reducing textile waste, one piece at a time.
Original Matter is my second venture into the sustainable fashion world, my first being the nonprofit organization VIPs Fund. I founded VIPs, with the help of some friends, in 2022. Since then, it has grown into a sustainable fashion and wildlife conservation organization with over 50 volunteers, nearly $25k in annual revenue, and programming spanning between the United States and Madagascar.
In addition to creating it, a couple of my favorite moments with VIPs include:
- spearheading the Spring/Summer 2025 collection, entitled Emergence. Each look in this collection was inspired by a different species of bug, which intended to celebrate some overlooked biodiversity, complex systems, and their emergent properties
- designing pieces for 6 other collections and seeing some of them walk the runway
- creating and implementing a curriculum (we call it Ecology 101) for aspiring conservation scientists in Ranomafana
- financing the comeback of Varibolo Resto, a small ecotourism business and local restaurant outside Ranomafana National Park
I learned to crochet in 2022, lowkey only about two months before having the idea to start VIPs Fund, by watching YouTube tutorials. I wanted to make my boyfriend a crochet hippo for his birthday and I thought it wouldn't be that hard. I was definitely wrong. But I kept at it and I've been hooked (pun intended) since! After crocheting for a year or two, I decided I wanted to get into sewing and bought my first machine in 2024. I attended YouTube University again to learn how to use it. I've defintely been sewing more than crocheting recently, but I try to keep a good balance.
While working at The Getup Vintage in Ann Arbor and learning a bunch about the sustainable fashion industry, I graduated from the University of Michigan in 2025 with a Bachelor of Science in both Evolutionary Anthropology and Environment. In this next chapter of my career, I want to dive further into the world of sustainable fashion under my own name (while still donating a portion of my sales to VIPs). So thank you for coming with me on this journey!