This is showcasing the outcome from my final project I did for my High School Art class.

Plastic pollution is a serious matter in our society today. One huge factor of this cause is fast fashion. This is because fast fashion clothing is overproduced in unnecessary amounts and not meant to be kept for a long time. Therefore, consumers will buy cheap quality clothing, wear it a couple of times and throw it away. These clothes are no longer useable and usually end up in a landfill or eventually on one of those islands of plastic in the ocean. This is why it is important to rather buy more expensive, good quality clothing that holds for decades. An article from New Security Beat states that in 2016, 65 million tons of plastic was produced for textile fibres, representing close to 20 percent of the total plastic production for that year.

Not only does fast fashion create huge amounts of plastic, but plastics in fashion is responsible for generating enormous amounts of polluted water and emitting large quantities of carbon. BBC reports that it takes 2700 litres of water to produce a t-shirt, which is the equivalent of 5400 bottles of water. Even worse, it takes 10'000 litres of water to produce one pair of jeans. In addition to water pollution, the fashion industry is responsible for 8-10 percent of global emissions, according to the UN – more than the aviation and shipping combined.

Cotton for the fashion industry uses around 2.5 percent of the world's farmland and synthetic materials like polyester require an estimated 324 million barrels of oil every year. Last but not least, clothes production processes such as dying requires 43 million tonnes of chemicals a year.

I cannot change the amount of unnecessary plastic our society creates but I can spread awareness about this issue. I realised how little our society actually knows about this matter and it isn't an advertised subject. Therefore, for this project I have decided to gather up plastic materials to sew and crochet clothes. I am recycling plastic in a way that doesn't require any water pollution or carbon emissions.

Mia Schweizer

Bubble wrap jacket

Top made out of garbage bags.

Skirt made out of white and black plastic with linoleum printed card designs.

Lino prints are hand made - they have card designs to display how we are gambling with our future.

The back is tied together with ribbon.

Dylan Voorn

Top made out of crocheted garbage bags, sleeves crocheted in a fishnet style.

Pants made out of garbage bags - added patchwork in card designs. Done with sewing machine.

The different colored garbage bags I received from classmates who live in different districts.

Close up of crocheted top.

Everything is photographed by Mayra Ibarra Meuli.