Tag Archives: Sustainability

Sustainability Awareness Week – Patagonia Worn Wear

FIT’s Sustainability Awareness Week Quick Summary

Here at FIT we dedicate a week every semester to the sustainability of our industry with the sustainability council and club leading the way for events and panel discussions.

I stopped by the Patagonia Worn Wear pop-up to learn a little more about what they do and their journey. Their FIT setup consisted of three sewing machines (one industrial brother machine and two home machines), sewers tools, and a big box of trims and notions. The repair technicians mended several different types of damages such as broken zippers and buttons, busted seams, and patching holes. Patagonia owns the largest repair facility in the US located in Reno, Nevada, which is even more astounding when you realize that they only repair Patagonia products.

Patagonia’s Worn Wear wagon

The Worn Wear team even consisted of an FIT alumn, a TDM (Textiles Development and Marketing) graduate, who is with the materials innovation team at Patagonia. She spoke with me about the Patagonia branch “Tin Shed” which is a corporate venture capitalist fund they use to invest in environmentally and socially responsible start-up companies which they use to further their corporate mission!

What aspects of sustainability are you interested in?

Vote AlgiKnit Team in “Chasing Genius” Competition

Hi all,

I hope your semester has been productive thus far!

To keep the new-semester momentum rolling, help FIT’s Team AlgiKnit win National Geographic’s Chasing Genius Challenge!

Team AlgiKnit has been selected as a finalist in the National Geographic Chasing Genius Challenge for creating sustainable textile materials. WOO! They are the proud winners of the 2016’s Biodesign Challenge for developing a yarn out of algae and fungi.

Today is the last day to help AlgiKnit win a Chasing Genius People’s Choice award by voting for the team’s initiative. Here’s how:

Team AlgiKnit is also in the running as one of 15 finalists in the Sustainable Planet category. Your vote will also help AlgiKnit win the People’s Choice award worth $25,000.

Support sustainability projects and the brilliant *FIT* brains behind them!

MB

FIT Awarded Environmental Excellence Award 2016

Environmental Excellence Awards Union College

FIT’s Karen Pearson, Suzanne McGillicuddy, and William Rossi are congratulated by DEC’s chief of staff Peter Walker

FIT has been awarded one of eight 2016 Environmental Excellence Awards by New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).  The awards were announced during a ceremony on Tuesday, November 15, at Union College in Schenectady, NY.

The Environmental Excellence Awards are given annually in recognition of outstanding, innovative, and sustainable projects or programs and unique partnerships that are contributing to a healthier environment and economy and serving as models of excellence. Since 2004, DEC’s Environmental Excellence Awards have honored 72 businesses, schools, municipalities, governments, and organizations achieving outstanding environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and economic viability.

FIT was recognized for sustainability initiatives throughout the college, including its:

  • Green Roof System – 17,000 square feet installed, diverting an estimated 300,000 gallons of runoff from the sewer system each year
  • Carbon dioxide emissions reduction of 43 percent, plus a commitment to reduce FIT’s total carbon dioxide emissions by a full 50 percent by 2020 from the 2005 baseline, in support of the United Nations Climate Negotiations
  • Winning the 2016 Biodesign Challenge, a competition in which teams of students from nine leading U.S. colleges and universities created projects that envision future applications of biotechnology
  • Minor in Ethics and Sustainability
  • Annual Sustainable Business and Design Conference
  • Annual Sustainability Awareness Week
  • Summer Sustainability Institute
  • Campus-wide recycling
  • Water bottle refilling stations
  • Student-led:
    • Rooftop Natural Dye Garden – established and maintained to promote sustainable and eco-friendly dyeing practices
    • Cotton Muslin Composting – an initiative in which FIT’s cotton muslin is composted and transformed into nutrient-rich material for the dye garden
    • FIT Hives – an initiative to establish a beehive at FIT in order to foster education across many disciplines and majors about bees and their role in the environment

“This honor recognizes the myriad steps, large and small, that FIT has taken to become an example of environmental stewardship in action,” said Dr. Joyce F. Brown, president of FIT. “FIT’s success in sustainability is due to the work of many people from all corners of the campus who are continually creating unique and industry-specific ways to conserve, reuse, recycle, and innovate.”

Way to go green, FIT!

Melinda Batista

Discovering a Major: Packaging Design

by Claudia Arisso as told to Emily Bennett

Claudia Arisso

Claudia Arisso

I came to FIT really interested in Packaging Design! You do have to begin with the Communication Design AAS, so there were still two years for me to make a sound decision, apply, and get accepted into the BFA program. Communication Design prepared me for Packaging because the 4th semester is all about taking introductory courses to things like advertising, packaging, and exhibition design so that you have a better understanding of which BFA you’d like to continue into. For instance, Packaging is so different from the more commonly known Graphic Design major. Packaging deals extensively with crafting a brand from the ground up. You need to create a story and a reason for the consumers to fall in love with a product. Our classes revolve around brand strategy, creative briefs, and creating brand stories. (It’s all about depth!)

This is a work in progress of a flexible packaging project for an international food brand

This is a work in progress of a flexible packaging project for an international food brand

As specific as Packaging Design sounds, we come out with such a wide skill set because it requires you to wear many different hats, and grads can go into pretty diverse fields. For me, writing, research, and strategy are the aspects of Packaging that I want to take into my future career, whatever that may be.  So far I have done two internships. My first was working on page layouts, logos and identity for a design publication. This was strictly graphic design for print. My internship at the moment is for credit and is a required part of the Packaging Design curriculum. I work in a small packaging design studio that is more focused on brand strategy and how to get instant shelf impact. I have also picked up some freelance work along the way, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend piling that on while you’re still in school.

I had to show a portfolio to be accepted into both my AAS and BFA. To get into Packaging, I just had to show my best work from the AAS program in addition to my GPA.

This was made for the Packplay competition for the University of Quebec and Montreal. The competition is between from schools all over the world (we are the only ones from the US!)

This was made for the Packplay competition for the University of Quebec and Montreal. The competition is between schools from all over the world (we are the only one from the US!)

Last semester, I took a Sustainable Packaging class that taught us how to make sustainability part of our design process, which is so important to anyone involved with making anything in 2015. Outside of Packaging, I’ve taken everything from Crime Scene Chemistry to Bookbinding. Picking a major doesn’t mean you have to pigeonhole yourself! I’m in a pretty specific major, but I learned that you can make it work with whatever talents or interests you have. Your major shouldn’t restrict you – use the aspects you love about it to your advantage and play up your strengths. The different BFA programs are really just different means to an end.

To learn more about the Packaging Design major click here! And to learn about the Communications AAS program click here!

–Emily–

Discovering a Major: Entrepreneurship

by Laura Vitarelli as told to Emily Bennett

Laura Vitarelli

Laura Vitarelli

I just recently decided what I wanted to do. Within the past two years I decided I wanted to become an esthetician, which is doing professional makeup, facials, peels, laser hair removal,  and other things related to skin care. I definitely want to try to start my own line of skincare and makeup products, which is why I chose Entrepreneurship as my major.

Many of the classes I take in Entrepreneurship revolve around fashion, which I am interested in as well. The program aims to address the real life demands of today’s marketplace. It is an option for students who want to become more impactful members of society, learn how to manage creativity, become more innovative in business, and learn how to build a sustainable enterprise.

The fact that FIT has a major dedicated to learning how to run a start-up was a huge factor in choosing the school. The admissions process was the same as anyone else applying to a major in the School of Business and Technology. I had to write an essay about why I was the perfect fit for this school, send transcripts and test scores. I didn’t have to show a portfolio or anything like the Art & Design students.

Currently, I am enrolled in the AAS Advertising and Marketing Communications program (Entrepreneurship is a Bachelor’s Degree program). I believe having both majors when I graduate from FIT will prepare me for being involved in today’s crazy marketplace and enhance my knowledge about the business world and how it works. So far, Computer Design has been my favorite class. Right now I am working on a portrait of Ariana Grande made solely of typed letters. It is really challenging and interesting. I visited the club fair last week, and WFIT, the campus broadcast club,  has me interested. And I am definitely going to join the Models and Stylists Association so that I can do makeup on people.

Even though it is only my first couple of months at FIT, the biggest lesson I have learned is to get out of your comfort zone. I think it is something everyone has to do in order to succeed and realize who they are.

To learn more about the Entrepreneurship major click here. And to find out about Advertising and Marketing Communications click here.

–Emily–