When a plastic grocery bag charged towards a marina in New Jersey, Rachel Martin, at 14 years old, looking out her bedroom window knew she had to prevent it from reaching the shore.
Her concerned mother only received a brief explanation as Martin rushed outside her childhood home.
“I have to go save a baby turtle!” Martin said.
Fourth-year fashion merchandising major Rachel Martin ventures to her last weeks on campus by combining her passion for sustainability with her love for designing clothing that brings people together.
In 2018 the United States Environmental Protection Agency estimated 17 million tons of textiles waste. From that waste, 10 million tons was sent to the landfill.
“In studying fashion, we have to think about our environmental impact and how we fix these issues after we graduate,” Martin said. “Like how do we do this in a way that is not creating more shirts.”
One of Martin’s final projects at Stevenson is an assignment in ART 250 Silkscreen Printing which requires her to spend at least 15 hours creating an original design. Through her final project, Martin hopes to play her part in the global fight for sustainable fashion by creating a Stevenson merch line printed on thrifted shirts.
“I went to the thrift store and there was a whole rack of plain t-shirts,” Martin said. “I think by going thrifting you get to have unique one-off pieces of clothing.”
Martin is not just creating a shirt design for academic credit.
As the program director for Mustang Activities & Programming, Martin has spent the last two semesters planning MAP World, a music festival on campus. One goal that Mustang Activities & Programming has when planning an event is to get many clubs on campus involved.
Martin also holds the title as co-president for the Fashion Apparel and Design club. To get the Fashion Apparel Design club involved in this event, Martin sold her new merchandise at MAP World on May 3.
Selling the shirts at the event acted as a fundraiser for the Fashion Apparel Design club. Although the weather on May 3. was a mix of gloomy gray skies, the students’ faces were beaming with excitement as Martin sold all 17 of her shirts.
Martin has her hands full during her last weeks at Stevenson.
“I would say it’s killing two birds with one stone,” Martin said. “But it’s really like killing eight birds with one stone.”
Through the design of the shirt, Martin attempted to encapsulate all the good memories she has accumulated at Stevenson.
“I wrote all the important things that matter to Stevenson students,” Martin said. “Ratcliffe, Rockland, the victory statue, the cherry blossoms, all the different things that students experience.”
Victor Torne, a second-year film major, expressed that every time he sees the victory statue he is reminded of the strong connection that students built throughout their time at Stevenson.
“At accepted students’ day it just sent a strong message,” Torne said. “I was like ‘wow this school is not just about coming here and studying, it’s more about family.’”
Ever since Martin attended her first Meat Loaf concert at four years old, she has fallen in love with not only music but also the merchandise that musicians create, which brings fans together.
Bethany Luckett, a third-year counseling and human services major, explained that if she were to put a campus landmark onto a shirt it would be Mustang Stadium.
“I think it brings everybody together,” Luckett said. “Especially during homecoming and all the different sports that are played there.”
By creating a shirt that depicts landmarks around campus, Martin hopes to help students far and wide stay connected to the Stevenson community.
“Stevenson is such a small school that it’s kind of crazy when you see someone out in the wild wearing a Stevenson shirt,” Martin said. “I think wearing my own Stevenson merch back at home in New Jersey really connects me to the school in the same way a music fan gets connected to a band when they are not seeing them in concert.”
