Take a look behind the scenes of our LoopCycle Photo Shoot!

Lizzie Goodrich (right) helps Adrienne Chiu with her make-up for the early morning photo shoot

Accessories added to the outfits for a pop of color

Francesca Rubino and Hanna Ashcraft (left to right) fixing their hair for the photo shoot 

Jessica Schoefer transforms an old print tee from the Free Pile into a stylish off-the-shoulder shirt  

Jessica assists Hanna (left to right) as she puts on her heels by a creek 

Plenty of laughs and smiles were shared during the photo shoots

Lizzie gives Hanna (left to right) a hand as she daringly poses on a gorgeous waterfall 

Jessica doing her own model pose

The LoopCycle photo shoot production crew: make-up artist Lizzie Goodrich, stylist Jessica Schoefer, and photographer Michelle Lowe (left to right) 

Photographs Taken By Michelle Lowe

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Image from 7 Stubborn stains and how to remove them

Solving one issue of why people prefer not to purchase used clothes and other messy moments. 


How to clean your clothes and remove those stubborn stains.  

You’ve just got back from the local clothing swap and you scored this great shirt for all of those business interviews. Only to discover there’s a weird stain on it. Before you despair, here are some ways to take out the stains from clothing.

The first thing you need to do is to check and see what fiber content your garment is made up of. This is usually listed on a small tag on the inside of your garment. For example, you may see that the new t-shirt you picked up is made up of 100% cotton. This is important to do, as every fabric has its own characteristics which come from how the fabric was made.

Next, hazard a guess as to what the stain is. The better you are able to guess the cause of the stain the better you chances are to remove it. Some of the most common reasons as to the cause of stains may be: make up, food, etc.

Since there are so many different types of fabric, and causes for stains, we’ll concentrate on the cotton and polyester fabrics and the top two reasons for stains: make-up, and food.
Polyester-
Polyester fibers are durable and tough however, they tend to attract oil stains. These oil stains are easily removed when treated immediately. Keep in mind that heat will help set these stains and will make them almost impossible to remove. Use a pretreater and then wash the garment with a heavy duty detergent in warm water.
Cotton-
With cottons, the number one method of taking out stains that usually immediately comes to mind is bleach. However, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) bleach can cause sore throats, coughs, wheezing, shortness of breath, and fluid in the lungs. Some alternative solutions to remove stains are: lemon juice, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, oxygen, borax, sodium hydrosulfite (salt & water), and washing soda. Keep in mind that these should not be combined when treating stains.

Every piece of fabric was created differently. Therefore, you should first read the care instructions left on the hang tags and then test these suggestions on a small hidden piece of fabric before  you commit to tackling the root of the problem head on.

Sometimes there is a lot of trial and error, but ultimately the home solution can be infinitely cheaper the purchasing a new garment or a trip to the dry cleaners.

Share your own stain war stories below in the comments section:

References: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

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Image from Wearable Art: Upcycling Goes High Brow

The fashion industry is one of the top five most wasteful industries in the world. From the growth of the crops which are then used to produce the fabric, to the spinning, dyeing, weaving, cutting and sewing, packing, and distribution the waste and squandering of resources simply accumulates constantly. However, the greatest cause of waste withe fashion industry is at the end of the product life cycle.

In the world of fast fashion, people have become so caught up in having the latest and the greatest at incredibly low prices. While a godsend to college students on an incredibly tight budget, the reality is that by purchasing these fast fashion and fad items, fad can be described as any item with a short product life cycle, a huge amount of resources and money are wasted. At the end of the cycle, the item is no longer in style, no one wants to wear it anymore, and the item is discarded, often ending up in landfill.

This isn’t restricted to fad items however. What happens when your clothes give out? Do you spend hours fixing a rip? Or do you simply throw out the garment with your weekly trash? More often then not, these unwanted garments end up in landfill. Landfill that ever increasingly becomes scarcer and scarcer, and the resources which were used to create the garments are left to decompose, if they can, wasting away.

What is the solution to the? What can be done to prevent this from happening?

Upcycling, or re-purposing, etc. Every year a new buzz word appears to help explain what should be done to reduce waste, and usually it boils down to the same meaning; take the old and turn it into something new. Sounds easy enough right? But really it’s nothing that hasn't been said before. So what is preventing upcycling from happening.

For one, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the potential for upcycling. Not a whole lot of people really sit down and think about where it is that their discarded items are going. Secondly, there is a lack of industry infrastructure to begin to capitalize on using discarded products as a resource for new items. For example, a system to evaluate discarded items would need to be implemented, these items would then have to be collected and sent on to companies with the capabilities to break down the finished product, return it to a pure mixture, and recreate it into a new product.

What does this mean? BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY! If one man’s trash is one man’s treasure, or millions in this case; why can’t it be yours?

So what are some of the potential business that could come from this? For example, fabric from cutting room floors in apparel producing factories could be taken, and shredded and reproduced into wallpaper or as ikea-esque furniture. Or a clothing collection company could be started, so that no more unwanted clothing will end up in the landfill, and clothing could be carefully resorted and treated so that minimal waste will occur.

Have any ideas of your own? Feel free to share them in the comment section below!

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Image by Robert Kellermann 

1. Donate clothes you’ve outgrown to a second hand clothing store: Goodwill, Plato’s Closet, Crossroads, etc.

2. Send clothes to Third World countries and non-profit organizations such as: Planet Aid 

3. Plan a clothing swap party with your friends

4. Recreate fashionable clothing or jewelry with old/broken ones like our DIY necklace post

5. Take you clothes to consignment stores for store credit and cash money to go towards your new purchases

6. Consider taking your clothes to a tailor and recreate the old garment into something new, fresh, and a one of a kind

7. Consider friends or family members who may have use for your unwanted clothes

8. Archive your clothes. Who knows when your old flare legged jeans may come back in style...

9. Take pieces made up of absorbent fabric and cut it up into squares. Look! New dish towels!

10. Consult DIY websites like: Craftster, P.S.- I Made This , etc. and turn an old sweatshirt into a cute headband piece to be worn everywhere

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Images by Michelle Lowe

Inspiring innovative, fashionable projects individuals can do with materials they find at home

No doubt you’ve heard about upcycling. It seems like a lot of thought has to go into upcycling after all you have to take something old and transform it into something new. And not only does it need to be something new, but something you can use!

Now before you start feeling overwhelmed, think about the times you've taken out your sewing kit and created a new outfit out of old material. Have you ever taken a pair of jeans and cut off the legs to make them into shorts? Have you ever taken an old white t-shirt and dyed it a different color? Or have you transformed a sweater into a skirt with stitches here and there. If yes, then you’ve upcycled!

Once you begin to move past the sheer possibilities, you can start to create your own one of a kind piece.  


Here’s an idea for an upcycled bib necklace such as the one seen in the photo shoot.

• Materials Needed:
• Old shirt
• Old dress lining
• Assortment of beads from broken necklaces
• Faux rhinestones from broken jewelry
• Childhood project sequins
• Floss thread from bygone days of 4H embroidery class 
• Regular thread

Step 1 – Trace the general shape you want for your bib necklace on the old dress lining.

Step 2 – Cut out the shape from the lining.

Step 3 – Cut out shape in the old shirt fabric.

Step 4 – Sew the two cut outs together. However, before closing the shape of the cut outs, turn the fabrics inside out to conceal the stitching. From there, finish sewing the two together, keeping the edges tucked in together.

Step 5 – Iron the piece.

Step 6 – Using the floss thread, the broken jewelry pieces, and the sequins begin to sew the details onto the fabric arranging them as you like. (For a faster, but less resilient piece you could hot glue gun the sequins onto the fabric instead.)


Your necklace does not have to be so elaborate - this is just an example of how easy it is to upcycle. So next time you are thinking about throwing something away, I challenge you to think of a way to upcycle it into something new! Share your story in the comment below:

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Image from ReUSE

Check out the sustainable clubs and organizations on our UC Berkeley campus that make it their mission to encourage reusing materials, bring awareness to human consumption, and reduce waste. 

• ReUse
• The Exchange
• EthiCal
• Eco-Waste Group
• Campus Recycling and Refuse Services
• Berkeley Student Cooperative Sustainability
• Berkeley Street Style Blog Shows off Co-opers’ Free Pile Style

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Image from BSC Sustainability

The clothing featured in The LoopCycle photo shoot was pulled from two of Berkeley’s co-ops, Lothlorien (Loth) and Casa Zimbabwe (CZ).

The wooden treehouse built on top of a towering redwood tree was the first thing that caught my eye as we walked into Loth, UC Berkeley’s vegetarian themed co-op house. Before stepping foot into the house, we immediately felt the culture and earthy feel of Loth. The stepping stones surrounded by the garden growing brought us to the Free Pile where we pulled the pieces featured in our LoopCycle photo shoot.

From clothing to school supplies to electronics, the Free Pile holds an array of reusable items donated by the co-op residents. Other people are then free to take items from the closet and continue the cycle. The BSC Reuse Coordinator manages these closets keeping them organized and clean. Towards the end of the year when students move out, the Free Pile gets flooded with items and the BSC Reuse Coordinator distributes excess materials to nonprofit organizations, which is a great way to recycle materials and help those in need.
 
The Free Pile provides a space for people to share and reuse clothing, which reduces the amount of waste that would accumulate if the items were simply thrown away because they no longer fit or are no longer in style. You can find an assortment of items ranging from household items, lighting fixtures, apparel, accessories, and footwear.

For more information about the Waste Reduction and Reuse Program check out: Recycling in the BSC

See the photo shoot featuring clothes from the Free Pile: The LoopCycle Photo Shoot 

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In preparation for the photo shoot, Michelle and Jessica first scoped out the Berkeley co-ops to pull clothing from their Free Piles. Clothes and accessories were pulled from the Lothlorien (Loth) and Casa Zimbabwe (CZ) closets. A few of the pieces were also pulled from Plato’s Closet, a secondhand shop that accepts gently used clothing.  

With the aid of Fashion And Student Trend (FAST) UC Berkeley students (Adrienne Chiu, Hanna Ashcraft, and Francesca Rubino) were scouted as models, and a theatre student (Elisabeth Goodrich) was scouted to help with the make-up. The styling was done by Jessica Schoefer and the photography by Michelle Lowe.

The UC Botantical Garden was used as the site for the photo shoot. Specifically the sites were the: Japanese Pool, Lawn, Herb Garden, Cycad and Palm Garden, Garden of Old Roses, and Australaisa.

Enjoy the photos below!

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Adrienne Chiu, Francesca Rubino, and Hanna Ashcraft (Pictured from left to right)

Adrienne Chiu
Year: Junior
Major: Media Studies
How long have you been modeling?
I haven't been modeling for very long. This shoot was actually my first shoot. Before that, I had only done some runway in high school and in college. Make up artists at fashion shows and counters told me that I should model, but it wasn't really until learning about FAST at Berkeley that I gave it serious thought and went for it. I love modeling and hope to continue!
What you think about sustainable clothing?
It's important to think about sustainability when it comes to clothing, with trends changing so quickly and therefore our wardrobes, we can end up creating a lot of waste. But sustainable clothing isn't just about
recycling clothes or thrifting. Many fashion companies are starting to focus on sustainable production from sustainably grown raw materials to location consolidation to reduce transportation waste. That way we can still buy new pieces as trends change while still being sustainable.
What is you favorite sustainable activity?
Walking. Being in Berkeley has gotten me to walk more than ever. At first, I would try to take the bus everywhere, but now I walk whenever I can. I also try to recycle everything I can. I'm so used to recycling here that I get frustrated when I'm in a different country and can't easily find recycling bins around.

Francesca Rubino
Year: Junior
Major: Conservation Resource Studies
When did you start modeling?
I have been modeling for about a year. I started when I realized that I wanted to understand the different ways we can change how people perceive us visually and the effects our visual presentation can have on the emotional reaction towards the person being judged.
How do you feel about sustainable clothing?
I am always looking for sustainable fashion choices and trying to weigh cost, taste and impact of everything I buy. I just wish there were more of them and more affordable.
What is you favorite sustainable activity?
My favorite sustainable activity is clean-up and restoration projects because you can meet a lot of great people and the habitat can be transformed so quickly it makes one feel important and useful.

Hanna Ashcraft
Year: Fourth Year
Major: Sociology Major and History of Art Minor
When did you start modeling?
I started Modeling in the spring semester of my first year at Cal. I decided to put my height to use and showed up to a training meeting for FAST (Fashion And Student Trends). They taught me how to confidently put on a pair of 4 inch heels and strut fiercely down the runway. After my first show, I was hooked and about a year after I started getting into photoshoots as well.
How do you feel about sustainable clothing?
I love, love, LOVE sustainability. Over half of my clothes come from some sort of second source - Goodwill type stores, Crossroad and Buffalo Exchange type stores, Vintage shops, hand-me-downs, and clothing swaps. People have all sorts of funny reasons they give up their perfectly good clothes and I love being able to take advantage of that, without anyone able to guess. For me, sustainable clothing is a win-win situation, where i can make room in my closet without feeling guilty and refill it with new things without feeling guilty about the price. Guilt is the last thing I wanna feel when I am looking good!
What is you favorite sustainable activity?
Hmm, I have now participated in a few clothing swaps with other girls on this campus and I am hooked. What is better than low-priced clothes -- FREE clothes that are still in good shape and in relatively close size. I just can't get enough of clothing swaps - put out some cocktails and Breakfast at Tiffany's in the background and I am in heaven. Downsides? There are none! If the clothes don't fit, I end up trying to sell them at Crossroads or bringing them along for the next swap.

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