Upcycler, fashion designer, and artist Reet Aus on campus

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Over the next few days, environmentally conscious fashion trailblazer Reet Aus is visiting campus. She’ll lead a handful of special events to highlight how she’s been working to make fashion more sustainable.

Her doctoral thesis focused on efforts to incorporate upcycling into mass production, and since 2012 she has been working with Beximco, a major apparel designer in Bangladesh, to make this concept a reality. Aus also teaches at the Estonian Academy of the Arts and is an active costume designer in film and theater. Her visit to campus was brought about as a natural collaboration of multiple departments.

“Reet Aus is a true leader and planetary hero,” said John Pumilio, Colgate’s director of sustainability. “She demonstrates how it’s possible to pursue our passions with social consciousness and environmental stewardship as a cornerstone.”

Aus is also “an eminent theater artist and visionary fashion designer,” added Adrian Giurgea, professor and chair of the theater department, who will engage in a public conversation with her on Monday. This talk will follow Aus’s Friday brown bag lecture for the environmental studies department and an evening screening of Out of Fashion, a film that documents Aus’s efforts to popularize upcycling, in Golden Auditorium. The final event featuring Reet Aus is an art and art history lecture on Wednesday.

See the full list of Reet Aus events.