Zanna Anderson
Science and Environment Editor
Wooster students, staff, faculty and locals gathered in Lean Lecture Hall on the evening of April 7 to listen to fashion designer Soreyda Benedit Begley’s lecture, “Sustainability Meets Human Rights: A Conversation Through Art.” This lecture was presented by the department of religious studies and co-sponsored by the departments of economics, environmental science, political science, women’s, gender & sexuality studies, sociology and anthropology.
Before the presentation, Begley introduced the mannequin standing on the opposite end of the stage. The mannequin wore Begley’s Wooster-themed design — based on Sarah Jessica Parker’s 2006 Met Gala look designed by Alexander McQueen — in addition to one of Soreyda’s signature matching headpieces.
Begley began her presentation by introducing herself to the audience. Born and raised in Honduras near a national reserve, she spent many of her formative years exploring the rainforest, hunting and fishing. She also holds strong connections to her culture — her mother is of Mayan descent and her father identifies as Garifuna (Garifuna, also known as Garinagu, are the descendants of an Afro-indigenous population from the Caribbean island of St Vincent). Begley began sewing as a child by making clothes for her doll; this was furthered by attending a sewing academy to formalize her education.
Begley worked in a sweatshop in her late teens alongside her five siblings. She worked 85 hours per week for a weekly salary equivalent to $30. Per Begley, working in a factory was safer than working in the market as a young girl. However, she spoke on the taxing demands of factory labor as an adolescent.
“When I was in the factories, I felt dead,” Begley said. “I did not deserve to spend my teenage years working in a factory.”
At the age of 22, Begley married an American archeologist and moved to Kentucky. After giving birth to her first child, Bella Begley ’24, Begley had difficulty finding a job due to her lack of a college degree and limited language skills. Through word of mouth, her sewing skills gained appreciation and soon started running a small business fixing and altering clothes out of her home. She was receiving commissions for costumes and other garments, but eventually began seeking out connections with fine arts professionals. Begley was contacted by Transylvania University’s Fair Trade Club and was asked to put on a fashion show for them.
Begley was then inspired to create her own community for fellow designers, and she began the “FUTURE OF FASHION” fashion show with goals including promoting empathy and inclusion, encouraging entrepreneurship, supporting sustainability, building community, developing skills and engaging youth. A large focus of “FUTURE OF FASHION” was sustainable fashion, which Begley already had practice with, as she had been making clothing out of second-hand materials since her childhood.
Begley asked her audience to consider the definition of sustainable fashion. “What are we sustaining: world peace, nature or humanity?” she asked. Begley experienced firsthand the damage of fast fashion while working in a factory. She argued that in order to move towards more sustainable fashion, all people must make sacrifices — these sacrifices, Begley said, can begin to make up for the maltreatment of marginalized workers in developing countries.
In an effort to make long-term change, Begley is currently pursuing a bachelor’s in political science and African and African American studies from Berea College. Her goal is to write legislation that will ensure the sustainability of people through living wages, monthly stipends and health insurance for artists and crafters, skill development opportunities, affordable workspaces, communal retail space and research and technology funding. For those interested in learning more about the nature of fast fashion, Begley recommends “Belonging: A Culture of Place” by bell hooks, “Understanding Power” by Noam Chomsky and “Fashion is Spinach” by Elizabeth Hawes.
At the end of her presentation, Begley urged the audience to sign the petition for the “Fashioning Accountability and Building Real Institutional Change Act” (FABRIC) as it aligns with her aforementioned policy changes, stating, “you can do a lot more if you connect with other people.” This act would, per their official website, “protect nearly 100,000 American garment workers and revitalize the garment industry in the United States by improving working conditions, reforming the piece-rate pay scale and investing in domestic apparel production.”
She left the audience with a reminder that most mass-produced, imported clothes were most likely hand-made. She stressed the fact that “it is very powerful to know who made your clothes, as clothing is art and you wouldn’t throw away someone else’s art.”