Almost three million pounds of discarded potato chip bags and foil have been collected in the last three years to support The Chip Bag Project in creating sleeping bags for people experiencing homelessness.
Founded by Eradajere Oleita in 2020, the Detroit nonprofit’s mission is to “bridge the conversation between social justice and environmental justice through project-based activations.”
Launching initially with the goal of making and distributing sleeping bags to people in need, the project quickly expanded to working with local mutual aid organizations in providing 15,000 warming kits and other resources to the community. Looking forward, The Chip Bag Project hopes to obtain a building to create a full community center for upcycling — the reuse of discarded material to create new products — with a focus on intersectionality.
“I’m always wanting to make sure that I’m keeping Black people and Black identity at the center of any sustainable conversation, poor people in general, really,” Oleita says. “People in marginalized situations have always been sustainable in every aspect, whether that’s using grocery bags as trash bags, or using your old McDonald’s cup as a drinking cup. We’ve always been masters of upcycling.”
Born in Nigeria, 27-year-old Oleita moved to Detroit in 2012 and has been working in the city as an environmental activist ever since, which contributed to her being granted the City of Detroit’s Humanitarian Award in 2022.
Oleita believes that all areas of sustainability relate to each other and hopes to promote conversations about the connection between the environment, food, homelessness, and now, fashion.
“We’re starting an international conversation within the fashion industry,” Oleita says. “We can show these very intentional intersections between all these seemingly isolated issues because if we keep continuing to have siloed conversations about climate issues, then we will forever be wandering around waiting for the Earth to burn.”
In conjunction with September’s Detroit Month of Design, The Chip Bag Project is hosting a preview of the Trashion Show, a design challenge to fashion designers in the city where participants will be given a box of recyclable items to incorporate into garments.
The winner of the show will receive a sizable award. “The grand prize is a grand prize,” she says. “Because we are a group of creatives, we wanted to make sure that we gave a prize that actually would make a difference in somebody’s career and business.”
While the big finale Trashion Show won’t happen until December or January, a preview will take place at Eastern Market After Dark on Thursday, Sept. 21 for people to learn more about the show’s purpose. There will be tables showcasing some garments made with chip bag material, a demonstration table showing people ways that they can reuse discarded plastic and glass, and some upcycled clothing items displayed on mannequins.
“This is a very avant-garde show, but the purpose of it is to start to show people how we can reimagine the things that we say don’t have any use anymore,” Oleita says. “How can you reimagine that butter tin? How can you reimagine that glass container that you don’t know what to do with? We’re really giving people an opportunity to reimagine their plastic use and just their trash use in general.”
The team at The Chip Bag Project, which Oleita says consists of about seven people, has the goal of pushing Detroit designers to “think outside the box” and find new ways to create new clothing.
“We’re a city of innovators, a city of people who are constantly going hard, people who are constantly asking what’s next, who are constantly seeing possibilities where there are no possibilities,” she says. “Detroit is one of the most resilient cities in the United States — in the world, honestly — and the Blackness and creativity that is here is unmatched.”
For local designers interested in participating in the competition, the application is still open until the end of the month. Designers of any age or experience level can apply. The entry fee is $100, but Oleita says the price can be discussed if someone is accepted and can’t afford it.
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