From waste to resource: sustainable fashion that inspires INTEC
Mildred Veras, a fashion designer and economics graduate from INTEC, gave a talk on creativity, innovation, and environmental awareness that turned into a conversation about recycling.
SANTO DOMINGO. - What if the clothes we no longer use could be transformed into design, innovation, and new opportunities? To answer this question, the Environmental Management Center of Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) and the INTEC Ecological group invited sustainable designer Mildred Veras to the campus to give the lecture “From Waste to Resource: The new language of fashion”, in honor of International Recycling Day.
Far from being a traditional talk about recycling, the meeting became an invitation to look at waste from another perspective: not as garbage, but as resources with creative, economic and social potential.
Veras, a graduate of the Economics degree program at INTEC and CEO of Milée Collection, shared with students and teachers how she went "from economist to sustainable designer," by merging her strategic thinking with her creativity and environmental commitment in a proposal that today transforms discarded jeans into fashion pieces with added value.
“What for some was old clothes, for us became design, employment and awareness,” the entrepreneur said while showing some of the creations made from reused textiles.
Fashion also pollutes
Veras spoke about the environmental footprint of the textile industry, from the consumption of water, chemicals, energy, transportation and tons of waste that are part of the hidden cost of a single garment.
Through everyday examples, such as the use of jeans, the speaker explained how fast fashion has driven a "use and discard" culture, which today represents one of the planet's greatest environmental challenges.
In that context, he presented the circular economy as an alternative capable of transforming the traditional consumption model. “Nothing should end up as waste,” he stated, while explaining how discarded materials can be reintegrated into new value chains through reuse, repair, and upcycling.
More than recycling: creativity with purpose
The talk also helped to differentiate between concepts that are often confused. While recycling destroys materials to transform them into new ones, upcycling seeks to reuse without losing the original essence of the product.
In the case of Milée Collection, this practice has allowed them to reuse more than 363 pairs of jeans and save over 500 liters of water, demonstrating that sustainability can also be an opportunity for innovation and entrepreneurship. In fact, this work has a social impact because it integrates the labor of women in vulnerable situations, generating income for them.
“Creativity is a human technology,” he said, encouraging engineering, design, economics, and technology students to think about multidisciplinary solutions to current environmental problems.
And what can INTEC do?
During the conference, ideas emerged that could transform the campus into a living sustainability laboratory: textile collection centers, clothing exchanges, sustainable hackathons, research on biomaterials, and collaborative projects between different majors.
The proposal sparked interest among the attendees, especially because of the possibility of connecting creativity, innovation, and environmental awareness from within university life.
The new luxury
The day concluded with a powerful reflection: the future will belong not to those who produce the most, but to those who waste the least. In a world increasingly aware of its environmental impact, sustainable fashion is no longer just an alternative trend, but has become an urgent conversation about responsibility, innovation, and the future.
About CEGA and INTEC Ecological
The Environmental Management Center is an academic and service unit linked to the Basic and Environmental Sciences Area, focused on promoting initiatives related to sustainability, environmental education, waste management, and environmental projects on and off campus.
On the other hand, INTEC Ecológico is the student volunteer program of the Basic Sciences Area, aimed at promoting sustainable practices within the university community. It generally encourages actions such as recycling and waste separation, reducing plastic use, environmental clean-up days, environmental education campaigns, promoting sustainable habits, and student participation in green projects.