Lower Your Carbon Footprint, Create Eco-Friendly Clothing

Recycling and shopping at environmentally friendly grocery stores can lower your environmental footprint, but one Silver Spring resident takes being eco-friendly one step further.

Sarah Gingold decided to take her passion for being environmental savvy and channel it into creating clothing from reusable fabric.

Gingold recently opened her clothing art studio, Think Outside The Store—located on 816 Thayer Ave.—to encourage people to explore options outside of store bought fashion.

She will be hosting a Swaporama-rama event with CREATE Arts Center to help introduce the community to her space on Saturday, Sept. 24 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

“Whether it’s helping them make some item that they can’t find to buy or showing them how to do it themselves,” said Gingold.

After she graduated from the  University of Maryland four years ago, she became inspired to create eco-friendly clothing during her first job at the nonprofit Food and Water Watch. Gingold said she needed a variety of clothing to keep up with office attire so she challenged herself to create 10 pieces of eco-friendly clothing to wear to work and that started her journey.

“I took all the shirts that I acquired throughout high school and college that were too short but I wanted to wear them to the office. So I chopped off the tops and added a bottom,” Gingold said.

To create her clothing Gingold purchases fabric from the bargain bins, uses donations from friends, and fabric she purchases from Scrap DC. Then, she alters or sews the fabric on her antique Singer sewing machine into wearable attire.

Gingold’s long term goal is become the go-to person in the community about eco-friendly clothing.

“Anyone who wants something clothing related I can help with it,” she said.