Our after school fashion club will focus on how we can consume less by recycling used clothing and reduce the impacts of fast fashion on our world. Our community of Watsonville is a majority Hispanic and low income so online retailers like "Shien" are appealing to the middle school since the prices are low and products trendy. This creates waste as trends fall in and out of style thus building up our second hand stores and dump.
By researching in our fashion club we can create a message to take to the whole school regarding clothing sustainability as a way to reduce, reuse, and recycle our definition of fashion in order to be more earth conscious. Our fashion club also participates in a broader program called FashionTeen in the area where we put on a sustainable fashion show featuring student made work from various middle and high schools. The students will begin by researching the life-cycle of clothing. Then designing and planning their garments with sustainable practices in mind. Whereby they will be creating pieces from recycled and secondhand materials to use in our message to the school about sustainability or to be submitted into the fashion show. Then students will make an informative video to put in the school news or present at a rally in order to show how upcycling clothing is a way to personalize, share identity, and save the planet little by little. I as the teacher will facilitate, ensure safety, and gather the materials needed.
