By Long Beach State students were encouraged to share eco-friendly and ethical alternatives to fast fashion, including thrifting and buying secondhand clothing, during Associated Students Inc.’s Sustain U workshop event on Oct. 21.
23-year-old animation major and Sustain U Student Lead Assistant Elena Gant said most students know how to contribute to slow fashion, a humane approach to creating high-quality clothing with less environmental impact.
Contributing to slow fashion includes donating, thrifting and mending one’s clothes.
“I expected people to be average on [this] knowledge mostly because thrifting and buying more sustainable brands—at least in clothing—has become more of a trend lately,” Gant said. “I just don’t think that they would have been knowledgeable on the human impact.”
Attendees learned about the Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013 as a modern consequence of human exploitation in the fashion industry. The Triangle Shirt Factory fire from 1911, the first major human tragedy in the history of the fashion industry, was also explored with those at the meeting.
Over 50 students attended the workshop in USU 205 on Monday. Attendees who answered questions related to Gant’s presentation received raffle tickets to win up to three prizes, including a sewing machine, an eco-friendly duffel bag and an embroidery kit.
According to Janelle Marin, a 19-year-old construction engineering management major, it was mandatory for students of Professor Allison Butler’s Business 220 class to attend the workshop.
Marin said anyone who took a picture of a specific slide from the presentation would receive extra credit for Butler’s class.
“We are constantly in contact with [Butler],” Gant said. “Usually, for all of our workshops, she advertises them to her students.”
Gant said the workshop was inspired by a conversation with a former Sustain U member about thrifting, which opened her eyes to the harm companies do because of fast fashion.
“The more he explained, the more I started to research and learn to the point that I only shop for secondhand stuff,” Gant said.
According to Gant, this workshop would be her last with Sustain U before she leaves the organization in mid-November to focus on graduating next semester.
“Usually towards the end of the semester, people don’t come into our workshops, mostly because of midterms and finals going on,” Gant said. “So, this last workshop…everyone was here, and all the tables were filled up. That was great.”
