The sustainable style of the Seamless collection

If there is one thing that is constant in the fast fashion industry, it is overconsumption: buying three colors and two sizes of a skinny, poorly made shirt that costs $ 5; spend money (and a lot of money) on microtrends that are becoming fashionable as quickly as they are going out of style.

But young people are grasping the pitfalls of the industry and its subsequent impacts on the environment. Trends show that teens are more likely to shop second-hand and less likely to splurge on department store clothing. A group of former and current University of Minnesota students have created a clothing line that reflects their philosophy of sustainability, style, and consumerism.

Hamy Huynh and Jacqueline Nguyen from Jaded, Allison Pham from HeyPham and Angie Huynh from SickNastyFits have come together to create a clothing collection that is as chic as it is durable. The seamless collection takes recycled vintage and second-hand clothing and gives every room a twist. This line of custom clothing in vibrant colors is made to last. Everything in the collection is a unique piece that comes in one size; once someone purchases the part, it is available online.

Every brand, whether SickNastyFits, HeyPham or Jaded, recycles clothing from second-hand stores. “The mission of our brand is to prevent clothes from ending up in landfills, so we buy second-hand without overconsumption and, keeping in mind the community in which we shop, not to take too much” , Hamy Huynh, the co-founder of Jaded, says.

Huynh, aware of the environmental drawbacks of overconsumption and fast fashion, began to rethink what clothes she buys, where she buys those clothes, and whether or not the ten seconds of trending is worth the environmental costs.

“In order to make progress on something that is close to my heart,” says Huynh, “I have tried to be a little more aware of how much I consume and I buy unique pieces from small businesses,” instead of Shein, Huynh mentioned, or other fast fashion companies that sell cheap fashionable clothes, exploit their workforce and contribute to global warming.

Creating unique clothes for girls is just a side activity. “This is because we are busy bodies,” says Nguyen. Each designer has their own job, and the design and organization of this collection is something they added to their already busy schedule. All very active students throughout their college careers, SickNastyFits’ Huynh said the collection felt “a bit like another group of students.”

As the group juggles school, work and their own brands, the future of the next collection is uncertain, although they would like to release a few more by the end of the year. Huynh said, “Buying something that is high quality and unique, and that people put time and effort into, that’s why I love doing what we do.”