The Niles West fashion club debuted an eco-friendly competition called the Upcycling Challenge on Sept. 18. Club members are challenged to upcycle used clothing into refurbished and wearable items. The top clothing designs will be displayed on a runway show in the spring of 2025.
The project’s inspiration came from the fashion club’s participation in the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC). SWANCC’s ‘Trashy Fashion Shows’ modeled clothing made out of aluminum cans, bottle caps, ribbon and leather belts. Like SWANCC’s project, fashion club leaders decided to incorporate the runway element.
“We have been talking about sustainability and fashion waste. We are looking for ways to repurpose old clothing so that it doesn’t head to the landfill…We thought turning this upcycling activity into a challenge would add a level of competitiveness that some people enjoy,” fashion club sponsor Michelle Kline said.
Upcycling is the process of augmenting used clothes and turning them into something new. Students share why they believe upcycling is a more sustainable alternative to recycling clothing.
“Recycling goes through more steps in order to use again, but with upcycling, you’re simply taking a garment and turning it into something new. You wouldn’t have to put it through a factory to crush or melt the material, like you for recycling. It’s important to upcycle because it’s more sustainable and helpful to our environment,” senior and fashion club member Maryna Shamoon said.
The fashion studio donated old clothes for students to use for their projects. Students were given creative freedom to use any tools or machinery to turn used clothes into a unique design.
“I want students to understand that you don’t need to wear fashion as it is sold at the store. You can be creative and make something new out of something old. There is so much that can be done with fashions that we no longer want to wear,” Kline said.
Some students taking fashion classes participated in the challenge, like junior Lucy Clarke who turned a pair of jeans into a pleated skirt.
“I found a pair of pants that I didn’t wear anymore…I cut the pants off and ripped the seams open so I had long strips of fabric. Then I sewed these together and made pleats which I arranged to fit on the bottom seam. Then I sewed the pleats on and serged over the stitches. After that, I tried it on to make sure it fit right,” Clarke said.
The projects are due on Oct. 23 and will be judged on Oct. 30. Additionally, the designs will be modeled at the runway show on May 9, 2025.
