How are textile students tackling fast fashion?
Fast fashion is a fast-moving problem in the textile industry. Source: Shutterstock

“Textiles embody all the dimensions of art: colour, innovation, talent.” – Stanley Marcus 

Fast fashion is costing our planet its natural environment.

Failing to embrace eco-friendly practices, many global brands are still selling synthetic apparel that has being rapidly manufactured.

Not only does fast fashion push out materials that aren’t sustainable, it also endorses shifting trends that push consumers to purchase more and more so they can be in style.

To slow down the process of fast fashion, with the hopes of some day eradicating it, here are a few methods textile students have used to strive against the anti-eco concept.

Why is there such a rapid rate of thread production if we already have enough? Source: Josh Edgoose/Unsplash

Setting up a sustainable fashion initiative

For those textile students who really care about sustainable fashion, have you ever thought about setting up a creative fashion initiative that uses unwanted fabrics and worn out materials?

Across your campus, there are going to be students who buy a new collection of clothes every year to suit the latest trends and keep on track with certain styles.

But what happens to all their unwanted garments?

Unfortunately, even if these students choose to donate them, it’s likely that they’ll end up sitting in a warehouse waiting to be sold by charity shops or buried beneath a landfill site.

To stray away from fast fashion, students at the University of Cincinnati started up their own Sustainable Fashion Initiative (SFI). By recycling fabric and keeping it away from garbage wastelands, this scheme takes sustainable textiles to the next level.

Provoking change at acclaimed events

Did you hear about the students who recently recycled clothes for London Fashion Week (LFW)?

Deciding to take on the challenge of repairing, recycling and reusing clothes to wear at an LFW show, these Loughborough University students wanted to make a statement.

Instead of purchasing the newest design from a designer label, they used only second-hand and reused clothing, plus a repaired or restyled item from their wardrobe.

Campaigning for ethical fashion, these students proved that they were still on trend, despite wearing charity-bought clothes and items they already had in their wardrobe.

By capturing media attention at important fashion events, there’s a chance that you’ll inspire other fashionistas and textile designers to use what they already have or to purchase second-hand items instead.

The act of yarn bombing

As the ‘yarn bomber’ above demonstrates, the public should be more mindful of their trash and their eco-footprint.

The act of yarn bombing transforms local communities with colourful threads and spreads a positive message across towns. Instead of studying in a rubbish-infused campus, textile students have been known to take their craft to the surrounding areas of their university and spruce up bike racks, trees and even entire buses in to spread the eco-message.

Recently, students and faculty members at Flagler College teamed up with a local textile guild to cover their campus in yarn.

According to senior Flagler student Harrington, “The goal for Random Acts of Fiber Kindness was simple. Cover the campus in yarn, to bring people a little burst of joy. That we did and there were many smiles caused by brightly coloured yarn this past week.”

So, why not live in a world of colour and sustainable threads, rather than polluting plastics and grey, industrial streets?

But textile students aren’t the only ones who are trying to transform the planet – there are plenty of other initiatives for you to get involved with on- or off-campus grounds.

Just take a leap of faith and let your creative ideas create innovative solutions.

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