Fashion
Elk Rapids students make prom more climate-friendly with recycled dresses • Michigan Advance
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On a Saturday in February, high school senior Kaylee Lemmien sifts through dresses at Tinker Tailor, a small boutique in downtown Elk Rapids.
“I would call it a light blue sequined mermaid dress with a tulle skirt. It has a lace-up back, quite open, she says. Very pretty.
Tinker Tailor usually alters clothes, but on this day he is selling prom dresses.
The dresses are short and long, and come in all kinds of fabrics and decorations: neon pink satin, muted lilac, sequins, zebra stripes, rhinestones.
The clothes were donated and shipped by area residents, with the goal of giving them new life at prom this spring.
The Elk Rapids High School Eco Club worked with the store and the Green Elk Rapids volunteer group to coordinate the event called Sustainable Style. It's an effort to reduce fast fashion.
Fast fashion is a trend driven by novelty, said Shipra Gupta, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Illinois at Springfield. She tends to treat her products like foods that spoil quickly.
Estimates of the fashion industry's environmental and climate impacts vary; the United Nations declared that industry creates anywhere 2% has ten% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The industry also creates up to 20% of the world's wastewater, and the Columbia Climate School has reported that it consumes around 93 billion tonnes of water per year, while 53 million tonnes of clothing is incinerated or thrown away.
Fast fashion is particularly damaging because it encourages people to go through clothes quickly. And this economic model had serious implications; an Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2017 report found that clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2015, even though the number of times an item was worn decreased.
Fast fashion is a driver of American consumer behavior, Gupta said.
Constantly seeing new items in stores can trigger the desire to buy more. Gupta said young people are particularly sensitive to this because they are still forming and exploring their identities.
One way to change this mindset is to focus on individual styles.
Elk Rapids High School Eco Club members Kaylee Lemmien and Gabe Klein examine donated and consigned dresses during the second day of Sustainable Style. February 17, 2024. (Photo: Izzy Ross/IPR News)
You're more likely to buy or wear something that's true to your identity, true to your style, she said. You're more likely to keep it longer and you're less likely to buy as frequently as if you were a fashion-oriented consumer.
In Elk Rapids, students hope events like Sustainable Style can reduce local consumption, providing a responsible place to donate and purchase used formal wear.
You really try to be environmentally friendly, don't use single-use plastic, recycle and compost everything, Macaluso said.
But sometimes there are no options, especially in small towns.
Then you kind of have to drive to Grand Rapids, go to a mall and buy a new dress, she said. So I think it just provides another option. Another opportunity to say, “Oh, I have a chance here to help the environment a little.” So I'll take it.
In the past, students searched everywhere for dresses, traveling to centers like Grand Rapids, a two-hour drive south.
Kaylee Lemmien, who was shopping for dresses and is also an Eco Club member, said that in addition to reducing the need to buy new clothes, it creates an opportunity to stay closer to home.
Not having to go to Grand Rapids and spend that money on gas and do all that stuff is really, really nice and liberating, she said. It's really a brilliant idea.
Perhaps more importantly, initiatives like these can help others think about fashion's impact on the environment.
I think it's very significant because it's starting to engage consumers, especially the younger generation, said Sheng Lu, associate professor of fashion and apparel studies at the University of Delaware. Even though this effort is relatively small, it could help people think differently about fashion and the environment, and even inspire other communities to do the same.
And it encouraged other members of the community to get involved.
Honestly, I was pretty nervous coming here, said sophomore Addison Looney, who was shopping with her mother. But there were a lot of good selections and I was pretty undecided about it. But I chose it.
The dress is a soft lavender with beading on the front. Addison's mother, Sara, said they were looking forward to the event.
Knowing it's just a great opportunity to shop local and, of course, save money, she said. But there is also the resale aspect, to allow the dresses to continue to function, as they are generally single-use.
Macaluso, the president of the Eco Club, said they have been successful in generating interest in buying second-hand clothing. Prom led Tinker Tailor to create a Safe in the store so people can continue to consign, donate and purchase used items.
I think it just builds on the idea that these dresses haven't deteriorated, they haven't expired, she said. And they can find a new home.
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