PCC Student Tiana Recycles Fabric from Goodwill Dresses for Fashion Show

For the 2^nd year in a row, Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona has partnered with Pima Community College’s Fashion Styling Class. The PCC Fashion students are tasked with upcycling clothing found at Goodwill stores into high fashion garments for the 2020 PCC FashionArte Show in May.

Project Profile – Tiana Alcala Padilla

Tiana got a dress and a pair of maroon pants from Goodwill for her project. She plans to turn the dress into a crop top and use the remaining material to add panels to the pants. “I got a basic pair of maroon pants that I’m probably going to put the cut-off panels from the top on, just to make it look like it’s a two-set,” Tiana says.

She has been enjoying the project, and appreciative that organizations like Goodwill are making an effort to support upcycling. “I’m actually surprised they were interested in supporting this project. They’re actually interested in what kids are wanting to do with upcycling.

Impact of Upcycling

Tiana defines upcycling as, “Revamping stuff that other people don’t want or don’t find joy in anymore, but it’s still in good condition or has the ability to be way cooler than it was.” Giving gently used clothing a new life through upcycling has a significant environmental impact, “The demand of fashion for things that are new, things that are trendy, means people expect new things to continuously spit out every month,” Tiana explains. “People are consuming that, wearing them, but then a month later, they want new stuff.”

Upcycling is an important and growing trend in the fashion industry. The rise of fast fashion (cheap, disposable, mass produced clothing) has led to an increase in landfill volume as well strains on resources needed to produce all new material. As the original recycler, Goodwill helps with that problem by offering used clothing a new life while also keeping 30 million pounds of materials out of Southern Arizona landfills per year.

Community Impact

In addition to the benefits of upcycling, shopping at Goodwill stores also directly supports our community in Tucson. Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona invests nearly every penny earned back into the community through job training, youth mentoring, and employment for Southern Arizonans who need a hand up providing better lives for themselves and their families. Visit https://www.goodwillsouthernaz.org/about-us/ for more information on how they’re benefitting  our community.