Denica Riadini-Flesch, alumna of Erasmus School of Economics and founder of the sustainable fashion brand SukkhaCitta, is the winner of the UCLA 2025 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award. The award was announced on 8 October in Los Angeles by Tony Pritzker, whose foundation established the annual prize in 2017.
A new model for sustainable fashion
Riadini-Flesch is recognised for her groundbreaking work to regenerate 2.5 million acres of land and create livelihoods for 10,000 rural women across Indonesia. Her company, SukkhaCitta, pioneers one of the world’s first farm-to-closet supply chains, combining economic empowerment with environmental restoration.
‘Denica Riadini-Flesch is a stand-out example of a social entrepreneur who merges environmental sustainability with cultural preservation and viable business innovation, said the UCLA jury. ‘Her approach offers a model that can transform entire industries.’
As the 2025 laureate, Riadini-Flesch receives $100,000, recognising her as a next-generation leader whose bold, actionable solutions to global challenges have the potential to redefine the future of fashion. Supported by renowned advocates such as Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Martin of Coldplay, and ocean explorer Sylvia Earle, SukkhaCitta has become an international example of how fair-trade fashion can restore ecosystems and address inequality.
‘The way Denica turned economic theory into practice with SukkhaCitta isn’t just revolutionary. It’s a model the business sector can adopt starting now,’ says Alex Hall, Director of UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES), which presents the award.
About Denica Riadini-Flesch and SukkhaCitta
An Indonesian economist and social entrepreneur, Denica Riadini-Flesch is transforming one of the world’s most polluting industries into a force for regeneration. Through SukkhaCitta, she partners directly with smallholder farmers and artisans to restore soil h Her work has already made a tangible difference on the ground. Through SukkhaCitta, more than 1,400 lives have been improved with living wages and access to education, while over 50 hectares of land have been restored through regenerative farming practices. The company has also eliminated more than 4 million liters of toxic dye waste from waterways, setting new environmental benchmarks for the industry. SukkhaCitta is Asia’s first fashion brand to achieve a verified Net Zero target under the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and remains the only fashion label in the world certified as Ethically Handcrafted™.
- More information
For more information, please contact Ronald de Groot, Media & Public Relations Officer at Erasmus School of Economics: rdegroot@ese.eur.nl, +316 53 641 846.
