Students who are busy with midterms, projects and extracurricular activities may not have the time to think about the material from which a t-shirt is made. Be it cotton or polyester or any other fabric, there will inevitably be excess material from that t-shirt that is thrown away.

This Friday, the Apparel Design and Merchandising Program and SF State’s College of Business are co-sponsoring a forum to inform the worldwide textile industry and decision-makers at Bay Area based apparel retailers of potential ways to implement more green behavior when it comes to manufacturing clothing.

“We’re inviting the [textile] community to become green,” says SF State’s Dr. Connie Ulasewicz, Assistant Professor of Apparel Design and Merchandising.

Ulasewicz and Gail Baugh, lecturers in the consumer and family studies department, will be speaking at the forum, which will introduce the idea of using sustainable fabrics.

While similar to organic clothing, sustainable clothing is less about cultivation and more about recycling the unused scraps of already manufactured fabrics, thus reducing landfill waste, said Baugh.

“The fashion industry is on the brink of great change in sourcing raw materials,” said Baugh. “For the first time, this forum introduces innovative fiber and textile suppliers who can offer new sustainable choices. The time is now to engage in the discussion of new ideas for our dynamic industry.”

The event has already garnered the attention of Gap, Old Navy, Levis, Dockers, Macy’s West and local San Francisco designer Babette.

Excited by the prospect of major companies becoming involved, Ulasewicz said it is what they need for the entire industry to become aware of how traditional methods are detrimental to the environment.

“We read green is the new black, but the time is now to move beyond looking at sustainability as simply a fashion statement or marketing tool,” Ulasewicz said. “Our methods of creating fiber, fabrics and therefore fashion are changing.”

Rosemary Robinson, an SF State senior, said she has always been interested in using old garments and recycled materials to make her clothes.

“My prom dress in high school was made out of bras and underwear,” she said.

Now Robinson has her own clothing line called Kumquat Clothing, where all of the clothes are made out of reused fabrics. She also started to use more sustainable fibers like bamboo and organic cotton.

Ulasewicz, who has a book coming out this spring called “Sustainable Fashion: Why Now?” hopes that by introducing this idea to the industry, there will be more employment opportunities for her students when they are looking for a job.

“The industry can make a change for more consumers,” she said. “That’s what we’re teaching students in apparel and design.”

“This is the forefront of the industry,” Robinson agreed. “If we can be knowledgeable about how to be sustainable, [students] will be able to put those practices into their work.”

San Francisco’s first forum to challenge the apparel industry to become “green” will take place at SF State’s downtown campus at the Westfield San Francisco Centre on Friday, Oct. 26 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in room 554.

For more information please visit http://cob.sfsu.edu/cob/index.cfm.