Champion Craft Series & the Botany Club
With the Champion Craft Series, I was fortunate to be selected among five other artists to reinterpret Champion’s classic reverse weave as my canvas. I chose to repurpose garments into interactive objects, playful mementos from our childhood, and an opportunity to upcycle.
I initially thought of the Champion Craft Series as an opportunity to celebrate teams - I looked through my closet and found a few Champion pieces like a jersey from my middle school football team, a crewneck with my favorite team’s logo, and a hoodie I thrifted that used to belong to a school’s club. They weren’t just articles of clothing, they symbolized a community of people with shared passions, dreams and goals and represented something personal to me.
I was inspired by this feeling of community and camaraderie and the idea of “Botany Club” and the “Craft Team” came about as the story behind the pieces. Together, these two groups make up what I am passionate about - preserving mother nature for future generations (Botany Club) and promoting play in creative and interactive ways (Craft Team). Although the groups are hypothetical, when translated into physical garments, they are tangible reminders to come together with the common goal of protecting our shared planet. Even something as minimal as repurposing our clothing can make a difference when practiced by a community.
While designing, I enjoyed referencing themes from childhood like coloring books, blow pens, and sticker collections throughout the series. I want the end user to enter a childlike state of mind, to think outside of the box and even play through the process of wearing or transforming their garment. I experimented with different techniques like layered printed heat transfer vinyls that mimic stickers, direct to garment printing to mimic an airbrushed “blowpen” look, and hand embroidery to mimic dotted lines a teacher might use to teach new shapes. I ultimately want the user to get the impression that it’s OK if we have stains or holes in our clothes, or if our kids doodle on us…the garments we thought we enjoyed before can have deeper meaning that tell a story and can inspire transformation.