April 22 is Earth Day, which takes place during Earth Month. In 2010, VSB approved the District’s first Sustainability Framework. This framework is guided by a vision of becoming “the greenest, most sustainable school district in North America”. 

Students and staff across the District work together to create new ways to be a greener VSB. This year, Grade 11 students Maeve Downing and Delara Reporter are leading a student-run sustainable fashion show known as Patchwork. One hundred and sixty student volunteers will work together to bring the show to life as models, hairstylists, makeup artists, runway photographers, designers, publicists, marketers and more. 

Maeve and Delara share the vision behind Patchwork below:
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Did you know that many of today's popular brands are considered fast fashion? Fast fashion is the rapid production and marketing of cheap, trendy clothing. 

While this might sound appealing, this often means using fabrics that cause energy-intensive production and the release of microplastics. Fabrics used are often not biodegradable. For example, cotton requires large amounts of water to produce. Not to mention different fertilizers and pesticides, which leads to water pollution! 

Fast fashion often also leads to deadstock fabric. Deadstock fabric is fabric that brands don’t use because of overproduction or slight imperfections. 

This got us thinking...what can we do to change the way the fashion industry runs? We can support local brands, encourage shopping with sustainability in mind and purchase from vendors who keep deadstock out of landfills. To help share sustainable fashion with everyone, we have put together Patchwork: VSB Climate Fashion Show! 

The show will also have limited paper and plastic. We will use leftover fabric as decoration, and we will reuse food plates. Our show will use upcycled materials and deadstock fabric kindly donated by Fabcycle and Our Social Fabric. Our 17 designers have been working hard over the last few months on their fashion collections made from materials that are either donated, upcycled or both! Our goal is to shed light on how the fashion industry can make changes towards sustainability while maintaining the art and skill of design. 

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The Patchwork fashion show will take place on Friday, April 25, at Kitsilano Secondary School! Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and the show starts at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available here.