Fighting Fast Fashion (And Other Ideas From Emerson’s Entrepreneurial Experience)
Ariel Wile ’25, Visual and Media Arts Major
WHAT’S YOUR BIG IDEA?
A sustainable clothing brand focused on fighting fast fashion by upcycling secondhand garments to create
one-of-a-kind pieces.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Today’s endless production of cheap, unsustainable clothing takes a toll on the planet in many ways, including pollution, unfair labor conditions, and low wages.
It’s no secret that the fashion industry produces literally tons of waste each year, negatively impacting the environment.
But Ariel Wile ’25 has an idea to address the problem. Fusing her interests in fashion and sustainability, she wants to create a venture that upcycles fast fashion.
“This sustainable brand promotes individuality and expression by challenging the fast fashion cycle,” she said.
Wile is one of six students enrolled in Emerson’s Entrepreneurial Experience (E3) this year—a yearlong immersive course in which students from any major develop their ideas for a business, product, service, or nonprofit. Other ideas coming out of this year’s E3 course include: a line of jewelry for the LGBTQIA+ community; an app that gives readers easy access to thousands of stories through a platform that supports independent authors; a website that connects makeup artists with clients and with each other; an app that lets neurodivergent people customize their experience on social media platforms; and a business that brings authentic, artisanal Indian jewelry with a modern twist to the West.
Since 2011, 150 businesses have been designed as a result of E3.
“Originally, I wanted to start my own fashion brand,” said Wile, a Visual and Media Arts major. “I thought, ‘I’m going to take this entrepreneur class so I can catapult this venture into actually happening.’”
But by the end of the fall semester, she recognized that her idea wasn’t going to work. “I realized that I can’t just suddenly start making clothes,” she said. “I needed to pivot to something more realistic.”
That ability to pivot is exactly what Shannon Rose McAuliffe, affiliated faculty member in Marketing Communication, hopes students will take from the class.
“In addition to building a skill set, students are developing a mindset that will enable them to take on big ideas, to pick themselves up when things don’t go as planned, and to combine creativity and critical thinking to discover innovative solutions to challenges in myriad contexts,” she said. “E3 sits at the nexus of scholarship and practice, and requires students to apply academic concepts within real-life scenarios sooner than would be the case in many courses of undergraduate study.”
Wile said Emerson is the perfect place to take an idea and make it come to life. “A lot of Emerson students are enacting a lot of big ideas, starting unique [ventures],” she said. “One of my favorite things about Emerson is meeting other people who add to your ideas.”
“Big ideas don’t just come out of nowhere,” she added. “They’re made.”
