Diary of a Solutionista: Freecycle Upcycle: A sustainable design strategy

In mid December 2009, I entered GenArt's Plastic Make it Possible design competition, sponsored by the American Chemistry Council. I thought to myself - finally, a competition based on innovative use of materials. The Council is doing their part to remind people that without the development of synthetic fibers, such as lycra, polyester and the like.

My blurb read as follows:

Only plastics make it possible to design zero waste garments that are stylish, comfortable and fully customizable, according to occasion, mood, body type and season. Made from flexible jersey fabric, Look 1 can be draped and tied to create several tunic, dress and sleeve variations. Look 2 is made from the leftover fabric waste of Look 1, and can be worn dressy or casual; short or long. Thanks to the power of plastic, one size fits and flatters most, including maternity.

body types (l-r): hourglass, ruler, pear, apple, egg/bump

Vicky and Jennifer wearing exactly the same thing, in the same size. They might switch places someday, and I'm really proud that the same garment can help them transition from one body cycle to another with complete ease and comfort.

Vicky doing an evening look, and Mychelle wearing it in it's most basic form. Mychelle is a personal trainer, and a lawyer in training who has been wearing the garment while she's transitioning through smaller sizes. Originally she called because she wanted to create a variety of sleeve cover-ups for a tattoo she's not so crazy about. I was so excited, because that meant our window displays were conveying the right message.

Front and back of the Lisa Ruffle Dress
(frilly tube to TML veterans)

Frilly tube being worn by a bump, a pear, a ruler and an hourglass.

The best part about entering a design competition is the opportunity to refine one's thinking. It was while I was preparing this entry that I stumbled upon the perfect words to reflect my overall lifestyle design philosophy, my business model and world view (more on the "free-up" mentality later).

You can see the original entry online at genart's website. For a moment I was in first place, which was quite exciting and unexpected, then it turned into a battle to maintain top ranking, a la American Idol or something. That's not my style, so I decided to opt out and turn focus on my 2010 fiscal plan with the feedback I had gotten.

It turns out that many of my low scores served as a positive reinforcement of my meta agenda, and were helpful in expanding my thinking about how to move forward in 2010 and beyond (more on that later :)