Black Material Geographies
Episode 6
Colonialism's Afterlife & Upcyling Fashion, Pt. 2 | Textile Waste
Teju Adisa-Farrar:
Modern clothing consumption practices are not only environmentally destructive, but bad for black people around the world. In our last episode, we talked about the volume of textile waste created each year and the millions of pounds of used clothing from the US that is sent to Ghana and Haiti, creating a host of problems in those countries. Domestically, these items end up in landfills, which are disproportionately located in working class and primarily black and Latinx areas.
This is Black Material Geography, a show that explores the stories behind forgotten fibers and the fabrics you think you know all too well. I'm your host Teju Adisa-Farrar, speaking to you from Lenapehoking also known as Brooklyn.
Designers are transforming their production methods in order to create more sustainable fashion systems using organic fibers and upcycling clothes are a couple of ways some designers are reducing their environmental impact. Upcycling is a term that is used to describe the process of converting an old or unused textile or garment into something new and more valued, transforming byproducts, waste materials, dead stock, or unwanted fabrics into new textiles and apparel is a way to imbue materials with a new life and new meaning.
Like Chloe Asaam, who we spoke to in the last episode, there are several designers whose brands are committed to upcycling clothing, but who do not necessarily consider themselves sustainable designers. Many of these designers are black people who grew up reusing what they had, because that's just how it was. One such designer is Gordon Holliday. I discovered Gordon's work as an advisor for the Waste Management Design Challenge with the Slow Factory. He was one of the few designers chosen to be part of that challenge and I was curious to know more about how he came to upcycling fashion.
Gordon Holliday:
One of the main things that really got me started in this is just my curiosity to want to explore design in practical ways. I'm originally born in Baltimore, Maryland, but I live here in Charlotte. North Carolina's my second home, been here since I was 13. I think it really just came from high school and individuality. When I was in middle school, we had uniform because in the neighborhood we were living in, a lot of kids would get checked for their Air Forces or new clothes that they were wearing, so we all had to wear uniform outfits back in Maryland. When I moved to Charlotte, when I was in high school, everybody had their own individuality. There was no uniforms, no more. You could just wear whatever you wanted to wear.
Through that moment, I really discovered fashion in that type of way. Always been an artist since I was a kid, but really understanding fashion and expressing myself was the butt of it right there in high school, especially because the high school I went to had just opened its doors in 2007 and it was merging with all the different schools in the area. You had people coming from school to school of the arts and people coming from charter schools and magnet programs, all mashed into this one public school. I like to say Mallard Creek created legends. That's really where my curiosity for fashion really started to begin.
Teju Adisa-Farrar:
Why did you decide that you would design your own clothes rather than buying clothes or whatever? What was about it that you were like, "I want to do this myself"?
Gordon Holliday:
It's a funny backstory. Me and my friend, we had a little dance crew back in the day. We all wanted to have our own clothes with our names on and stuff. It really started off like that, and then eventually I just wanted to express my art through the clothing and it just morphed into [ROOLĒ 00:04:16] and really cool graphics, really edgy, fun. I was really amazed by the expression. That kind of just got me into that world.
Teju Adisa-Farrar:
For many of us, fashion, music, dance and expression are interwoven. For creative individuals like Gordon, there are many things that spark ideas and eventually let him on the path to upcycling and sustainable fashion.
Gordon Holliday:
When I was in sixth grade, I did this thing called the Asthma Awareness Poster Contest. It was my first interaction with having your design on a t-shirt. I ended up winning this poster contest and they put my graphic on a t-shirt and I was just like, "Wow, that's so cool. I can wear this". I drew it on paper in sixth grade, but now I'm wearing it. Fast forward, I ended up going to a barber shop and I saw this business card that says screen printing. I was like, "What's that? With the t-shirts?" The guy informed me, "Yeah". I picked up the card and I printed out my first t-shirt with that company. It just morphed over time. Even as an artist, I always wanted to challenge myself in whatever field that I jumped into.
I went back home in the summer of 2015 and I just kept sharing my ideas with my family members and friends and saying, "Hey, I really want to learn how to sew. Do you guys know any information? Do you know any information?".
It went from me looking for classes, to me finding out that my family actually has a history of sewing. It really went back from going to my sister who took a sewing class and then finding out that my grandmother was an industrial seamstress for NASA. That really put me in a whole different perspective because now I'm like, "Wow, this is a lineage". Learning that my great grandmother was a quilter and made all my grandmother's clothing. It just opened up a new part of myself that I had no idea of. That got me into actually making and designing clothes. It's funny because I always knew my grandmother worked for NASA, but I didn't know exactly what she did.
When I went back home; I learned how to sew in 2015. I went back to school and then I had another summer in 2016 and my dad was just like, "Yeah, you need to just come and spend time with your grandma. Stay with us for the summer this year and just spend time with your grandma", and I was like, "Yeah, you know what dad? Yeah, you're right. I got time. School's out, summer's here, so let me just spend time with grandma".
2016, I went out there. I stayed for three months living with my grandma, really living in the basement because that's where I was sewing day in and day out. I sat down with her, we did our first pair of pants together, then we did a jacket, a dashiki as well. I was just so amazed. My grandmother's stories and seeing that my cousins were also into it as well. I'm like, "Wow. I just tapped into this history now and it's a part of me. It's my code. It's my DNA".
Teju Adisa-Farrar:
Growing up, I used to make clothing out of old pillowcases and sheets for my family. I would even make shoes out of cereal boxes and scotch tape. One year for Halloween, my sister wore a pillowcase outfit I made her with platform sneakers she already had. I got secondhand clothing from both siblings and still repurpose old clothes. Some of us grew up doing these types of things not even knowing it is sustainable. The designer, Mathia, is one such creative individual.
Mahdiyyah:
My name is Mahdiyyah. I'm from East Orange, New Jersey, originally. At the moment I create one of one clothing that is made from repurposed or discarded materials that boasts healing properties. In addition to that, I also offer sewing sessions, mentorship, and also fabric healing workshops that are educational.
Teju Adisa-Farrar:
Can you talk about the healing aspect of this because that's something I also haven't heard about?
Mahdiyyah:
I got into doing research and learned that I wanted to create a collection that was primarily out of linen just because I was drawn to the material. I didn't really know the background of it. I sat down and I was like, "I'm going to put this collection out and really talk to people about why the entire collection is linen. This is the first time I've ever done this. I should probably do some background work". In doing so, I learned about linen. I learned that it comes from the flax plant. It's a naturally occurring material in nature, which is very interesting to me. The deeper I got into it, the more I was like, "Oh, there's a lot to this. Okay".
Linin has a vibrational frequency of 5,000, so does wool. The body's vibrational frequency when it's at its optimal health is a hundred. They took certain plants and put them in this machine that tested their frequency so that farmers can understand when best to yield crops, that sort of thing and then it ended up transferring over into linen because linen occurs in nature. It grows in the flax plant. They ended up finding out that linen is a natural conductor. It vibrates energy. It maximizes and optimizes the energy and people started to use it in healing.
Linen's actual molecular structure and makeup is the closest to our actual cells. If you ever have a cut or abrasion, you can actually put a piece of linen cloth on it and it'll actually rapidly heal. It'll speed up the healing process. It's been tested. They use it in hospitals, in some countries. When you think back to historical, they wrap mummies in linen.
When you learn about mass production, you understand what's cheapest. It's going to be what's marketed the most and what's pushed the most. It's a lot easier to take materials and take pieces of things and then add it to something that's cheaper, so you can make more of it because this is all about capitalism and production and all that kind of thing.
Teju Adisa-Farrar:
Oh, I didn't know that. As you said, synthetic products because they're cheaper to produce, but also you're right, they're synthetics and the textiles and fibers that work best for us are the ones that are made from plants.
Even before Mathia started researching the healing properties of fabrics and doing educational workshops, she was like me, a kid who liked to make things with whatever was around, trying to entertain herself and realize that she's quite resourceful. That's what she did for most of her childhood.
Mahdiyyah
Growing up in East Orange, we were really resourceful. East Orange, I guess you consider it a hood or a ghetto, whatever you want to call it. We didn't really grow up with having a lot. There weren't a lot of things in abundance, but that tends to create very creative environments for children. You become resourceful, you become creative, you just start to be very innovative.
My older brother and I were latchkey kids. We spent a lot of time at home after school and idle time is a devil time or whatever people say.
We just start making stuff and getting in things. We were those kids who were making race car tracks out of cardboard boxes and so on and so forth. Everything was a playground. Anything I could get my hands on with some type of material to do something with. That actually turned over into fashion because I did have a natural interest in fashion.
I want to say, my mom would have tight stockings that had a run in them and I would just take those and cut them up and drape them on the Barbies' bodies and create different outfits. I always joke with a friend of mine and I'm like, "Yeah, all of my dogs, they look like girl groups". RnB girl groups. They would have all these matching outfits and headwraps and all this stuff, and then I'll go outside and play with them. That was just it. That kind of transferred over into more things, because then I started to get really into fashion and really thinking about what I wore and what I put on, because that was always an outward expression of who you are on the inside.
My mom would always be like, "Take pride in what you look like". She would braid my hair up into crowns. That was something that was always an innate part of my upbringing. Eventually, I started to get into cutting up actual discarded clothing, not just tights. I would get hand-me-downs from an older cousin or my mom would have something that had holes or a tear in it and she'd be like, "Here, I'm going to either toss this out or try to give this to the salvation army, so if you want to do something with it, take it out". I'm like, "Okay". I would get it and do stuff with it.
Teju Adisa-Farrar:
Like Gordon, sewing came later for Mathia, but once she learned how to sew, she was able to take her creativity and resourcefulness to the next level.
Mahdiyyah:
I was just tying stuff. Cutting stuff and tying it up.
Teju Adisa-Farrar:
Yeah, cutting it and tying it.
Mahdiyyah:
Yeah. She's like, "Wow, you sew it" and I'm like, "Oh". That was a whole other world for me. I got a couple dollars and went to the dollar store I bought my first sewing kit with the needle and thread and stuff in it. My first project, I took a pair of jeans that were... Something was wrong with them. I can't remember what. I took them and I made a messenger bag out of them. I did the entire project by hand. My fingers were all scabbed up and bloody from poking my hands. I just really valued the work and that feeling was unmatched. I was just on top of the world after I was done.
Teju Adisa-Farrar:
How do you find your materials? They are things that have already been used, fibers and textiles. Where do you get them from?
Gordon Holliday:
I just got a real cool partnership with Goodwill. They allow me to go and take in clothing that they have in their stores. A lot of times I can go in there pretty much with a bag and just grab whatever it is that I want and create from there. There's another place in Charlotte called Fabric Outlets. They're a little all over North Carolina. They might be in other states too. Fabric Outlets, they sell upholstery fabrics. A lot of times they give away free fabric, which is leftover material or remnant material from their yards. I get my material for them as well. Then lastly, donations. Donations are a big thing. Sometimes I occasionally do events where donations are included.
The early beginnings of my sewing, I didn't have the money, of course you're a college student you're coming out. I didn't have the money to buy new fabrics all the time. Occasionally I would, but $15 a yard for jackets and these large amount of materials that you want for a project. It starts getting a little costly and I really started thinking, and I was remembering what me and my grandmother were doing. We were getting blankets, sometimes getting leftover materials. We would do mock-ups with it. Then I just started realizing, actually it's cooler that it looks like it came from something else and then reimagine in a new way. I think that's a little bit more edgy.
I left my grandma that summer and I went back home and I was like, "I want to keep that up. I want to keep doing that. I want to keep finding things that's already out there and reintroducing it in a new way".
I never really gave it a name at that time. It was just something that I was doing. It was just a act that I was doing. I don't have the means to get that high quality grade stuff that I was looking at but I do have the means to imagine and think about new ways of making new design. It would break down to me getting baseball tees, blazers, denim jackets, corduroy dresses, and remaking those into bags, jackets. I'm looking at my clothing rack over here now, kimonos, turtlenecks, soccer jerseys, basketball jerseys. It just started evolving into this new designs. People actually appreciated it more because they knew that no one else would have it because these fabrics came from this one source and it was designed in that way.
I always call it when mother nature slapped us all in the mouth, 2020. It was a moment because everybody was just like, "Oh wow". We thought that we could get away with doing things like this but it was really a sit down time. It was really a moment where a new level of consciousness was being introduced. I really started coming to a sense of like, "All right, if I'm going to go more green in my lifestyle, that needs to be an ethos in my branding as well". It only made sense if I'm doing something that's affecting my personal health, my mind, my consciousness. That same level needs to be applied in business and in relationships and in community and in really that whole process.
I came up with this initiative called Renew Rework Relay, where it was really centered around, upcycling and to taking things that's already existing and giving them a second life. It was funny because it was something I've been doing but I never gave it that specific name. That kind of reintroduced to me a whole new level of focus and then a whole new community that I can share like-minded thoughts and ideas with and even think about more ways that we can create regenerative systems.
Teju Adisa-Farrar:
Who gets to create sustainable systems and are we actually acknowledging the ones who are making them? The ones who don't always have the most access, but who have ingenuity and lineage. As Gordon said, creativity in their DNA. Mathia was searching for more ways to be regenerative in her design and in her choice of materials. Although it was challenging, trying to focus on natural materials without a whole bunch of resources, she persisted and found ways to decrease her environmental impact while still building a beautiful and well crafted collection.
Mahdiyyah:
After doing just linen, I was like, "I want to only source real, naturally occurring materials". That's it. I want that to be my brand tagline. Going from there, I was like, "All right". I started to look into fabric. I spent some time in Barbados and obviously I was around a lot of nature for a while. I stayed there about three months and then when I got back, I was just like, "What is the closest I can get to make my own fabric?" and I was like, "I don't know how to use a loom yet, so what can I do?" and I was like, "Stay as close to nature as possible".
That's what I did when I got back. Did the linen. I collaborated with the elder there on the island. His name was Adelabu, he's a senior artist and a loom-textile artist. He creates his own textiles. I got with him. I got a lot of his scrap materials and incorporated into that first collection. That was big for me and from there I was just like, "Yeah, I have so much more respect for my practice and what I do now, this needs to reflect in what I'm giving people". From there, I was like, "Whoa, I can't afford to just be buying yards and yards of this fabric because this natural fabric is expensive".
Teju Adisa-Farrar:
That's why people use polyester and plastic fabric because it's cheap.
Mahdiyyah:
Yeah. I'm like, "This is why people want to use polyester and all these other things" and I was like, "Oh, there’s always a catch 22". I was like, "All right, take it back to the Origins. Go back to Goodwill. Go back to the thrift stores. Go back to the Salvation Army".
Teju Adisa-Farrar:
Shout out to the Goodwill and Salvation Army for being spots where these designers could go get fabrics and textiles that would otherwise end up in a landfill here or on the shores of Haiti and Ghana. Gordon and Mathia were being sustainable before it was trending, before YouTube DIYers were a thing, before they were even conscious of how resourceful they were, designing and using materials that others may overlook, were one and the same for both of them.I was still wondering.
That leads you to the question, "What does it mean to you to be a sustainable designer?" and I do put it in quotes because my grandmother, growing up, same thing, you're just using what you have.
Mahdiyyah:
I'm going to be honest. The terms I said are still very raw, very fresh for me. Even with that being said, there's almost a bitterness to it for me because I know there's so many other designers who look like me who are doing this, who probably don't know that there's this whole big section of the industry that's promoting and pushing it and it's so unfair because you can't be a part of a conversation if you don't have the vocabulary for it. It took me some time to take a step back and educate myself, which was a big part of the reason why I need to incorporate mentorship and teaching and what I do because it's not fair. They don't know what's happening out there.
You know what I mean? So I need to take what I know, bring it back and teach the youth and tell them like, "Here's what's happening right now. What you're doing with your sneakers, somebody's paying $7,000 for it. You know what I mean? All you're doing is drawing on your jeans, somebody's paying X, Y, Z amount. They're commissioning people to make these pieces for celebrities".
They need to hear things like that because they don't. Nobody's telling them and their school system's like, "Oh, what you're doing is actually the future. You're doing what's already hot now". They're just thinking they're just out here being kids and I'm like, "You are, but that can also be monetized".
Teju Adisa-Farrar:
And it's valuable.
Mahdiyyah:
Yeah. Yeah. That part. For me, like I said, it's something I've been doing since I was young, but I didn't know it was a thing. I want to say now it's just more about incorporating healing in it and intention. I feel the word sustaining is just obviously enduring and something supporting mentally and physically, right? That's what you think of when you hear the word sustain. I've been doing that, but now I'm thinking of how I can incorporate the intention behind the brand. That's what it's been switching over to focusing more on the healing. The education is the big part for me because I'm not going to just tell you, "Here, put this on. It's going to heal you". I need to tell people why. Why it's so important to understand the fabrics you put on your body.
Teju Adisa-Farrar:
As we support all of the solutions to the fiber and fashion crisis, such as upcycling old clothes and fabrics, we can simultaneously call out the exclusion of black and working class designers and garment workers from the sustainable fashion space. To build regenerative futures, we need to acknowledge, include and co-create with black designers and makers who are already modeling more sustainable practices that are centered in creativity, healing and generations, long practices of making clothes to adorn ourselves.
It's time for the wind down. I invite you to take a deep breath and stretch your body. Release tension in your shoulders, jaw and neck. Taking a moment to reflect on the clothes that we buy new. Taking a moment to reflect on the natural fibers we are all able to wear. Today we heard stories of designers paving the way to less fashion waste. We learned about grandma sewing for NASA and the healing nature of linen. We talked through so many things, so let's just sit in that feeling for a bit. I invite you to take a deep breath and thank yourself for listening to something new today. I invite you to take a deep breath and imagine a life where nothing is thrown away. A life where clothes and fabrics are reused again and again until they can return to the earth. A life where black designers are visible and supported in the space. Thank you for spending time with me and a couple of humans I admire. Thank you for listening, learning, and experiencing the material geographies that we are all made of.
You can subscribe to Black Material Geographies anywhere you get your podcast. Black Material Geographies is part of the Whetstone Radio Collective. This podcast is a team effort. Thank you to the Black Material Geographies team. My producer, Tiffani Rozier. Audio editor, Rhae Royal. Composer, Philip Kalachi Nandi Iro. Researcher, Haven Ogbaselase and intern, Kai Stone.
I'd also like to thank Whetstone founders, Stephen Satterfield. Whetstone Radio Collective Head of Podcast, Céline Glasier. Sound engineer, Max Kotelchuck. Associate producer, Quentin Lebeau. Production Assistant, Amalissa Uytingco and sound intern, Simon Lavender.
Thank you to Whetstone Art Director, Alex Bowman for the cover art. You can learn more about this podcast at whetstoneradio.com, on Instagram and Twitter @Whetstoneradio. Subscribe to our YouTube channel Whetstone Radio Collective for more podcast video content. You could learn more about all things happening at Whetstone at whetstonemagazine.com.