STUDENT SPOTLIGHTS – IN CONVERSATION WITH Becca Sanders, 10/14/2022

Josie Lorenz | The Chronicle

Tell us about yourself! Tell us about your hobbies, interests and extracurriculars!

I [play] basketball during the school season, which takes up a lot of time but all of my extracurriculars center out of NAHS. I helped run [the] fashion club. I take Design Studio Internship and I’m involved in the Mason art department. But the majority of my time is art or basketball.

When did you start creating your own clothes? What got you into it? 

I started [crocheting] because I learned in seventh grade how to make these little crochet squares with Mrs. Roman and I loved it. I was really good at it. I dropped it for a while but then quarantine was when I picked it back up. When I started, I made a lot of stuffed animals and pencil pouches. So once summer came around and it was a little easier to make tank tops and smaller pieces, I started doing that a little bit and it’s been really fun. I like it just because it’s original and handmade. Nobody else has all these things. 

What is the biggest mistake someone can make while crocheting?

Trying to over-commit to huge projects, like cardigans and jackets, they’re huge and they take so long. Starting small is what needs to be the first step. I think when you shoot too far you’re gonna get disappointed when you realize it takes such a long time and you got to kind of ramp up to it by starting with small projects.

What do you think about fast fashion? How are you advocating against it through crocheting?

Target and Shein are really popular now. Those [clothes] are being mass-produced in factories and they’re selling them for so little which makes it almost impossible to sell things I make. Because, why would you buy one for a reasonable price, which is $35-ish when you could get it on Shein or Target for $15? Fast fashion makes it hard for people to sell things that they make because they put their time and materials into it which these companies are mass-producing. It’s hard as high schoolers to not fall into the fast fashion trap because we don’t have a ton of time and you don’t have a ton of money. I 100% have fallen into it before and you just buy things because it’s cheap and you need something quick. I think crocheting itself is advocating [against fast fashion] and just wearing your own pieces and putting the time and effort into it is advocating against fast fashion.

Graphics by Allison Droege