Transdisciplinary Teams Turn Unwanted Clothing Into New Products

What can be done with post-consumer textile waste once it’s collected? As part of an industry project with WM and Goodwill, transdisciplinary student teams sought creative solutions to this problem.

“Sustainability must be part of a modern, forward-thinking fashion education,” says Carly Kusy, interim fashion design program director. “Employers are increasingly looking to Generation Z to bring new ideas to the table. Sustainability is part of that conversation.”

Over the spring semester, small groups worked to transform post-consumer textile waste into an item of value. Teams featured fashion design seniors in a special topics course and textile technology, textile product science, and undergrad and graduate engineering students in the Textile Composites course taught by Dr. Brian George. The director of Jefferson’s engineering programs has long researched ways to turn trash, like poultry feathers and peanut shells, into textiles.

Students met weekly to work on their projects, and to help with their research, they visited a WM textile recycling facility and a Goodwill sorting and collection facility.

At the April 25 final crit in front of faculty and industry reps, the five teams showcased their projects, including:

• Adjustable children’s overalls made from button-down shirts with the waste used to create a companion stuffed animal
• A modular bag made by heat setting denim with a layer of recycled plastic bags
• A size-inclusive, gender-neutral jacket with a wax covering for water resistance and insulated with downcycled clothing 
• A modular bag from denim and pleather that uses hardware from downcycled fibers mixed with epoxy
• A modular duffle bag from a tent and insulation from downcycled clothing that can be converted into a sleeping mat and pillow for the unhoused population.