CoA ADAM Program students were featured in the 2022 Designer Showcase at Fibershed’s Rooted in Simplicity event, on September 17, 2022, at the Fibershed Learning Center in Point Reyes, California. ADAM students Chi Do and Lina Egutkina participated in an innovative workshop that focused on making indigo dye vats at the Fibershed Learning Center in June 2022. They used the skills that they learned at the workshop to produce the original designs that were featured in the Designer Showcase. They worked with Climate Beneficial fabrics such as Sally Fox’s French terry with color-grown organic cotton, ribbed knit with California-grown cotton, and a beautiful twill fabric that was woven using undyed, California Rambouillet wool.
Fibershed is a non-profit organization whose mission is to develop regional fiber systems that build ecosystem and community health. Fibershed is collaborating with design schools in Northern California, like CoA’s Apparel Design and Merchandising (ADAM) Program, to help influence the future of fashion in a more sustainable direction. An article about the collaboration was published on Fibershed’s website, featuring an in-depth interview with CoA’s ADAM Department Chair Derek Piazza (click here to access the full article).
When asked how the collaboration is helping ADAM students, Piazza responded that “collaborations with Fibershed are invaluable to our students. For ADAM Industry Talks, Rebecca Burgess speaks to our fashion students about the impact of the fashion industry on the earth .... current changes that continue to be made with local farmers, weavers, and dyers, and how those changes are positively influencing the fashion industry.” He added: “Our previous collaborations have included Fibershed workshops on natural dyeing and mending clothing, which allowed students to take those learned skills and incorporate them into their collections.”
According to Fibershed’s philosophy and mission, in order to realize a more sustainable fashion future, tomorrow’s fashion designers must understand how the whole life cycles of the apparel they create impact people and the environment. For more information about Fibershed and to read the article click here.
