A 15-year-old NJ teenager wants to dress sustainably. That means goodbye ‘fast fashion’.

New Jerseyans young and old have heard the phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle” for decades.

Amita Akshintala is one of them.

Important, yes. But the 15-year-old from Plainsboro wanted to think beyond clichéd boundaries for her sustainability project as part of the Climate Alliance, which she chose last spring.

While New York has made some recent strides in creating more sustainable fashion practices, Abby Lillethun, an associate professor of art and design at Montclair State University, said the Garden State remains largely unaddressed.

Akshintala said she hopes to make a difference in her hometown, throughout New Jersey and beyond. As part of her project, the Plainboro teenager gave a presentation on Fast Fashion High School and launched a website on the topic. She plans to write in the school newspaper about the importance of changing our lifestyles – and in addition to changing her own shopping habits – she’s taking the issue to the forefront of her school’s environmental club.

“Again (if we recycle), we’re not going to stop climate change on a large scale,” Akshintala told NJ Advance Media. “I wanted to educate people or at least let people know that there are different parts of climate change prevention, it’s not just about waste management.”

The 10-week fellowship — called the “Climate Leaders Fellowship” — hosted by Stanford University’s Center for Deliberative Democracy and the nonprofit Rustic Pathways Foundation — ran from February to May. For her project, Akshintala focused on the issue of “fast fashion”.

Fast fashion has gained popularity among brands, including some American fast fashion brands, by selling more clothes at lower prices, according to a peer-reviewed journal cited by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Due to the water-related cotton and other materials used, the human impact, the short life cycle of the clothing, as well as the low wages and low working conditions associated with the creation of the products.

“I chose fast fashion for two different reasons. One of the main ones was that while I was brainstorming, I wanted to come up with something that would affect my community. A lot of people in my age group and in my school are very into fashion,” said Akshintala. “I was also looking at the issue of human rights, so this helped me to discuss both issues.”

The Climate Alliance, which began in October 2021 and is now heading into its third cycle, includes half a dozen online meetings where students come together to discuss their projects and solutions to climate change-related problems. In the non-profit Close Partners cycle, more than 50 students from 10 different countries completed projects focused on waste management in their communities.

The students in Akshintala’s group included students from Malaysia, the Dominican Republic, Japan, and other parts of the United States such as North Carolina and New York.

“As a New Jersey guy who’s lived in New Jersey his whole life, I’m just used to what different people in New Jersey think and how people in New Jersey live,” said Akshintala, who attended West Windsor Plainsboro. High School North.

Akshintala said learning about other parts of the world at the fellowship inspired her to think about the importance of living conditions when implementing environmentally friendly solutions or any climate initiative.

“We have a different way of collecting trash. We have a different way of talking to each other about the climate, and that’s the only real vulnerability I’ve had,” Akshintala said. It’s something that can never be achieved.”

Lillethun, an associate professor at Montclair State University and an expert in apparel design and fashion history, has a different take on fast fashion.

“Throwing things away before they reach the end of their useful lives and overproducing in an effort to sell things, because a lot of people want to get into the fashion industry… and there’s all this overproduction along the way. This has resulted in the global distribution of things we do not use,” Lillethun said.

Another growing problem, he said, is how difficult it has become to recycle clothing.

Additionally, while President Joe Biden’s deflationary bill has poured $369 billion into climate solutions and environmental justice, Lillethun said none of the money has provided a quick fix for the problem.

“The federal government is not doing anything about this, and the clothing and textile trade is 4% of the world economy,” Lillethun.

Some of the facts Akshintala shared with his classmates while presenting in class: 342 million barrels of oil are used each year to produce synthetic fibers, 33% of microplastics are made from synthetic materials, and 57% of all discarded clothing ends up in landfills. .

“We are thrilled to see that Amita has done research to better understand the needs, opportunities and opportunities to come up with a waste reduction project that fits her community,” said John Hsu, director of the Rustic Pathways Climate Alliance. “As a result, not only will Amita’s project have a positive impact, but the skills she has developed from her experience will help her make a positive difference in the world in the future.”

Although the alliance is complete, Akshintala said she plans to continue her progress toward sustainable apparel by building her school’s 30-member environmental club into seven fast-fashion-focused tracks. She is also experimenting with sewing clothes at home and repurposing clothes in an effort to be more sustainable.

What does Akshintala plan to pursue as a career?

“I really want to be a video game designer,” she said. “I want to create story-based games that are about real-life issues, including racism and climate change in our world.”

To learn more about the Akshinthala project, visit amitaakshinthala.wixsite.com/takeitback. Applications for Rustic Pathways’ Fall 2022 Climate Fellowship are open until September 30. To apply, visit rusticpathways.com/young-climate-leaders-fellowship.

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Steven Rhodes can be found at srodas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. @stevenrodasnj.