April 23, 2025
Contact: Cary Littlejohn, 573-882-8369, carylittlejohn@missouri.edu
Photos by Abbie Lankitus, Rosemary Frank
The pulsating rhythms of sewing machines could be heard just outside the door of the University of Missouri’s Gwynn Hall classroom 112 on a Tuesday afternoon. Inside, Kerri McBee-Black’s students were turning unused and long-forgotten pieces of Mizzou athletics apparel into one-of-a-kind garments.
“Upcycling and recycling of clothing is really a consistent trend among our college students,” McBee-Black, assistant professor and Helen Allen Faculty Fellow of Textile and Apparel Management, said. “They’re thinking more sustainably about the way they consume apparel.”
The 2024 Super Bowl also influenced the trend, when San Francisco 49er Kyle Juszczyk’s wife, Kristin, capitalized on newfound fame as a fashion designer of unique pieces, including jackets and vests made from NFL jerseys. Kristin’s designs took off earlier that season after she gave Taylor Swift a puffer jacket made from the jersey of her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs’ star Travis Kelce, and Swift wore the jacket to a game to worldwide acclaim.
This led to a collaboration between the Department of Textile and Apparel Management and Mizzou Athletics that allowed students to turn unused and outdated pieces of merchandise and actual jerseys into wholly original pieces.
McBee-Black helped design the course, which she now teaches. Mizzou Athletics supplied the students with old uniforms and practice jerseys from the football and basketball teams. The student's complete market and consumer research, as they would in the industry, and their designs should meet the needs of their target consumer. As for the design approach, unlike traditional product development and design, upcycling allows for more creative freedom with the final design, letting the upcycled garments drive the design direction.
“Often we’re a bit more restrictive in terms of focusing them on a design idea, which is what they’d have to do in the industry,” McBee-Black said. “But sometimes they just want to design and play.”
The class culminated in a competition with categories selected by the students: Most Creative, Most Marketable and Most Mizzou Spirit. Department students, faculty and staff voted on the students’ designs. Sabra Brockhouse’s “I Miss Him Hoodie,” which used three football jerseys, two shirts, one pair of pants and extra fabric scraps, won Most Creative. Chloé Horstman’s “Tailgate to Tea Party Sundress,” made entirely from six football jerseys, won Most Marketable. Hannah Rettke’s “Good Ol’ American Tailgate,” of which the jacket alone used over 100 different pieces before even counting those in the matching pants, won Most Mizzou Spirit. The winner’s designs will be displayed at The Mizzou Store, where voting will be open to the entire university community from April 29 to May 2 to crown an overall fan favorite.
Chloé Horstman’s “Tailgate to Tea Party Sundress,” made entirely from six football jerseys, won Most Marketable.
Wearable art
Senior Cali Burns said upcycling was what drew her to textile and apparel management in the first place.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, upcycling was my creative outlet,” Burns said.
When she started at Mizzou, Burns didn’t know textile and apparel management was a major, but she became interested in the degree after taking an introductory course from McBee-Black. The upcycling class brings her experience full circle.
“I learned to sew from my grandma,” Burns said. “I thought it would be really cool to have one final project to use some of her stuff before I graduated.”
The result?
“A hyperfeminine take on athleticwear,” Burns said. “So that’s where lace and buttons and lace trim all come in.”
Because it’s so delicate, the piece, which required about 30 hours of work, is more art than activewear for Burns.
“I would want to wear it in a gameday environment, but I think it would be hard with all the commotion and all that’s going on,” she said. “I wouldn’t want it to get ruined.”
Burns hopes the design experience proves useful when she starts her first full-time job — in athleticwear and swimwear merchandising for Victoria’s Secret — after graduation.
A statement piece
The class encapsulates senior Alana Osborne’s guiding ethos toward fashion: Sustainability is the future.
When she heard about the class, she knew she had to take it.
“I literally emailed the instructor to say, ‘Please! I have to be in this class,’” Osborne said. “Every project I’ve ever done through textile and apparel management has all been sourced from recycled materials and thrifted stuff.”
Osborne is planning to wear her original design: a sweatshirt dress.
“For this one, I was going for comfort, something you could wear out and around the house,” she said. “I could see myself wearing this forever, repping the school I went to. It’s just so comfy.”
But the benefits of the class go far beyond just an addition to her closet; it’s a chance to get the word out. “Sustainability is so important,” Osborne said. “There’s so much waste in the world; why not just use it? This class was the perfect opportunity to make people aware of the other ways you can source fabric.”
