Billboard Streetwear
The American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) is an organization that develops testing standards for textiles and apparel. Each year, AATCC hosts the Concept 2 Consumer (C2C) Student Design Competition, and awards winners with monetary awards and scholarships. The competition provides a sustainability-related prompt and asks students to design to the prompt and show their work digitally. This year’s theme asks students to choose one of the following sustainability features to focus their design on (preferred fibers, manufacturing, end of life/reusability). Then, choose 2-3 AATCC Test Methods (such as but not limited to coloration, laundering, odor, microfibers) that will help prove the designs are sustainable.
With this prompt, I have chosen to focus on end of life/reusability and durability. In my research I have discovered that each year billboards produce hundreds and thousands of pounds of vinyl waste in the U.S. alone. I am currently working on designing an apparel line using billboard PVC vinyl as fabric. This gives this very durable material a second life when it is at the end of its intended use.
