Brooklyn’s Sustainable Design Boom: 10 Eco-Friendly Designers To Know Right Now
Photo by Austin McAllister
Tabitha St. Bernard of TABii JUST
tabiijust.com
All eye-popping prints and bright colors, it’s hard to believe that any of the clothes in TAbii JUST came from scraps, but thanks to her commitment to zero fabric waste, Tabitha St. Bernard says, “I mostly use fabric that has been discarded by other lines. I spend copious amounts of time sifting through the excess to find the gems.” A Trinidad-born FIT graduate, St. Bernard also minimizes waste in the designs themselves, and explains, “I use unconventional pattern-making techniques to sculpt the clothing leaving as few scraps behind as possible. When I do have scraps, I either use them to make accessories or I take them to be recycled. Last season, I worked with a toy maker in Delaware who made stuffed elephants with the scraps. I couldn’t believe how fast those went.”
The line is also produced at a factory in South Slope, and St. Bernard says of her process, “By producing my clothing locally, I benefit greatly from the eco-system that is the New York.”
