Value Village and Eco Fashion Week Spotlight Sustainable Fashion

The 81 Pound Challenge merges style and sustainability in a sartorial show at Eco Fashion Week. Presented by Value Village, the challenge demonstrates the thrift giant’s dedication to promoting environmentally sustainable fashion through reuse. Each year Value Village diverts more than 650 million pounds of reusable goods from landfills by repurposing them in their stores and responsibly recycling unsold items.

CLOTHING WASTE

In our age of excess, a plethora of textiles are discarded each year. Up until 2014, the average North American threw away approximately 68 pounds of clothing annually. Last year, the number grew to 81 pounds. Sadly, North Americans send 10.5 million tons of clothing to landfills every year. Ninety-five percent of which could be reused or recycled.

THE CHALLENGE

The 81 Pound Challenge is so named to reflect the shocking statistic of textile waste; fashion design students from The Visual College of Art and Design were tasked to curate a collection of 30 contemporary designs from 81 pounds of unsold items, found at local Value Village stores. Their results debuted on the runway during Eco Fashion Week, April 9-14.

FINAL COLLECTION

From casual clothing to evening ensembles, the students’ goal is to encourage and inspire people to shop thrift and extend the useful life of clothing. The collection demonstrates that it’s possible to reuse and repurpose items into fashionable outfits, reducing waste and increasing savings in the process. Consumers are always on the hunt for the best bang for buck, so thrifting is the perfect way to procure pieces that are easy on the eyes and the budget.

A TRAILBLAZING CURRICULUM

This year, the 81 Pound Challenge is part of the VCAD fashion design curriculum and one of the first of its kind to incorporate a course dedicated to social and environmental responsibility. The challenge highlights the amount of clothing thrown away that could otherwise be recycled or repurposed and epitomizes the saying ‘what’s old is new again’. “The purpose is to show how to close the loop of clothing,” says Natasha Campbell, applied arts department head at VCAD.

#RethinkReuse

As a whole, the world now consumes over 80 billion pieces of new clothing yearly. Being able to reuse, reimagine and repurpose already produced clothing is invaluable to the planet. The goal of Value Village and Eco Fashion Week is to bring awareness to the importance of making more sustainable fashion choices, but also respond to evolving consumer habits. Shoppers have become more conscientious of the brands they give their business to, and are seeking to align themselves with companies that share their values.