THE UNEXPECTED SHOP GOODWILL MOMENT AT NYFW BROUGHT BY EVAN HIRSCH
By: Hillary LeBlanc
With eco-friendly initiatives on the rise, we are seeing more fashion week shows geared towards slow-fashion brands. What better way to advance a movement than to promote environmentally friendly fashion when all eyes, social media accounts and journalists are at the ready to capture and review new collections on the runway. What shook the runway at NYFW this year was more than a luxe brand going eco-friendly, but rather an authentic partnership between a designer who found a niche by upcycling clothing from of the biggest brands in thrift.
Evan Hirsch entered the world of fashion through theatre. He began to create theatrical costumes after taking a high school fashion drawing course. From there he focused on fashion merchandising but felt the design program was where he was meant to be. After graduating he focused on making dresses that can transform or be altered. This was the focus of his runway graduation show before working in corporate fashion for Badgley Mischka, pre-pandemic.
During the pandemic, Hirsch shared a video of his transformational dress on the runway which went viral, giving him the spark to create more. After that moment he created his own collection, dressed a guest at the Met Gala, which was featured in Harper's Bazaar Spain and attended New York Fashion Week before debuting his collection there. During this time, Hirsch’s collections were one of a kind and unique but any further sustainable practices were not yet being considered. As someone who has had success with manifestation, Hirsch wanted to see his clothes on a store rack and decided he would put a garment there. He took an $8 dress from GoodWill and decided he would alter it, transform the dress and put it back on the rack with the tag left undisturbed. He hoped someone would feel the same amount of excitement they felt when thrifting and finding Chanel, Versace or other hidden gems. Before finishing the dress, Hirsch shared his intention on social media and again, he went viral. He upcycled the dress, put in hours of beadwork and hand-stitching and put the dress back. The entire ruse caught the attention of People Magazine, and of course the CEO of Shop GoodWill.
Photo Credit: John Pankratz
The CEO emailed Hirsch to discuss collaboration options and he suggested partnering for New York Fashion Week - where Shop GoodWill had never shown before. It is suspected no thrift store has ever participated in New York Fashion Week. Hirsch was sent boxes from several Shop GoodWill locations, the Shop GoodWill website and was able to request specific textures like lace, peplum dresses, ball gowns, beaded pieces. He fit the pieces together like a puzzle, laying them out to see which worked together, and managed to narrow it down to 30 looks for the show with each piece created out of an average of two Shop GoodWill garments. Evan found working with the base garments to be more efficient but also finding ways to work the garments together to be a new challenge.
Before the collection showed at New York Fashion Week both Fox Five and Good Morning America wrote about the collaboration. Hirsch shares, “So many people are thrifting and upcycling and sometimes we don't know if our shipments are coming from. It's a challenging economy where we can't spend hundreds of dollars to get something brand new. People really resonated with that, which made me very happy.”
Photo Credit: John Pankratz
Tina Nguyen, marketing director for Shop GoodWill, says that she knew from the first moments of speaking with Hirsch that the collaboration would be a good fit. Not only was Nguyen thrilled to show Hirsch the plethora of items available at Shop GoodWill, she was happy to know the items available would get the second life they deserved through his runway show. Nguyen couldn’t believe the reaction to the show, which sold out quickly. Some of the gowns created by Hirsch still had his signature transformational elements, adding even more shock and awe to the show. “I jumped out of my seat,” Nguyen tells us.
“There was a gasp. It was so beautiful. Everybody on my team was blown away and could not have been happier.”
Shop GoodWill has invited Hirsch to their conference where 300 shoppers will be meeting Hirsch. He was also asked to be the Shop GoodWill resident fashion expert for the next calendar year. 15 to 20 dresses shown at fashion week are going to be auctioned to support Shop GoodWill’s charity creating more job opportunities in their workforce development program.
Shop GoodWill is already hoping to do another fashion show with Hirsch, who plans to keep sustainable practices within his brand moving forward.