St. Catharines kids discover what’s old can be new again

In the battle against the environmental and sociological damage fast fashion can bring, Ferndale Public School students learned this spring that one of the solutions is to simply look up.

Upcycle, that is.

On Thursday, May 19 students held an upcycling and thrifting fashion show, with students modelling just what can be done with a little creativity. After the show and the three months of research and work that led up to it, thrifting and upcycling will be much more on the minds of many of the students.

“I had (gone thrifting) a couple times, but now I definitely want to do a lot more,” said Jessica Potter, one of the students.

It all began in February when Karly Turnbull’s Grade 7/8 class watched a documentary on child labour in the fashion world. From there the students started researching the fashion industry as a whole, learning not just the dark side of child labour but also the environmental impact. According to the World Economic Forum, the fashion industry produces 10 per cent of humanity’s carbon emissions and is the second-largest consumer of the world’s water supply. What’s more, after all the water consumed and carbon dioxide emitted during production is something with a short life, and the vast majority of clothes quickly find their way to landfills.

That’s why the students encouraged the classmates, parents, teachers and the community to consider thrifting and upcycling.

“Just think about the earth,” said Alexis Doner.

Turnbull said the students really took the idea and ran with it.

“They had so many questions,” she said. “So we challenged them, ‘how do we fix it?’ ”

They repurposed worn old clothes into something new and exciting and went thrifting themselves, learning how much the activity can not only help the earth, but help the wallet, too. At the show students modelled their thrifted outfits, holding up signs that showed the costs, in some cases well under $10.

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