“The Draft” is the pilot of a sustainable fashion system that remedies the damaging effects of denim production and decreases the fashion industry’s constant consumption for new denim. 

Similar to Apple Trade In, in which customers trade in old IPhones for newer models, “The Draft” requires the customer to supply unwanted jeans to fabricate the entire collection. Through a distressing and quilting technique, all recycled scraps and shreds of fabric are incorporated into each garment, which allows the collection to be 100% zero waste.. Even the screen-paint used in the collection is surplus donated from local screen-printing studios in New York.

In just the garment samples alone, 14,220 gallons of water and 601.4 kg of CO2 emissions were preserved. 

The design and aesthetic of “The Draft” follows the texture and silhouette of historical American military uniforms. Through research I conducted at the United States Military Academy at West Point, I was able to find “Mend and Make-Do” tactics utilized by soldiers as well as Archival uniforms from the 1800’s that inspired the design of the collection.