Maxine Bédat is the founder and director of the New Standard Institute, a think tank focused on sustainable fashion. Over the past decade, she has worked to transform the fashion industry, starting in 2013 when she co-founded Zady, an ethical e-commerce platform. Zady aimed to offer responsibly sourced products, but Maxine soon realised that many brands lacked the knowledge to support their sustainability claims. To tackle this, Zady developed its own label with a fully traceable supply chain and shared insights with other brands. As major companies showed interest, she shifted her focus to addressing the industry's deeper challenges. In 2019, Maxine launched the New Standard Institute to provide data-driven solutions and promote accountability in the industry. Drawing on her legal background, she has worked to enhance transparency through policy. In 2021, she led efforts to introduce the New York Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act, which, if passed, would require large companies to disclose their environmental impact, map significant portions of their supply chains, and meet emission targets in line with the Paris Agreement.