PHOTOS BY: Kimberly Teichrow Photography (more photos for purchase), Joe Kline (more photos for purchase), Stark Photography (more photos for purchase), Melissa Barnes Dholakia, and Greg Maffei

Click on a photo to enlarge and for photographer credit

“DON’T MESH WITH MY DRESS” Designer/Model: Samantha (Sam) Press Materials: Fruit and vegetable mesh bags provided by Grandpa Frank who works at the Grass Valley Food Bank – AMITY CREEK Elementary School Description: “This dress is made from the plastic of 10 rafts, discarded due to holes, left at the bottom of the Bend River Wave during a busy Summer weekend. The dress “tubes” are filled with fruit and vegetable mesh bags recycled from last year’s Rubbish Renewed dress entry. We hope you enjoy!“

“MS. FIZZLE” Designer/Model: Piper Scholz Materials: Old space play tent, Old ripped petty coat – Realms Middle School Description: “Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy. That’s what Ms. Frizzle from the magic school bus says. I agree, it makes sense, it’s true to me because I am not afraid of taking chances or making mistakes. And I love getting messy and making random creations.“

“METAMORPHASIS” Designer/Model: Abigail Harris Materials: plastic tire bags, totes from expos, bubble wrap, cuties orange netting, bag strap, coke bottle labels, repurposed black fabric to create structure of top, zipper – North Star Elementary School Description: “I am part of North Star’s Green Team where I have learned about how trash can have negative affects on the world. I collected bright materials that later on reminded me of a swallowtail butterfly. The trash transformed into something beautiful just like a caterpillar goes through metamorphosis to become a beautiful butterfly.“

“UPCYCLED DAY OUT” Designers: Ruby Jackman and Keira Kemp Model: Ruby Jackman Materials: Used cardigan, packing foam, velcro (thrifted), artificial flowers (thrifted), soda can tabs, colorful bag and plastic scraps from school trash – RPA Middle School Description: “We’ve both always loved fashion and have been designing as long as we can remember! Our inspiration for this outfit comes from our desire to help bring the concept “Circular Economy” (no waste cycle) to life. After buying a chair from Costco, Ruby’s parents were going to throw the packing foam away when we realized it was so soft and fun- perfect for designing a skirt! Soda can tabs have become the craze in middle school, so we wanted to use them as embellishments to be trendy and bring some shiny “bling” to our design.”

“WHO GIVES A CRAP?” Designer/Model: Iris Boettcher Materials: shoelace, soccer net mesh, reused old red jacket, toilet paper wrapping from the brand Who Gives a Crap? toilet paper, life vest straps – Highland Description: “This ensemble is about making more out of less and finding creative ways to reuse what would otherwise go into our landfills. The corset top utilizes remnants from a vintage jacket, straps from a defunct life vest and sleeves made out of old, torn soccer goal mesh. The skirt is where the piece gets its name, fabricated from the fun-patterned wrapping paper of bamboo toilet paper brand ‘Who Gives a Crap?’ In thinking about protecting our planet and asking, ‘Who Gives a Crap?’ the answer is: We do!“

“FRAZZBERRY” Designer/Model: Mara Monaghan Materials: used clothing, old curtain, soda pop cans – RPA Middle School Description: “Frazzberry” was inspired by my mind that never stops designing with a deep passion for art and creating with my hands. I used old clothes for patterns and transformed an old curtain into a shirt and pants set. To add detail and texture, I wove fabric strips together and attached can tabs for a trendy shiny, eye-catching effect. I’m always thinking, sketching, and building and am 100% committed to using materials that were going in the trash. Frazzberry makes me feel happy and I hope it brings other joy.“

“FLORAL FUSION” Designers: Guthrie Cyr and Serena Dunning Model: Guthrie Cyr Materials: This piece is crafted from an old boat headliner, strips of pre-loved clothing sourced from the ReStore, bottle caps from Brew Dr, recycled rainbow mesh, and a lace table runner that has been repurposed. – Juniper Elementary Description: “Floral Fusion is a dress that combines elements of trash and fashion to create a beautiful garment. We hope it captures the essence of reusing trash and old clothes to make something new and fashionable. We wanted to use community resources such as The ReStore to show that everybody can reuse materials in the community to keep the Earth sustainable. We used pastel colors because they create a environment that transports you into a realm of flowers. Overall, Floral Fusion combines elements of trash, fashion, and flowers to create a amazing, eco-friendly design.“

“BEAUTIFUL BEET” Designer: Charlie Evert Model: Andy Evert Materials: Bed Sheet, thread, beets – Buckingham Description: “My dad was born and raised in Bend, and we are lucky enough to have an air bnb. My mom is the cleaner. Sometimes she can’t get some small stains that are on the sheets out and the unit needs a new set. I thought why don’t I use that fabric to make a gown, and my favorite color is pink and I love beets so I dyed the fabric with scraps of beets.“

“DEAN” Designer: Pieta Holland Model: Cleo Oak Materials: Reused fabric, pop tabs, reused paper bags, cans, and sewing thread – Realms Middle School Description: Our garment is a black night sky reused fabric with a corset, made out of cans and pop tabs, descending down the dress into pop tab chains hanging off of the dress.

“ONES GIRL’S TRASH, IS ANOTHER GIRL’S TREASURE” Designers: Sloan Olson, Melody & Mimi Cameron Model: Sloan Olson Materials: Empty pretzel bags. plastic shopping bags, fabric base, and old socks and string – Amity Creek, Pacific Crest Middle School, Miller Elementary Description: “Our inspiration to make the dress came from our concern that our environment is becoming a landfill. So we set out to transform waste into something beautiful. Our neighborhood community donated heaps of plastic and another material that would otherwise have ended up in the landfill. Pretzel bags, shopping bags, and bread bags were used for many different things on the dress. We also used a stained dress, and tops off of many different cans.“

“MERMAID DRESS” Designer: Gemma Taylor Model: Ember Taylor Materials: Old magazines, feed bags, rope scraps, all kinds of packaging materials (bubble wrap, brown paper, foam sheets, ribbon) – Desert Sky Montessori Description: “I has always loved the ocean and feel mermaids represent everything that’s magical and beautiful about it. My dress was inspired by scales and seashells. I designed a top out of poly woven feed bags from the recycling bin at Wilco, a bubble skirt made with textured brown packaging paper, and a tail using old bubble wrap and 10-year-old magazines. I love finding creative new uses for other people’s trash, which in turn helps keep the ocean clean and all its creatures safe.“

“RAPIDS AHEAD!” Designers/Model: Astrid Pava Materials: The entire outfit is made from inner tubes found in/around the trash at the Rapids area of the Deschutes River. – Realms Middle School Description: “I got this idea at the end of last summer after seeing so many discarded inner tubes in the trash at the Rapids. I made a skirt from a tube and used a piece of a life-jacket as a belt. My big sister Jaidyn crocheted the top from inner tube pieces and my mom cut long strands of the plastic to make the “yarn,” so it has been a big family effort. The headpiece is also made from inner tube yarn. I was inspired to make this outfit after attending RR for a few years and always saying in my head, “I’m going to do this!”

“DON’T MESH AROUND” Designer/Model: Nora Sites Materials: Inside of a bike, too small dress, stained tank top, cut up tight s and ripped old mesh. – Realms Middle School Description: “I wanted to make a fun miss match outfit out of my old dress that was too small to fit me anymore, I then over time found more old stained and not needed clothes. I thought it would be cool to make a garment with all the things I didn’t use. Right after Halloween, I realized my costume was all ripped up and I could not use most of it anymore, so that’s what inspired me to make the garment called: ‘Don’t mesh around’ and reuse that mesh and make into something fun.“

“MONSTER CAN CHAOS” Designer/Model: Bethany Smith Materials: Monster Energy Drink cans, used clothing fabric, duct tape, hot glue – RPA Middle School Description: “I’m inspired by the bold energy of Monster, a favorite drink among middle schoolers, and especially love the edgy look of the Monster logo. I wanted to challenge myself by creating a design using Monster cans, bringing something tough and unexpected into fashion. I think the idea of turning trash into something fashionable and artistic is not only cool but really important. This project shows my love for bold design, creativity, and giving new life to materials that would otherwise be thrown away.“

“BYOB (BRING YOUR OWN BEAUTY)” Designer: Julia Perry Model: Julia Keating Materials: Cans, can tabs – Cascade Middle School Description: “This outfit uses cans, strung together, for the skirt, and can tabs, woven together, for the top. The inspiration for this outfit came from realizing that one of the ways we create community is over cans of drinks. That’s great, but it also produces a lot of waste. Almost any social event you can think of involves canned drinks and this outfit brings awareness to the impact all those cans have on the earth”.

“NOT A FULL DECK” Designer/Model: Simone Halpern Materials: Multiple decks of cards all missing a car, an under layer of red checkered fabric. – Realms Middle School Description: “My sister and I used to play cards constantly, and we noticed that a lot of our decks were no longer full. When a deck is missing a card, it makes it impossible for us to play a game, and they no longer have any use. I realized how many decks were thrown out every year because of this, and I decided instead to transform the extra cards into a garment. This serves as yet another reminder of the ways in which we contribute to our growing waste footprint, because most people have a deck at home and don’t think twice about throwing it away when it is no longer full.“

“REBORN EN POINTE” Designer/Model: Stella Rich Materials: Old unusable pointe shoe satin, an old t-shirt, an old ballet costume, an old ballet tutu, old pointe shoe ribbon and old pointe shoe elastic. – Bend High School Description: “The inspiration behind this piece is the fact that when pointe shoes die, they are useless and most dancers just keep them in a bin in their room forever. There are very few ways to reuse them, only big ballet companies sometimes recycle the materials, but for an average dancer, there’s nothing to do. I want to raise awareness about this waste, pointe shoes are made to be customized and used but afterwards they generated a lot of waste. An issue today is the fast fashion industry, but the original fast fashion is pointe shoes, which can’t be worn again after just one night.“

“RUGGED BEAUTY” Designer/Model: Holly Rustand Materials: Old sweatpants, sweatshirts, and reused black mesh – Realms High School Description: “This garment is an extraordinary example of what old cloths can turn into! With the collective example of old sweatpants, sweatshirts and black mesh. Rugged Beauty displays a beautiful alternative to throwing away worn out clothes. Holly is challenging you to find ways to turn your worn out clothes into something more! There is nothing more satisfying than seeing what your creativity can accomplish with a little love and determination!“

“DECKED OUT MAJESTY” Designer/Model: Sadie Bender Materials: towel, playing cards. old shirt, cardboard, pom-poms, string – Cascades Academy Description: “This outfit is made entirely of recycled materials, including old playing cards, a worn-out towel, a used shirt, and scrap cardboard. The design included a crown, top, skirt, and a staff. Our inspiration was the queen of hearts; all the outward-facing cards are queens of different suits.”

“NEON SCRAPS OF JOY” Designer/Model: Arley Stark Materials: Old thrifted sweatshirt, rain jacket, ski bags, deconstructed canvas tote bag, small 3-D printed hooks, thrifted stuffed animals and rags. – OSU Cascades Description: “Each piece is designed with a function and purpose, to be practical and yet personalized. There is a focus on storage and water resistance, but also color and fun! With materials from old totes and ski bags, to re-purposing thrifted sweatshirts, rain jackets, and even scraps and stuffed animals. Re-configuring the materials gives them new strength and purpose.“

“SAVE THE RED” Designer: Jadie Whitticar Model: Sierra Ritchie Materials: recycled acrylic yarn, old/dud film negatives, moving crumble (used newsprint), used stretched wrap – Realms High School Description: “This piece required quite a bit of craftsmanship, it features crochet, paper machetes accents & film strips . All of these things have something to do with common hobbies. I see each piece of this garment as an example of how these common hobbies can be made sustainable & have all come together to make one concise, planet conscious product. Material manipulation is something I’ve had a very good time learning about, I definitely see myself bringing these techniques into my regular pieces.“

“778 BOTTLE CAPS” Designer/Model: Vida Halpern Materials: Bottle caps from various brands and drinks, wire to hold them together, old/broken belt – Bend High School Description: “This piece was created out of bottle caps that I found sitting in a bin at a restaurant in Black Butte Ranch. There are various brands and types of drinks, but my garment is made entirely out of these bottle caps and an old broken belt. Bottle caps are non-recyclable. I collected them from one single restaurant in one period of time. I hope to bring attention to the fact that even tiny amounts of waste produced by small actions (such as purchasing a drink) can and will have a collective impact on the environment.“

“LE CIRQUE DE PLASTIQUE” Designer: Arley Stark Model: Kore Mullane Materials: Plastic shipping bags, other plastic bags, foam from packaging, bubble wrap, broken umbrella pieces, disposable masks, thread, hot glue, shell of old climbing rope, inside of old climbing rope, re-used hardware pieces, old eclipse glasses, and a plastic bottle.– OSU Cascades Description: “For all your plastic clown needs, featuring a circus tent skirt from broken umbrella pieces with colorful bubble wrap and packaging flags, and old climbing rope insides. Umbrella cover shorts with a plastic bag over-skirt. A bubble wrap climbing rope shell corset. A foam, plastic, and eclipse glasses parasol. Lastly, plastic clown accessories like a plastic bottle party hat, bubble wrap bow, and fluffy rope/plastic sleeves.“

“2025 VISION” Designer/Model: Kaia Chopra Materials: single use contact packaging, speaker wire, broken dry bag, broken dog cone, speaker wire, thread – Summit High School Description: “I’ve collected over 1500 single use contact packages over the 3 years I’ve been wearing them. I always thought it would be cool to make something out of them and this dress is inspired by high fashion couture pieces. When I found my dogs broken cone, it seemed to good a piece of plastic to pass up and I saw a vision of it as a collar or skirt. I like participating in Rubbish Renewed because it’s a challenge for me to see how I can change trash into a work of art that I enjoy and am proud of.“