The new Fashion Sustainability Team is preparing a portfolio to submit in a competition in late November.
Junior and club president Alicia Gonzalez said she founded the team in order to raise awareness about the importance of the sustainability of fashion and clothes.
The students on the team said they plan to discover ways of recycling unwearable clothing.
Through these efforts, they endeavor to create a more sustainable way of shopping, creating and thinking in preparation for the competition.
Gonzalez said she has been interested in fashion for as long as she can remember, but recently her consciousness of it has grown.
“I have become aware of and passionate about addressing the issues of ethical production and environmental sustainability in the fast fashion industry,” Gonzalez said.
During this past April, Gonzalez was involved in an annual event the Fashion Revolution Organization hosts for Fashion Revolution Week.
“They contacted me asking if I would like to lead a team for the first ever Fashion Revolution High School Competition,” Gonzalez said. “Of course, I said yes.”
The purpose of the Fashion Revolution High School Competition (FRHSC) is to spread awareness about the importance of sustainable fashion in the high school community.
“I think the Fashion Sustainability [competition] urges students to be active, contributing members to the group and creative process with an end date and product in mind,” English teacher and club sponsor Heather Hilton said.
With this in mind, Gonzalez brought together a group of seven people to take part in the club with her. Senior Zoe Belland said she joined the team because she has always been interested in fashion.
“This club has really allowed me time and space [..] in a group full of support and creativity,” Belland said.
The team engages in activities such as going to thrift stores and visiting museums to learn about fashion and upcycling old garments in preparation for the competition.
They will need to have a complete write-up and video guide about seven objectives for acceptance into the competition.
“We took photos to document our experiences there,” Gonzalez said. “Some of us wrote down different quotes to compile into a Google Slides presentation and make a digital portfolio.”
Gonzalez said her favorite thing about the competition is how the work it requires manages to bring everyone who is interested in fashion and sustainability together in their excitement for working towards the projects.
“[But, at the same time,] it is a little bit stressful [since] they have several deadlines for submissions, so getting those in on time might be a bit of a challenge,” Gonzalez said. “But I am fully confident that we will be able to do it.”