NYU students launch Future Fashion Frontier offering low-cost repairs and workshops

Future Fashion Frontier is a student-run initiative launched by NYU’s sustainable fashion club Future Fashion Group that operates campus workshops and community programs providing low-cost alterations and mending services to local residents. The project runs in a classroom at 370 Jay St., where students teach and learn repair skills during workshops and open studio hours.

In a typical week at 370 Jay St., students are threading sewing needles, patching worn denim and learning how to use sewing machines for the first time. The program teaches visible mending, hand sewing, embroidery and machine sewing, positioning one medium for change as an upcycling station and repair hub while offering practical services to neighbors.

Gallatin senior Olivia Bobadilla, the club’s events lead, frames the work as a cultural shift aimed at campus life. Bobadilla said, “Learn how to repair what you already have.” She added, “If you don’t know what to do with your old clothes, come to FFG before they end up in landfills.” On priorities for the year she stressed, “Something that I want to really push this year is mending, and how practical and useful of a skill that is that we’ve lost,” underscoring the program’s educational focus.

The student effort is framed against a broader environmental context: the fast fashion industry alone is responsible for roughly 10% of global carbon emissions and is one of the largest consumers of water worldwide, and rapidly accelerating production cycles and use of synthetic materials have made clothing more disposable. At the institutional level, NYU’s Office of Sustainability supports student sustainability projects through its Green Grant program, which awards up to $20,000 to fund student projects focused on solving environmental challenges on campus.

Adjacent University work links sustainability with accessibility. Students work with the NYU Ability project on projects related to the design and fabrication of adapted fashion for people with disabilities. The goal of the VIP is to familiarize students with the process of designing with disabled community members, finding out what is really needed then exploring ways to meet those needs. Students will have the opportunity to explore how digital fabrication techniques apply to a new generation of accessible garment construction tools such as digital embroidery machines, 3D-printed knitting machines and looms, laser cutting screens to print on fabric, and hacking sewing and knitting machines with custom electronics and hardware.

Campus initiatives like Future Fashion Frontier align with institutional recommendations for circularity: Stern NYU lists actions including “Implement Product Take-Back Programs for Textile Recycling and Upcycling,” “Implement Product Repair / Refurbish Programs,” “Invest in Circular Packaging Solutions,” and “Increase Reused and Recycled Content.” By teaching visible mending and offering low-cost repairs from 370 Jay St., Future Fashion Frontier translates those strategic fragments into hands-on learning and community service aimed at diverting clothing from landfill.

The program continues to run workshops and open studio hours for students and local residents, centering mending as a practical skill and a means to promote reuse across campus.