For the past several years, Goodwill SF Bay has partnered with the San Francisco State University’s Apparel Design and Merchandising department on projects around circular fashion and textile reuse. For our recent collaboration, we mentored a cohort of six senior students and provided them with unsold clothing items from our retail channels. The students took these items and re-imagined them, giving them a second life as a festival-wear collection. Each student applied their own unique design sensibilities, creating innovative garments that go beyond typical upcycling. We are thrilled to display the garments and share more about the project in-store at our Haight location, where the full collection will be showcased on mannequins from July 31 to August 12. 

The students started their design project with a tour of our South San Francisco warehouse. They had the opportunity to see first-hand how we process millions of garments every year, giving them a new life via donation collection and resale channels. They learned more about our role in the circular fashion economy and how the rise of fast fashion poses new challenges. With their recycled garments in hand, they got to work transforming them into something new and future-thinking. During the process they received input from our visual merchandising team, who mentored them on their designs and how to elevate them for display in our store. 

The designs debuted at the SFSU fashion show in May, where the students wore their outfits down the runway and celebrated their incredible work. It’s impressive how these students were able to take something deemed unwanted and rework it into something completely unique and fashion-forward. Read about each student and their personal creativity below:

Stella Smith

I got my first fashion design book when I was 12 and since then I have loved fashion design! I think this collaboration with Goodwill was really important because we are in a day and age where we buy new trendy garments one week and throw them out the rest. Upcycling allows us to create more cherished, personalized pieces while not letting those old ones go to waste. A main inspiration for me was contrasting materials ie. metal and cotton/denim. Recently there's also been a lot of love for denim and two pieces so I wanted to incorporate that into my look as well! 

Melissa Martinez

As an apparel design and merchandising student, I intend to apply what I learn during my undergraduate education to a career in textile product supply chain. I aim to promote the effective resale and maintenance of textile products through the work I do, and the collaboration with Goodwill was a great opportunity to apply what I’ve learned to a project that aligns with my goals. As my contribution to the project, I sewed unsold jeans into jean skirts. There seems to be a large supply of unsold jeans in the country, and by turning them into jean skirts, they can be appreciated by a new group of people. 

Avalon Owens

I was eager to be a part of the Goodwill Redesign project as I really enjoy collaborating with other artists. My inspiration quickly developed once the team mentioned festivals such as ‘Woodstock’ or ‘Stage Coach’ as much of the trends and styles of these events are mirrored in my personal fashion sense. As my teammates and me found our way to a more neutral color palette I took to silhouette and texture to create a unique and individual look. I had a fantastic time working on this project as it allowed me to reimagine all the elements of upcycling including garment selection, deconstruction, redesign, and constructing new pieces. Being in such a waste-heavy industry, I was thrilled to be a part of the sustainability initiative and contribute to making the world of fashion a bit more green while still remaining creative and fun.   

Antoinette Montano

Since middle school, I’ve been upcycling old clothing and materials into renewed garments. This hobby of mine helped me realize my passion for sustainability within the fashion industry and made me choose this major!  

I’ve been shopping at Goodwill for most of my life, and I’m very grateful to have collaborated with them and my classmates to create this “Festival Wear” collection. Inspired by late 1960s hippie fashion and the Woodstock music festival, my design features a bell sleeve top upcycled from a lace dress, lace-up jeans with denim inserts in the side seams, and a matching bralette made from the leftover denim scraps. I hope my journey towards sustainable fashion inspires others to take part in the movement. 

Bryce Harris

Upcycling and art are integral parts to the way I connect and share my perspective in the world. This project was very important in terms of understanding how second-hand distributors can work with my peers and I to change the fashion industry for the better. By studying and employing different upcycling methods we conspired to make a great collection that took inspiration from different festival eras. I took elements from various scenes and genres from rock shows, to raves and incorporated them into a modular vest that can be worn in any setting.

Jake Ferrigno

I am particularly interested in sewing techniques and garment construction. I find that my biggest inspirations when designing are that from film, as well as from my friends and peers. I found this experience working with Goodwill, and my peers, to be very interesting. It was particularly joyful to see creativity that many displayed in regards to working within a rigid professional standard. Hopefully some of the garments will fall into that standard.

Make sure to stop by our Haight store next month to see these garments on display and appreciate all the little details that the students worked so hard on. Maybe you’ll get inspired to pick something from our racks and reimagine it with a DIY project of your own! 

This partnership with SFSU demonstrates just one of the ways that Goodwill SF Bay is committed to reimagining the future of fashion. We have also worked to advocate for California legislation to advance textile repair and recycling , led programs that identify the best ways to give damaged clothing a second life through repair and cleaning, and supported research that will help fuel innovation and make textile recycling at scale a reality in the US. It is part of the Goodwill SF Bay mission to not only help the people in our communities, but also ensure that those communities make choices that are sustainable and better for our planet.