recommendations/advantages/disadvantages of using this activity 

 

Note: File 2 materials must not contain any information that identifies the author(s). 

 

File 3 – PDF documentation of human subjects’ approval as appropriate.

 

Name the files as follows: Abbreviated Title_BBIAward_File3. Upload via the Oxford Abstract Portal for the Better Business Award.


Online Submission: 

Submissions are due by April 1, 2026. Submit your proposals using Oxford Abstracts unique link that will be available prior to the March 1 open submission date. Submissions will be double-blind reviewed by the Teaching Innovations and Resources Committee. In addition to the international recognition, stipends will be awarded as follows: $2000 for first place; $1000 for second place; and $600 for third place and $400 for fourth place. 

  1. Begin the submission process by using the specific Oxford Abstract link that will be available prior to the March 1 submission open date.
  2. Start by entering the FULL TITLE of your submission, 30 words maximum, Title Case. You can copy and paste or enter directly. This is how it will appear in the final conference program and in the Conference Proceedings.
  3. Enter author information and affiliations. You must enter the names and affiliations of ALL authors in the order in which you wish them to appear in the printed version. Names omitted here will NOT be included in the final program. Check which author is the single corresponding author.
  4. Confirm that the lead author will register to attend and present the paper at the Conference.
  5. Confirm that the submission has been approved by all authors.
  6.  Upload your completed files as described above in Submission Guidelines.
  7. Click SUBMIT to complete the Submission process. You will receive an email confirmation of submission being received.

 

Follow-Up:

Authors will be notified electronically of the outcome of the review at the email address of the corresponding author. Decisions should be made by May 15, 2026.  Only the corresponding author will receive the acceptance notification emails; it is the responsibility of the corresponding author to notify other authors. If the paper is accepted, it will be presented as an oral paper during one of the assigned concurrent sessions. Instructions on preparing the proceedings paper and uploading it to the ISU Digital Repository after the conference ends are available on the 2026 Conference Page.


SUBMISSION FOR THE CONFERENCE GENERAL CALL

You may also, simultaneously, submit a two-page abstract of the paper to the general call for papers for the conference. Your abstract and full paper should have the same title.

 

Full papers not selected as first, second, third, or fourth place winners will be reviewed under the general call but ONLY if the two-page abstract is submitted separately to the Concept, Research and Teaching Scholarship general call.  It is the responsibility of the authors to complete this separate submission process. Please see instructions for submitting to the Research, Teaching, Concept Abstract Call and note that the deadline for submitting an abstract to the general call is also April 1.

 

QUESTIONS?

Contact Sherry Schofield, Executive Director at itaasherry@gmail.com or VP of Education, Hye-Shin Kim at hskim@udel.edu.