Designer Turns Plastic Bottles Into Clothes

For the next three months, New Haveners can buy leggings and sports bras in Wooster Square created by a Quinnipiac student –- and help reuse plastic waste in the process.

The student, 21 year-old entrepreneur McKenna Haz, said that 18 recycled plastic bottles go into each pair of her leggings. That makes the material 86 percent recycled, in an industry with a large environmental footprint.

“The other 14 percent is spandex, so it’s actually wearable,” Haz said with a laugh.

Each purchase contributes to ocean clean-up efforts equivalent to one pound of plastic. Eventually, Haz said, she hopes to use the plastic found in the clean-up efforts to make the leggings, but she’s not there yet.

“We’re really in the baby steps right now,” she said.

Haz officially launched her enterprise, called SEAAV Athletics, on Saturday as a pop-up shop in Bar Beauty on Wooster Street. She had over 100 online pre-orders as well, which she spent the morning mailing out. She said some of those customers received discounts as social media influencers, whose role is to further advertise the product.

Haz stepped out of her tangle of friends in Bar Beauty into the chill of Wooster Street to talk about her vision, which started long before Saturday.

Haz is a sophomore at Quinnipiac University, with enough credits to become a junior. The marketing major has sought to turn single-use plastics like water bottles into clothing since going to high school on Vancouver Island. For a long time, she thought that clothing would be raincoats because of her home’s reputation as ​“Raincouver.”

The idea for athletic wear came to her a year ago, when she was sitting on the beach near her home with her best friend during spring break. They were talking about life and what they wanted to do when they grew up. There was no plastic on that beach, she said, but she had seen plenty of trash on beaches during her lifetime to get inspired.

“Why does it have to be when you grow up?” Haz said. ​“Why not now?”

Athleisure, the use of athletic and casual wear for every occasion, is an expanding industry. Vancouver-based athleisure giant Lululemon sells nearly $4 billion worth of spandex-injected clothes a year.

Haz credited her mother with the name SEAAV, which is short for ​“Sea A Vision.” It combines Haz’s love of the ocean with her futuristic idea.

That idea has already won her some powerful supporters.

Gottex, an historic, woman-founded swimsuit company, is producing Haz’s creations pro bono. Workers in an Indonesian factory turn plastic bottle particles into leggings, tank tops and sports bras. The clothing then gets wrapped in biodegradable packaging.

Haz hopes to move the operation to the U.S. and Canada in the future to cut down on energy costs, but she’s not there yet.

She has one major competitor, another bottles-to-leggings-type company called Girlfriend Collective. Similar companies exist for sunglasses and swim shorts.

“Their designs aren’t as cool as ours, and there’s no ocean giveback,” she said of the competition But it’s good to compete for sustainability, she added.

Haz has taken out a loan and competes for grants at business pitch nights. She created an internship program, so three friends from her business classes can earn credit for helping her promote and place the products on social media, in boutiques and at events.

The launch had a welcoming host in Bar Beauty owner Andrea DiLieto Zola, who brought cupcakes and cookies to Saturday’s event. She allows young entrepreneurs to set up pop-up shops in her salon on weekends for free. Zola said that she started her first business at a similar age, at 22.

Visitors to the Wooster Square farmer’s market often pass the store on their way.

“She’ll do very well once it’s warm out,” Zola said.

The brightly colored spandex has already caught the eye of several Wooster Square neighbors.

Amy Duong (above) stopped on the sidewalk outside Bar Beauty to glance at the clothing designs. She has been looking for a new sports bra and she has shopped at pop-ups at Bar Beauty a few times, she said. She did not know that the clothes were made from recycled material.

“We like the idea of having pop-ups in the neighborhood,” she said. ​“It’s a nice day for something like this.”

Jackie Marchio and her dog Basco (above) cooed over a pop-up run by another student, Dayanna Mazo. Mazo started making her own jewelry two years ago and turned it into a business, Dayverse, when friends kept asking for their own versions.

Mazo’s business has grown from commissions on Instagram to a website and now pop-up locations.

She grew up in Bridgeport and is months away from graduating with a political science degree from Fairfield University. She plans to scale up her business by curating jewelry from artists in other countries, like her home country of Colombia. She said that she can give them higher prices for their products while still making a profit herself.

Another customer, Mikaela Canning, stepped into Bar Beauty to try on a navy SEAAV sports bra. Canning heard about the event from her friend, SEZAV ​“intern” Sara Walsh.

She ended up purchasing the bra and a pair of navy leggings, which got her a second pair for free. She said that the bra was comfortable and attractive and part of her quest to wear sports bras and leggings as often as possible.

“I work at a daycare so I go for comfort. When I get home, I throw on my comfy clothes,” she said.

Or she might walk her dog or fit in a workout when she can.

“Every single day. This is rare that I’m wearing jeans,” Canning said.

Haz anticipates that she will need to start hiring employees by the summer. She aims to hold SEAAV’s first ocean clean-up effort in Indonesia then. Eventually, she wants to build a world map of all the places where SEAAV has pulled plastic out of the ocean to turn into clothes.

Future pop-up shop information can be found on Bar Beauty’s Facebook page.