Making fashion piece by piece

I'm Karen Holmes Ward. WELCOME TO CITYLINE. CLEAN OUT YOUR CLOSET. YOU ARE LOOKING TO REFRESH YOUR WARDROBE LATER IN THE PROGRAM WE'RE GOING TO SHARE SOME TIPS ON HOW TO DO THIS IN A MORE SUSTAINABLE WAY. But first, we'll take you to Mass College of Art and Design, where the next generation of designers are looking to make their mark in the fashion industry, not the environment. CUSTOMIZED OR SERIES-PRODUCED FASHION, TRENDY OR TIMELESS. IT’S AN INDUSTRY ROOTED IN NECESSITY AND CULTURE. BUT THE JOURNEY FROM THE TRACKS TO CONSUMER CLOSETS IS littered with wasteful practices. CARBON EMISSIONS, WATER POLLUTION AND OVERCONSUMPTION DRIVEN BY POORLY MADE, CHEAP CLOTHING, THIS $1.7 MILLION GLOBAL INDUSTRY HAS AT LEAST ONE COMING READY TO JOIN THE RANKS OF MORE OF 300 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE CLOTHING SUPPLY CHAIN. ONLY SHE WILL WORK CONSCIOUSLY TO DESIGN A BETTER FUTURE, ONE GARMENT AT A TIME. BUT I AM REALLY IN LOVE WITH THE END RESULT. HAYLEY RIVAS IS WORKING HARD TO FINISH HER SENIOR PROJECT AT MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN. SHE TAKES THE CHALLENGE OF WORKING SUSTAINABLY THANKS TO THE MATERIALS SHE CHOSE AND HER WORK METHODOLOGY. IT'S A SUSTAINABLE FASHION COLLECTION THAT EXISTS ON WATER AND HOW WATER CAN SERVE AS AN ANALOGY FOR PEOPLE COMING TOGETHER TO DO GOOD THINGS. SO THIS PARTICULAR DESIGN IS INSPIRED BY A WATERFALL IN BRAZIL, UM, PRECISELY ALONG THE BORDER BETWEEN BRAZIL AND ARGENTINA. THE IGUASSU WATERFALLS. THEY ARE ONE OF THE SEVEN NEW NATURAL WONDERS OF THE WORLD. AND SO I TOOK I HAD VERY MINIMAL QUANTITIES OF THIS BLUE FABRIC AND THIS GREEN, BUT I WAS ABLE TO USE BOTH SIDES BECAUSE THEY HAVE DIFFERENT TEXTURES AND SO I CREATED DIFFERENT TEXTURES AND PUT THEM TOGETHER AND I CREATED KIND OF THIS SHOULDER, uh, DRESS. And then I used a wedding dress for this white fabric right here. And I have a sheet underneath, underneath, which I find very funny to think about. A LOT OF THINGS THAT I ALSO USE COME FROM THE INITIATIVE THAT I LAUNCHED HERE ON CAMPUS, WHICH IS A TEXTILE WASTE COLLECTION INITIATIVE. ALL OF THESE THINGS WENT DIRECTLY INTO THE WASTE STREAM, AND FOR ME THIS WAS NOT ACCEPTED. AND I STARTED WITH A SMALL CARDBOARD BOX. I asked permission and just put it under the table and within a week it was overflowing. THAT'S A BIG PART OF ANY KIND OF WASTE COLLECTION OR REDUCTION OR, YOU KNOW, A DIVERSION SYSTEM IS KNOWING WHERE THINGS ARE GOING TO END UP. HAYLEY'S COMMITMENT TO REDUCE WASTE IMPRESSED TEACHERS AT THE SCHOOL, INCLUDING PROFESSOR JENNIFER VERKAMP, CHAIR OF THE FASHION DEPARTMENT, WHO THEN HELPED HER DEVELOP THE PROGRAM. SHE HAS ALWAYS BEEN FOCUSED ON MAKING HER WORK FROM DISPUTES OF MATERIALS SHE COLLECTED. SO WE GOT THESE BIG BINS THAT WE PLACED ALL OVER THE STUDIO US. Um, and she did the signage for it and it was a huge success. HAYLEY'S INTEREST IN SEWING STARTED AT A YOUNG AGE, WATCHING HER GRANDMOTHER, A SEAMLESS WHO ALSO USES SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND NOW BENEFITS FROM HAYLEY'S WASTE COLLECTION. SOME OF THE BIGGEST WASTE I FIND, I SEND THEM OFF ONCE I AM ABLE TO COLLECT A LARGE AMOUNT. UH, AND SHE MAKES DRESSES FOR LITTLE GIRLS, AND SHE ALSO MAKES QUILTS, AND SHE GIVES THEM TO PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEEDS IN HER COMMUNITY IN COLOMBIA, IN THEIR LATEST REPORT, EPAS DATA SHOWS DISCHARGES TEXTILES RECEIVED 11.3 MILLION TONS OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE IN 2018. THE MAIN SOURCE OF TEXTILES IN MSW IS DISCARDED CLOTHING. IT’S NOT JUST FINISHED PRODUCTS THAT ARRIVE IN LANDFILLS, AS STUDENTS LEARN HOW TO MINIMIZE WASTE AT EACH STEP OF THE DESIGN PROCESS. NORMALLY, IF YOU PUT, YOU KNOW, A NORMAL PATTERN THAT YOU HAVE, THAT YOU'RE CREATING FOR A GARMENT THAT'S ABOUT 15% WARWICK GREASE WASTE. So, traditionally, these fabric wastes are thrown away or go to an incinerator or a landfill, or there are other solutions coming for this. BUT BUT IT'S STILL A PROBLEM. SO ALL YOU CAN MINIMIZE YOUR WASTE. VAREKAMP STATES THAT THE PURPOSE OF THE COURSES IS NOT TO DISTRIBUTE STUDENTS FROM INDUSTRY, BUT TO ENCOURAGE THEM TO FIND CREATIVE SOLUTIONS. Devens, you are opening a can of worms, basically because you are telling students all the things that are bad about the industry they are actually going to work in. I could see a really nice change in mindset among my classmates before, it was mostly people throwing things away, and I would be the only one to really grasp it from there. But now I see people, you know, going through this and grabbing it to use it for their projects. HAYLEY USES COVERING MATERIALS IN THE FOUNDATION OF HER WORK AND IN THE LARGER DESIGN. So here it's muslin. THIS IS A TEST FABRIC THAT WE VERY COMMONLY USE TO CREATE SORT OF MOCK-UPS OF WHAT OUR FINAL DESIGNS WILL BE. AND SO WHAT I DO IS KIND OF TEAR IT INTO STRIPS AND TURN IT INTO THE BASE OF THE STRUCTURE. Um, this is based on what a hoop skirt would be, kind of to create these big, voluminous dresses. AND SO I CREATE A DIFFERENT TYPE OF DESIGN WITH HER. AND I USE THIS AS A STRUCTURE. I like to think of myself as an optimistic designer. Um, there are a lot of things in the world that can sometimes bring us down and worry about our future, about the world around us. Um, but I always like to bring a smile to people's faces when they look at my work. I know I must do my part to help save our planet. I hope I knew that I didn't want to contribute to any harm to the environment, any harm to the people who work in sewing clothes for a living, and I just knew that I was going to dedicate my sustainable fashion career. Um, according to the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection, Matt has more than 25 companies, manufacturers and nonprofit organizations that collect, reuse, recycle or convert used textiles into new products. CHRONICLES ANTHONY EVERETT TELLS US ABOUT ONE OF THEM. YOU HAVE SEEN LARGE METAL BOXES WHERE YOU CAN PUT UNNECESSARY CLOTHES, SHOES AND LAUNDRY. BUT WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU LEAVE THE CHELSEA TEXTILE COLLECTION COMPANY TOOK US INTO THEIR WOBURN WAREHOUSE. WE COLLECT APPROXIMATELY 5 MILLION POUNDS OF CLOTHING A YEAR. THE BIG GOAL IS TO KEEP CLOTHES OUT OF LANDFILLS AS ESTIMATED THAT THE AVERAGE PERSON THROWS OUT MORE THAN 100 POUNDS OF TEXTILES EVERY YEAR, CHIEF OF STAFF LISA SCANNELLA, 95% OF WHAT WE COLLECT ENDS UP BEING REUSED AS CLOTHING OR REUSED AS SOMETHING ELSE. 5% IF ITEN DRIVERS DROP TEX AT THIS WAREHOUSE, THEY GO DIRECTLY TO THE PRESS PRESS. They are made into thousand-pound packages, Chelsea packs them into trailers and sells them. THESE CUSTOMERS HAVE A CALIBRATION OR SORTING OPERATION. THEY WILL SORT THE CLOTHES AND EXTRACT THE MOST VALUE FROM THEM. IT'S LIKE AN INVENTORY FOR THE Thrift Stores. MAYBE IF IT'S LIKE A COTTON T-SHIRT THAT HAS A STAIN OR A HOLE, IT'S STILL AN ABSORBENT MATERIAL AND COULD STILL BE USED AS A WINDSHIELD WIPER. So it's a bag that someone placed in a trash can. And that's kind of stuff you can find. SO PRETTY AMERICAN EAGLE SHORTS. It looks like a summer wardrobe. REUSABLE CLOTHES THAT ARE SO PERFECTLY GOOD. SHAYNA SAYS IT'S BETTER TO REUSE CLOTHES AS CLOTHES BECAUSE OF THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY AND RESOURCES USED TO CREATE THE ITEMS IN THE FIRST PLACE. But they will still find what to do with worn shoes and stained shirts. We want to do the hard work of matching what is good enough for reuse and recycling. IN NOVEMBER 2022, MASSACHUSETTS BANNED TEXTILES FROM WASTE COLLECTION. SHAYNA HOPES THIS WILL CHANGE HABITS. I think at this point it's the norm to think about recycling cardboard, plastic, aluminum, paper. BUT THAT WASN’T ALWAYS THE CASE, RIGHT? So we've made strides in textiles by getting people thinking about reuse and recycling, which helps us run textile recycling programs for about two dozen communities in Massachusetts, including Cambridge. THE COMPANY EMPTY THE COLLECTION BINS AND ALSO COLLECT TEXTILES FROM RESIDENTS. IT’S ALSO A MONEY SAVE TO THROW TEXTILES IN THE TRASH. COST THE CITY MONEY, AND SO BY DIVERTING THE ITEMS TO ONE OF THESE BIN OR CROWN COLLECTION, YOU SAVE THE CITY MONEY. NOT ONLY THAT, THE CONTRACT WE HAVE WITH OUR SUPPLIER IS A CONTRACT WITHOUT COST TO US. CAMBRIDGE RECYCLING DIRECTOR MIKE AYER SAYS RESIDENTS HAVE ADOPTED THE PROGRAM. Um, we collect almost 20 tons per month during the summer. I think a lot of people like the idea of ​​having a really simple system to manage, like a lot of their waste. NEXT, SPEND OR MAKE FAKES. WHAT IS V