Out with the Old in with the New-ish SustainabiliTEAM

To get a better understanding of the issue of fashion waste on Grounds, we conducted various forms of research such as desk research, expert interviews, and observational research. We spoke to Lela Garner in the Office of Sustainability here at the University of Virginia to understand the problem from a professional perspective as well as the best ways to derive a solution using makerspace technology.

Through our desk research, our team was able to get a more comprehensive understanding of the life cycle of clothing and how clothing waste occurs. Nearly 85% of clothing or textile materials in the US are burned or end up in landfills when they are thrown away (“What Really Happens to Unwanted Clothes?”). This percentage includes both unused clothing and clothing that isn’t purchased in stores. At a national level, the average American throws away nearly 81 lbs of clothing per year. The reason this is such a big issue is because most fabrics aren’t recyclable. A large portion of the clothing we’re familiar with is made up of plastic synthetic fibers and materials such as polyester, acrylic, nylon, and rayon (“What Our Clothes Are Made From”). These materials ending up in landfills leads to microplastics ending up in oceans to harm marine life or other ecosystems to negatively impact the existing habitat (“The Fashion Industry Waste Is Drastically Contributing to Climate Change.”). This research brought more awareness to the scale of the impact of fashion waste and why it’s important to resolve it. This led us to the idea of having an on-Grounds thrift store for students to dispose of their clothes in a more sustainable manner so as to not further contribute to fashion waste. This solution would also give students a way to obtain clothes without having to purchase brand-new clothes, further extending the life cycle of clothing and preventing them from ending up in landfills.

In our interview with Lela Garner, we learned that while there were no existing metrics or statistics on clothing and textile waste on Grounds, members of the Office of Sustainability observed that fashion waste in fact a problem as there were often many pieces of clothing and textiles that end up in landfills form the University of Virginia. Some methods that have been used to tackle this issue in the past were donation drives or clothing swaps, though they were often done by various groups and were never a consistent event on Grounds. Garner also told us about many sustainability issues prevalent in the Charlottesville community in addition to fashion waste like general waste, food equity, affordable housing, carbon neutrality, sustainability education, and many more. Through this interview, we learned that while fashion waste wasn’t the largest problem to the University of Virginia, it was still a problem that could use a solution. Ms. Garner also stressed that a large contributor to fashion waste was the lack of understanding around the issue. While there are many ways to advocate against and resolve fashion waste, the most effective solution would be educating students on it. Through this interview, our solution direction became more defined. Rather than having a pop-up thrift store as we originally planned, we hoped to host a clothing swap where we could use the event to encourage students to sustainability dispose of their clothes and get new ones as well as educate them on the fashion waste.

Our final form of research involved observational research wherein we visited local thrift stores in Charlottesville to get a better understanding of the clothing donation process for our own clothing swap as well as to gauge the accessibility of the stores to UVA students. We visited three thrift stores: Twice is Nice, Plato’s Closet, and Uplift Thrift. At Twice is Nice, we spoke with a worker on their clothing collection process. We learned that donors drop off their donations directly at the store which saved them the issue of dealing with a middle man. They also had criteria on what kinds of clothes could be collected which facilitated the process and allowed the owners to not have to throw away any donations. The store sold their wares at a low and fair price and had a compassionate mission of supporting the elderly community of Charlottesville. While the store had a friendly atmosphere, in our time there, we didn’t see many young people or students from UVA frequenting the store. At Plato’s Closet, we learned that while they do accept predominantly youth clothing, they had a strict criteria on what clothes they accepted and would return items they rejected back to the donor. The store’ location was also 7.2 mi from Grounds, making it a difficult trip for UVA students who don’t have access to a car or a reliable source of transportation. The final store we visited was Uplift Thrift where the worker there described the process they went through when sorting the donations they received. They typically check the clothes for stains, tears, and any other features that would render the clothes unfit to be sold. We also learned about their mission of working with the non-profit organization On Our Own which helps individuals struggling with trauma, mental illness, substance use, and more.

From our research, we were able to come up with a more definitive plan to resolve clothing waste on Grounds. Our goal was to have a method for students to dispose of their clothes in an accessible manner while also informing them about clothing waste. We intended to host a clothing swap where students could drop off their unused or unwanted items of clothing and pick up clothes instead of buying new ones. We would donate all remaining clothes from the clothing swap to Uplift Thrift or the Lokal Lab Siargao, an organization that collects gently used clothing to support families affected by Typhoon Odette. We were hoping to increase the longevity of the project by making an annual or semesterly event that students could attend when they’re getting ready to move out.

We aimed to create an annual clothing swap event in which people can donate clothes they no longer need or pick up second-hand clothing items. This would allow people to get rid of clothes that no longer serve them and obtain new clothing items in a sustainable and convenient way. We also wished to create a video explaining what clothing waste is, why it occurs, and how people can help improve it. The video would consist of animations and a voiceover. To allow for the longevity of the project, we hoped to incorporate the video into a mandatory module students participate in as they enroll and before they come on Grounds.

The mini-pilot clothing swap was advertised more. We not only taped fliers around grounds, but we also reached out to multiple UVA-affiliated social media accounts, such as the official class accounts, to promote the event.

Dedra Dadzie

One important lesson I learned was to think outside the box. Usually when I see a problem , I immediately think of a way to resolve it and put most of my time and energy into that solution. Through this project, I learned that there are usually multiple facets to a problem and its solution, so usually the first idea isn’t necessarily the best one. I learned how to integrate other perspectives into my own and gained insight on new easy to solve problems.

Alessandra Paras

I have always had a creative side, but the traditional outlets of creativity usually do not suit my interests. Drawing and painting frustrate me, and I would rather be a consumer of performing arts than a performer. The Women's Maker Program, especially the community project, has taught me that STEM and art are not separate entities; they can exist simultaneously. Video editing is one of the more obvious methods for this blend. Videos tell a story, a form of art, while the editing involved requires software, a form of technology. Clothing swaps have occurred before, so adding a new aspect required innovation. The whole design process, itself, also involves creativity. All solutions stem from cleverness and often require knowledge of STEM.

Kha Truong

In the past, I wouldn’t have taken into account the importance of prototypes and gathering feedback, and instead, run straight to implementing a project. This was fine until unexpected errors would occur and interest in the idea would not be as high as intended, disappointing everyone who were involved. Through the community project and the stages we as a team went through to gather feedback and implement our plan, we were able to evaluate our ideas in a more objective manner, pushing to improve in order to succeed in the future. Without the prototype, we would’ve not known that flier advertisement should not be the only way we advertise, as gathered from our feedback which showed many students not knowing about the collection. It was through the given feedback that we improved our mini-pilot, pushing for more marketing and increasing the number of people who were interested in the clothing swap. By not cutting corners and seeing the reality of hosting the event on smaller scales (prototype and mini-pilot), we now know what to do in the future, growing and succeeding more with our new knowledge.

Elyana Zewdie

I learned to never assume what the issue is without speaking to those impacted by the issue . Then it becomes clear why research is so important. To pinpoint the exact problem we wanted to tackle, we needed to hear from local community members and experts in the field. Although intuition is helpful, if we had gone with our intuition with the issue surrounding sustainability at UVA, we would have wasted time and energy without contributing to solve the real problem.