Fashion is one of the world’s largest contributors to textile waste, making sustainable design practices more important than ever. Recognizing this challenge, Fashion Design students from BINUS University Batch 28 took on the opportunity to rethink the lifecycle of fashion through the Sustainable Fashion course, a collaborative project with Evermos and Closed Loop Fashion.

Evermos is an integrated commerce platform that empowers Indonesian women through reseller opportunities, online and offline business training, nationwide community networks, and a curated selection of local halal products. Meanwhile, Closed Loop Fashion is a sustainability consultancy that provides practical tools and holistic solutions to apparel and textile industry stakeholders, supporting the implementation of sustainability and circularity through capacity building, strategy development, and innovation. Together, the two industry partners provided students with valuable resources and real-world insights into sustainable fashion practices.

As part of the collaboration, Evermos supplied students with leftover fabrics collected from its partner clothing manufacturers. Rather than treating these materials as waste, students were challenged to transform them into entirely new fashion collections through upcycling, demonstrating how creativity and sustainability can go hand in hand.

Each student group developed its own sustainable fashion brand based on individual interests and design philosophies, resulting in a diverse range of concepts and aesthetics. While every brand had its own unique identity, all shared a common commitment to sustainable production by utilizing upcycled materials and incorporating techniques such as patchwork, layering, appliqué, detachable construction, fabric manipulation, and other methods that extend the value of discarded textiles.

The project was designed to simulate the process of launching a real fashion label. Students began by experimenting with the leftover fabrics to develop innovative upcycling techniques before applying them to their collections. Each brand produced two complete looks, with every look consisting of one top, one bottom, and one accessory.

Beyond garment design, students also built their brands from the ground up. This included defining the brand’s vision and mission, identifying relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), developing customer profiles, calculating production costs and pricing strategies, and documenting the entire creative journey in a comprehensive progress book. From initial research and concept development to toiling, pattern making, and final garment construction, every stage reflected the realities of building a sustainable fashion business.

To further strengthen each brand identity, every group organized a professional concept photoshoot and produced a campaign video that communicated the mood, values, and visual direction of their collection. These final creative assets complemented the garments and demonstrated how storytelling plays an essential role in fashion branding.

The project culminated in the Sustainable Fashion Exhibition, held at BINUS @Alam Sutera from 7–10 July, where each student brand presented its collection through an individual exhibition booth. The exhibition allowed visitors to experience the students’ creative processes firsthand while showcasing innovative approaches to circular fashion and responsible design.

Through this collaboration with Evermos and Closed Loop Fashion, the Sustainable Fashion course provided students with valuable industry experience while encouraging them to view textile waste not as a limitation, but as a resource for innovation. More importantly, the project empowered future designers to develop fashion brands that balance creativity, commercial viability, and environmental responsibility.