The Project Runway episode where designers created clothes with unusual items such as grass, netting and duct tape was all just for show, but for SF State student Julia Meeks, the idea of reusing material for fashion design is an everyday reality.

Julia Meeks is in her junior year as an apparel design and merchandising major at SF State. Meeks is interning at People Wear SF, a nonprofit trade association that seeks to recreate the garment industry in San Francisco by localizing production and sustainability.

Her responsibilities include deconstructing and reconstructing garments, as well as creating member profiles for their database.

"The association wants to help the local businesses," said Meeks. "And they want to create a fashion industry within San Francisco different from Los Angeles and New York."

Currently, she is working on four to five different designs using old denim to present as samples and prove that this type of reconstruction can be done. There is a large supply of old denim within the secondhand market that is available and easy, she explained.

"This idea should hit close to home for those secondhand shoppers," said Meeks. "You aren't going to find Forever 21 clothes at these stores. Their clothes are so mass-produced many just get thrown away."

And clothes are not the only thing thrown away.

"There is a huge amount of textiles - anything from old clothes, drapes, to old bed sheets - that all get thrown into a landfill in San Francisco," said Meeks. "But this is really valuable material."

This is where PWSF comes in: by eliminating the disposal of usable materials and finding alternative ways to collect them and turn them into fashion.

Meeks believes that the fashion industry is in need of a big change in terms of its production.

"This crazy overconsumption doesn't work anymore in retail," said Meeks. "This is partially why we are in a recession: we did everything in excess. We need to come up with a different way to do what we have been doing."

When Meeks isn't at school attending her six classes or interning at PWSF, she can be found studying at local cafes or designing fashion in her brand-new studio, conveniently located in her mother's garage.

"Julia doesn't like throwing anything away," said Meeks' mother Lisa Piccione. "Her room is overfilling with things she will one day incorporate into her designs."

Meeks has found ways to incorporate reusable materials into her own line of clothing she will be presenting at the Student Fashion Association's annual spring fashion show titled "Metamorphosis."

As the public relations officer for SFA, Meeks is in charge of creating hype and getting industry professionals to attend the show. She will be presenting a total of six looks through 12 different pieces. The inspiration for her line came from the Albany Bulb, a landfill created after the 1989 earthquake.

"Artists create art out of trash," said Meeks. "Here is a place where nature and industrial waste are living together."

Meeks has spent most of her life in Northern California. She attended the Aurora Elementary School in Oakland, which infuses art and music, explained Piccione. It was there where her mother began to notice Meeks' creativity.

"Julia has always been an artistic person," said Piccione. "As a child, she would make dresses for her American Girl dolls out of pillowcases."

Meeks spent the past year studying abroad in Milan, Italy. Since she has been back, she is spending a lot more time at home.

"She [Meeks] has inspired our household to reuse material, as well as recycle," said Piccione.

That is not the only thing Meeks has inspired.

"I am so proud to have such a positive and motivated role model," said Meeks' 16-year-old sister Sienna.

Meeks already has a waiting list for future designs. Her mother Piccione wants Meeks to design her wedding dress, and Sienna has been promised a prom dress.