College students will collect scrap fabric, old clothes, purses, and accessories from people decluttering their wardrobes and from Delhi flea markets. The ones that require it will then be upcycled by students through simple alterations and turned into usable items like masks, coasters, pouches, bedsheets and clothes. Competitions will be organised where students showcase their upcycled clothing and products. Judges will include well-known names from the world of fashion, art, and craft. They'll look for innovation, simplicity of the method used, and creative details or embellishments added. The event will wrap up with informative talks by these panelists, open to all students, where they’ll speak about local art, traditional skills, and sustainability. Since most DU colleges don’t have dedicated arts and crafts societies focused on spinning, weaving, or upcycling, this competition will bring together creative students from fashion and fine art societies with a shared interest in sustainable making. The end goal would be to collect all of these items, alter or not as per requirement and redistribute to families in need. It will help alleviate some of the waste disposal burden of households and markets, invigorate students about human skill and creation, and redirect excess to those in need.
Over the 4-month period, the aim would be to host 3 upcycling competition events across different DU campuses. Each event will end with a speaker session by industry experts, open to a larger audience, with the goal of reaching at least 300 students in total. These talks will help students across DU become more aware of traditional crafts, conscious consumption, and sustainable design. The plan is to engage 20–30 dedicated student volunteers who will work on collecting, sorting, and upcycling materials, as well as organizing events and managing outreach. Our goal is to upcycle or redistribute enough usable items (masks, dupattas, coasters, shawls, etc.) to benefit at least 100 families in under-resourced areas of Delhi such as Kirti Nagar, Sangam Vihar and others. The direct audience for this project are students, while the target group is impoverished families.