Introduction

Did you know that 92,000,000 pounds of clothes are dumped into landfills each year, that's enough to fill the Empire State Building every day! This is fueled by the fast fashion industry, constantly producing new clothing to keep up with ever-revolving trend cycles. In order to tackle the issue of overconsumption pushed by fast fashion and its environmental impact, my capstone project will dive into the lost art of sewing, teaching others through an informational pamphlet.  

Literature review

Sewing has always been in my family with my grandmother and my mother, who both know how to sew. They are extremely influential to my project by teaching me how to use a sewing machine and teaching me hand sewing at an early age. Before starting the project, I looked into some scholarly articles to help explain my need to sew, instead of indulging in the lower prices of fast fashion. The article,  "State of the Art of Post-Consumer Textile Waste Upcycling to Reach the Zero Waste Milestone”, explains that upcycling garments or fabric will help reduce waste (pollution) and takes a deeper look into the environmental and economic benefits of reducing consumption. Instead of clothing ending up in landfills, the source investigates other ways of repurposing by recycling, decycling, and upcycling. An artistic influence that I discovered was Becca Berk’s YouTube channel, in which she walks the audience through her tutorials of sewing and mentions the ideal of wanting to stay up to date with fashion trends while being environmentally friendly. Both of these sources contribute to my desire to share the skill of sewing, for the environment, to prevent overconsumption, and to have a personal touch to the clothing we wear. 

Methods

In order to create my capstone project, sewing will be the main output, repairing and creating garments. Traditional research papers will highlight the need to refrain from promoting fast fashion and will demonstrate support for sewing and its sustainability. The last step is to aid my audience in learning how to sew and more about its benefits. This will be achieved through the use of an educational pamphlet, with research on my topic and links to beginner sewing tutorials. 

Audience/Impact 

As my project focuses more on a garment-forward aspect of sustainability, my intended audience is anyone who has an interest in fashion and the environment. My desired impact for this project to have on others is to evaluate what aspects of their life they can change in order to reduce textile waste/consumption, as well as become increasingly aware of their environmental footprint. By spreading the art of sewing, my audience will become aware of its positive impact, see that online trends fuel our extreme consumerism, and discover the deeper negative implications of supporting fast fashion, like its impacts on self-image and exclusivity.

References

Stanescu, Michaela Dina. “State of the Art of Post-Consumer Textile Waste Upcycling to Reach the Zero Waste Milestone.” Environmental Science and Pollution Research International, vol. 28, no. 12, 2021, pp. 14253–14270.

Iannilli, Valeria Maria, and Alessandra Spagnoli. “Conscious Fashion Culture: Rethinking Consumption in Contemporary Fashion.” Fashion Highlight, vol. 3, 2024, pp. 8–15.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Harold Burgess, my faculty advisor, for pushing me to explore this project in different ways and create something I’m truly passionate about. I would also like to thank my roommates for dealing with my fashion craziness and wanting to style them. Finally, I’d like to thank my mother and grandmother for introducing me to the sewing world and the thrifting bug.