Our Sustainable Fashion Design project is geared to students ages 12-18 and focuses on how to look at fashion design through the lens of sustainability. We centralize discussions on the fashion and textile industries and their relationship to environmental degradation, and how we, consumers and everyday people, can learn how to mend, repair, and construct garments that can stay in our closets and out of the waste stream for as long as possible. 

In our twice weekly, 1.5 hour long Sustainable Fashion Design classes, our students will gain a deep understanding of how the fashion industry impacts the environment while learning how to express themselves creatively. This curriculum serves students in San Francisco’s under-resourced communities including Bayview, Mission and Excelsior neighborhoods. Students learn sewing by hand and on machines, mending, embroidery, embellishment, creative repurposing and garment construction. Classes are administered on school sites through partnerships with after school programs like YMCA Bayview and Boys and Girl's Club and in schools like Downtown High and Paul Revere. 

Our interdisciplinary fashion curriculum addresses sustainability and inclusivity through creative practice and artistic experimentation. Our goal is for any student who matriculates through a full year of our program to be able to walk into a thrift store, identify high quality fabrics or garments with promise, and have the skills to mend, reconstruct and update these pieces in order to wear them in their daily lives.