In a typical week at NYU, a classroom on 370 Jay St. is filled with students threading sewing needles, patching worn denim and learning how to use sewing machines for the first time. The workshops are part of Future Fashion Frontier, a student-led initiative launched by NYU’s sustainable fashion club Future Fashion Group that highlights sustainable practices by diverting waste from landfills, promoting reuse and expanding education.
The fast fashion industry alone is responsible for roughly 10% of global carbon emissions and is one of the largest consumers of water worldwide, making sustainability a conversation that can no longer be ignored. Fast fashion’s rapidly accelerating production cycles and use of synthetic materials have made clothing both more disposable and environmentally costly.
However, NYU has taken meaningful efforts to increase eco-friendly practices. The university’s Office of Sustainability works to support these efforts through its Green Grant program, which awards up to $20,000 to fund student projects focused on solving environmental challenges on campus.
Last month, FFG received $10,000 in Green Grant funding to launch Future Fashion Frontier. It follows the club’s past initiatives on campus, like clothing swaps and, more recently, NYU’s Swap Shop, which divert dorm goods and clothing from landfills. CAS senior Belle Mbaezue and FFG president said the club exists to confront fashion’s environmental footprint head-on.
“The fashion industry is one of the world’s biggest pollutants, and New York is a huge hub for fashion,” Mbaezue said. “So we’re just doing what we can to mobilize students, mobilize activists and fashionistas to revolutionize the industry.”
Through workshops and open studio hours, students learn visible mending, hand sewing, embroidery and machine sewing, making one medium for change to be an upcycling station and repair hub. Gallatin senior Olivia Bobadilla, the club’s events lead, described the project as an effort to embed repair culture into student life.
“Learn how to repair what you already have,” Bobadilla said. “If you don’t know what to do with your old clothes, come to FFG before they end up in landfills.”
“Something that I want to really push this year is mending, and how practical and useful of a skill that is that we’ve lost,” Bobadilla said. “If you don’t know what to do with your old clothes, come to FFG — we are not putting them in landfills.”
Hosted in collaboration with the NYU MakerSpace at the Tandon School of Engineering, the workshops are open to all skill levels, guiding students on everything from hand stitching to constructing original garments.
“A lot of these resources aren’t accessible during times students can actually practice,” Mbaezue said. “So we want to make sure everybody gets to use them.”
For students unfamiliar with fashion design, Bobadilla encourages them to start small. Students can participate at any level, attending swaps, learning to sew, contributing to their zine or even leading workshops. The club also holds events ranging from industry panels to textile innovation expos featuring biodegradable leather and synthetic thread alternatives.
Participating in NYU’s month-long push for sustainable practices during Earth Month, the initiative will also host a sustainable fashion show highlighting student designers with upcycled collections.
Within the industry, efforts towards sustainability are quickly buried. For Bobadilla, sustainable fashion requires integrity and traceability, but in a revenue-driven industry, actually maintaining those values can be challenging, she said.
“I feel like if we’re collaborating with a brand, I want to be able to discern, is this a brand whose values I believe in — and at the same time, with logistics for event planning, are the materials that we’re getting wasteful?” Bobadilla said. “So I feel like when you commit to sustainability, it is just limiting. I would say that’s a big challenge but it’s one that excites me.”
Instead, Bobadilla argues, the focus should be on informed harm reduction — understanding supply chains, labor conditions and material afterlives of the clothes you buy.
“Consider the clothes that you buy, even if you’re gonna keep it forever. Every time you wash it, you’re shedding microplastics into the ocean,” Bobadilla said. “It’s always like once you purchase something, it doesn’t end there. The cycle of harm continues with every single item that you own.”
Beyond just teaching students how to mend garments, Future Fashion Frontier is reframing students’ relationship with consumption itself in a city that runs on trend cycles.
“Sustainability on campus is an arms reach away,” Mbaezue said. “There are plenty of clubs who are offering initiatives like that, and all they’re looking for are eager students who want to learn. You don’t have to be an expert. In fact, it’s more impactful if you’re not.”
Contact Suhani Bhatt at [email protected].