LOCALadk Magazine

LOCALadk 13 ioned housewife with a frilly apron sitting at a sewing machine in a dim room, patching some boy's pants. Maybe that is just me, but something like that always comes to mind when I think of sewing. This is odd, con- sidering the fashion industry is, to this day, an incredi- bly male-dominated industry. Perhaps If you know this, the idea of fashion should not be as daunting for men. But I still appear to be the only young male designer, or designer-in-training, that I personally know in my area. Oh boy, how I have expanded my game since my first lesson. Back then, I didn't even think I needed my grandma's old, half broken Singer. I just wanted to learn some hand sewing to patch holes. While I did learn some fashion- able patching techniques, hand sewing is still not my strong suit. Where I am now, even as a young fashion designer, has meant that I need a completely new ma- chine, a serger, and all those strange little things that professional designers seem to have a ton of for no reason (like when someone gave me a notch clipper). A notch is something you can easily cut with regular scis- sors as effectively and neatly as a clipper, so the clipper is just so random. Anyway, now I have plenty of goals that go with want- ing to have a design business. This first one may be a lit- tle interesting, considering it is somewhat based on the issue of fashion being a very male dominated industry, and I am a male working in said industry. Since I essen- tially cannot do anything about the issue itself, my fo- cus is on menswear mostly. I find many brands and de- signers focus a lot of energy on women's clothing, and any men's designs are really an afterthought. I don't blame them; women's clothing is easier to make and be creative with. My goal is to focus on creating men's clothing and making that slice of the industry more interesting. I want to get rid of the same basic styles and silhouettes and simply make fashion an easier and less scary thought for most guys. I still make women's clothing (like I said, it is easier to do), but I always try to make sure it is comfortable to wear, because my mom has helped me understand how important this is. Another focus of mine is on the environment and slow fashion. The low quality of fast fashion garments does not just affect people but also the world we live in. It seems that when a garment gets gross or falls apart, a lot of people throw it away. This is the whole cycle of the fast fashion industry. You buy a nice shirt, then it falls apart in a year, and you have to buy more. This is not the only issue affecting the environment. The creation of garments in the fast fashion industry and in the textile industry produces a huge amount of waste. Big designers order large amounts of fabric for a collection, then usually the rest of it gets thrown out. In the textile making process, almost all the steps have some kind of waste product. Lately, textile companies have taken steps to be more environmentally friendly. This is something I want to help with through working in slow fashion and by being conscious of the textiles I use, how they were made, and what they were made of. I have also learned some basic weaving, which means I can go further by making my own fabric how I want it. I find my pieces can sometimes contrast with some merchants and other designers simply because of how I price most of my pieces. My biggest focus is affordabil- ity. Some say that my pieces should be priced more, but I do think I price them for what they are worth. In the end, it is just clothing after all. I do not want something like price to reflect the quality of the piece either. I feel like a high-end garment should have style, be durable and comfortable, but also accessible to more than just Jeshua's designs prioritize affordability, sustainability, and comfort. He hopes to challenge the notion that "sewing is a girls thing," and believes high end garments should be accessible to ever yone.

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