A road to sustainable fashion: up-cycling t-shirts
Source: https://greatlakesecho.org/2022/10/11/a-road-to-sustainable-fashion-up-cycling-t-shirts/
Author: Borjana Alia
Since 2003, Andrew has been taking steps in the fashion industry to promote sustainable clothing. She launched her label, Madam Chino, in Milwaukee with the goal of making people feel good in their clothes while helping the environment. Prior to her days as a designer, Andrew had no intention of ever being immersed in the fast- moving fashion industry. She was an artist using the media of painting and drawing. But once she stad getting into sewing, her perspective changed. “It was a reciprocating idea. I could be helping people in this regard, and that’s when I realized, I wanted to help people and help the environment, so that was sort of my way in,” she said. Driven by determination and a passion for the environment, Andrew has created all kinds of silhouettes through upcycled t-shirts. Whatever specific request a client has in mind, Andrew is able to creatively and sustainably create that piece. According to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a little over 3 million tons of textiles in municipal solid waste (MSW) were combusted in 2018. “Landfills received 11.3 million tons of MSW textiles in 2018,” the EPA said. “This was 7.7% of all MSW landfilled.”
That isn’t the only way that Andrew is able to be sustainable in her design work.