ABOUT
The Average Canadian throws 32 Kilograms of textiles into landfills each year.
- Alternatives Journal
Nearly three-fifths or 60% of all clothing produced ends up in incinerators or landfills within a year of being made.
- McKinsey & Company
My name is Nikita Coles. I was lucky enough to be born in beautiful Vernon, BC. The kind of town where you experience all 4 seasons. I’m beyond grateful for my family for choosing such a gorgeous place to call home.
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I’ve been interested in fashion as long as I can remember. From the moment I could form a semi human shape with a pencil on paper I began designing. From clothing to bathing suits, shoes and head wear I was obsessed with drawing it, keeping everything as organized as a 10-year-old could in file folders from my parents.
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Sewing was something I picked up as a young age as well. My Great-Grandmothers broken Singer sewing machine sat collecting dust in the basement until I decided it was my new toy. I’d sit for hours pretending to sew, until one day someone decided it was worth trying to fix. It never really worked for long, but for the 10 or so minutes at a time where I was able to sew two squares of fabric together before it jammed, I was ecstatic.
Upon starting high school, my love for sewing grew throughout my sewing classes. Always in the top of the class, my teacher loved me and allowed me to leave class early to go to the fabric store. This time in my life is when I started my self-taught journey into pattern making. Every pattern did not work out, but the more I created the more I understood how things should fit together.
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After high school, and some big life changes, I applied to and attended Blanche MacDonald Centre where I received my certificate for Fashion Design and Marketing. The 12 months that I spent attending Blanche were the most hectic months of my life thus far, but I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of the experience. After many sleepless nights just to get all my homework finished after class and work, I graduated with an A average and an award in Garment Construction for my leather garments.
One Kilogram of clothing over its entire life cycle creates 11 Kilograms of greenhouse gases.
- McKinley & Company
Since graduation I have worked in garment construction and I have taken extended breaks from sewing all together. Though, my passion for designing and sewing have always led me back to my machines and pencils.
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My current project, Island of Misfits, was born out of two obstacles in my life. The first was my lack of income. I was working, but not making a lot of money, and had a large
amount of student debt. The second, was my growing understanding of the fast fashion world and how terrible it is for the planet. Both of these reasons led me to searching my own closet for new “fabrics”. I started taking my own old clothing and turning it into new garments.
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I’ve now been reworking my own, as well as thrifted and donated, garments for over 6 years and my love for it grows daily. For the first time in my life I am committed to working on my craft as well as working a full time job. These days, I focus on taking old garments that would normally be thrown out or in the back of a closet to collect dust and turn them into something new. This may be simple alterations or completely combining multiple garments, but it is always saving an old, used garment from the landfill. And that is something I can be proud of.