Category: Trashion EI

Recently in Trashion, my co-leader Amelia and I got to give a presentation to a group of grade 4s about sustainability in Fashion. We informed them with some key facts about the environmental impacts of fast fashion and how they could combat this issue themselves. It was a pleasant experience that got me to think more about my purpose in the EI and why our work matters. The grade 4s were curious and excited to learn from us which made me more grateful for having had the opportunity to give this talk. It was a little nervewrecking but it was definitely a moment of growth for me in my advocacy. It reaffirmed my commitment to care and compassion within the school community.

Unfortunately due to unaccounted circumstances, we no longer have permission to set up a stall at the family festival. Instead, we are working towards new goals in Trashion. We recently welcomed in a new group of grade 9s who have all shown enthusiasm toward the EI and seem to be a great cohort to work with moving forward. I was a little upset to hear about being set back in our progress again as we had spent all of term 1 planning for a clothes/denim swap. However I learned from that experience that it is never too late to adjust your goals and continue to make progress. I feel encouraged seeing the energy from the grade 9s and overall, being in charge of goal setting and planning has allowed me to work on my leadership and organisation in a lot of aspects. I have developed my ability to bounce back from setbacks and continue to achieve my aims.

Here is a brainstorm that we did for the rest of the year during our first session of Term 2. We are working on making infographics on different topics we have researched online and then putting them onto our portfolio. We will also help out a Grade 10 CPERs project in a Denim swap that they plan to hold during the beginning of Term 3 where people in school can freely trade each other for denim pieces of clothing.

Updated: Unfortunately, the plan to support the G10 CPERs group did not pull through as the project did not reach completion. As of now, we are working on making tiny drawstring bags for the group Burnt Out as packaging for their sustainably made candles.

In Trashion, we have put together a proposal for our clothes swap that will likely take place in early February next year after the Chinese new year break. We are trying to coordinate this with the service office. Another thing we have been working on as well is creating packaging for Raw Beauty (another EI) to use for wrapping their soaps. I got to use a sewing machine today for the first time in order to help embroider the packaging. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XafHUPKbpP6HnKaHmm-ZShH9S39Ul9XC/view?usp=sharing

An update: we are instead going to hold our first clothes swap during the Family Fun Fair in March! An idea that we had for that clothes swap was to focus specifically on trading denim items. The production of denim clothing tends to have a hefty impact on the environment as it requires heavy amounts of dye and water. Through holding a denim swap, we aim to raise awareness about these impacts and also to sustainably share denim to give a pair of jeans for example a long life.

Today I began my role as co-leader of the environmental initiative, Trashion. I signed up for an EI leadership role and was assigned to Trashion in particular. I enjoyed getting to know the group (a relatively small, intimate cohort) and also setting our aims for the year. I am looking forward to getting to work and taking action. I think that our idea of the Clothes Swap is set up for success so I am excited for that hopefully in December. I think that this cause is very important and that we can all do better in terms of overconsumption and reducing that.