Skip School Not Breakfast

Millions of tons of textile waste accumulates in the United States every year. What's a great way to combat that? A funny line, some old t-shirts, and a couple of willing hands.

Last year, I decided to up-cycle clothing. I bought a heat press, some vinyl, and rummaged around at the local thrift store. I came up with a line and a couple designs, then my friends and I began to print on used clothing. "Skip School Not Breakfast" was our mantra, and gently used clothing was our target. We printed, peeled, and pressed these designs, and through this project, we were able to get dozens of old shirts back into circulation again.

After we started distributing our apparel, we got the attention of a local paper:
"Skip School Not Breakfast has a unique process when it comes to creating an apparel item. They don’t start entirely from scratch, they upcycle. 'We go to a thrift store and hand-pick high-quality shirts, then we go home and come up with the designs and logos ourselves. We want to give people clothing they enjoy wearing and feel good about.'"
-UVU Review

Though a simple idea, I was impressed by the positivity we got in return. There are plenty of quality items going to waste, and sometimes it's just a matter of creativity to make them functional again. I hope to continue to find opportunities to prevent excessive waste, and though I am not currently designing shirts, my heat press awaits its next valuable calling.
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Reuse, Renew, Upcycle