By: Petra Chase, Arts & Culture Editor

Ivy Huang is a 16-year-old from Vancouver with a passion for sustainable fashion. She started EcoChic Threads with a mentor to engage her community, specifically other teenagers, in upcycling. Their first event, which took place on September 15 at Kerrisdale Community Centre, brought a group of like-minded teens and adults together to talk about their shared interests in sustainable fashion, and upcycle together.

EcoChic Threads was created for “repurposing and extending the life of garments” in a way that’s financially accessible for teenagers. Their aim is to provide online upcycling classes, upcycling services for customers, and organize events like their successful workshop and networking event last month. They’re hoping to plan more events, including speaking events. While the team is still constructing their website and expanding their team, they’ve been eager to start making a difference. 

Equipped with sewing machines, Huang led the workshop in transforming T-shirts or jeans, which participants brought from home, into handbags. “As each participant has different skills, artistic taste, and clothes material, we encourage them to try out,” Huang said. They learned various techniques like “adding embellishments” and “exploring sustainable dyeing methods.” The goal was for people to leave with skills they can apply to continue to repurpose their clothing. People also brought pre-loved clothing for a clothing swap, and anything not taken was donated to local charities.

Huang’s interest in fashion began in grade 2, when she joined a club about the basics of clothing sketching and sewing. Her grandmother also taught her how to fix clothes for her family members. In middle school, she took a visual arts class and incorporated sewing and threading in her project. As a teenager, Huang started looking into the production process of clothing brands like H&M and Zara and learned about fast fashion. That’s when she was inspired to take action.

Huang shared some staggering statistics: according to theroundup.org, up to 100 billion new garments are produced globally every year. 87% of this material will end up in incinerators or landfills. “Only 1% of clothes will be recycled into new garments.”

There are a slew of ethical and environmental concerns along the fast fashion supply chain, from the toxic contamination of water from textile dyes, to the energy-intensive processes draining the earth’s finite materials, and the atrocious conditions for underpaid workers, who are often children or forced workers, just to keep production costs low.

She touched on the phenomenon of “wardrobe panic”: the feeling of not knowing what to wear. According to a study by Trunk Club, 28% “of the items in the average person’s closet have never been worn or have gone untouched for over a year.”

“Fast fashion pushes people to keep buying new clothing, but its value is short,” Huang said. “Even going through the recycling process is harmful to the environment. Reuse is the only solution that allows customers to have the freedom of not only following the fashion trends, but also to make their own style and new fashion.”

Ecochic Threads are “instigators of sustainable dialogues and facilitators of interactions amongst individuals with shared ecological and creative passions.”

Find out more about Ecochic Threads at their website, ivyhh1689.wixsite.com/ecochic-threads. For inquiries or to get involved, email Ivy at [email protected].