Sustainable Clothing Collection

Something that always interests me as a child is creating my own clothes. The idea of designing and creating a top or a dress from scratch seemed very fascinating to me. So for that reason, I decided that for my personal project I will design and sew creating my own sustainable clothing line that will then be presented through a spring lookbook. I added a sustainable factor to my project because I believe that the environmental and ethical impact of the fashion industry is a subject that should receive more attention as the environment is one of the most pressing issues of the world right now. By combining the two components, I formulated my goal statement, which is to design and create an eco-friendly spring collection showcased through a lookbook.

Global Context

The global context of my Personal Project will be focusing on Globalization and Sustainability (International Baccalaureate / MYP Global Contexts). This global context focuses on the interconnection between human-made systems and the community, how decisions made by humans for economic growth, affect the environment. Substituting the synthetic, non-biodegradable fabrics of unsustainable fashion wear that causes detrimental effects to the environment will have a great effect on the world if done slowly but collectively. Creating an eco-friendly clothing collection will go against the widespread of fast fashion industries and instead, promotes global sustainability.

Product

The lookbook itself is very simple yet engaging, the different pieces that contrast each other looks unified given the concept that was chosen carefully to ensure just that. Within the lookbook, I have created a total of five articles of clothing consisting of one that was a reworked piece, and the rest that was made from scratch using old fabrics and clothes.

Reflection

Working on this project has taught me a lot of things. I always envisioned myself sewing and creating my own clothes from scratch and through this project, I was successfully able to accomplish just that. While creating my product, I mainly used my thinking skills. I had to think it through and be confident in what I am doing and risk failing and possibly wasting the fabric. It taught me the importance of having bright imaginations capable of visualizing various styles as well as problem-solving all of the challenges that come your way.

Though I have completed this project and am pretty proud of the results, there are a lot more things that I wish I could have done to improve my project. I wish that I have created more clothes because at first, I planned to create 6 but because of the time limitations and lack of fabrics, I was not able to accomplish that. I also wished that I had made at least one item of clothing completely eco friendly, sewed by hands to ensure a 0% greenhouse gas emission. As a whole, I just wish that I was able to do more for the cause of sustainable fashion and to create a larger impact on the world.

IB Learner Reflection

This personal project might be the biggest project I have ever had to do in my life. It was a whole lot of fun and through the different steps I had to take for this project, I was able to develop myself as a person but more importantly, as an IB student. During the research and planning part of the project, I used my risk-taking and communicating skills. I had to take risks in doing this project and really believe that I can accomplish and reach my goal, but through that process, I also had to communicate with different types of people like my supervisor, grandmother, etc to make this journey possible.

Overall this project has unquestionably changed my life and have fulfilled me because I have a newfound hobby, sewing. I hope I can create more beautiful clothes from here on now and always practice my beliefs on the importance of sustainable fashion.