“ReFash: A Futuristic Intersection of Style, Sustainability, and Consumption” provides a runway for runaway fashion design using recycled fabric and castaway objects, through July 7, Crayola Gallery, Banana Factory Arts Center, Bethlehem.

“The year is 2224. You stumble across a landfill that has been abandoned for 200 years and are tasked with designing fashions for the current day using elements you’ve found in the heap …” greets visitors to the gallery.

That was the challenge presented to 10 designers to showcase creativity and sustainability by repurposing discarded materials in their innovative fashion and textile pieces.

Plastic bags, coffee cups, electronic components, soda cans and athletic protective gear are among the plethora of discarded materials incorporated into whimsical garments and accessory assemblages.

Among participating couturiers creating high-end fashion from humble materials are Cassidy Ayers, Mia Rezza, MaryJo Rosania-Harvie, Dawn Lombard, Brianna Beidler, Mallory Zondag, Alyson Nicole, Marina DeBris and Clementina Martinez-Masarweh.

Bethlehem-based artist and designer Barbara Kavchok curated the fanciful exhibit.

“Inspired by opulent silks, I transformed accumulated waste in my bridal studio into a stunning wedding gown,” says Kavchok of her “Unwrapped” (2024; mixed media). “White plastic bags shirred delicately across the bodice and skirt, complemented by an array of bubble wrap and plastic garment bag ruffles, adorn this full ball gown silhouette.” It’s one of her three pieces dressing up the gallery.

Each fashion ensemble displayed on white faceless mannequins was sewn and assembled with at least 50 percent discarded materials. While being wearable is a requirement, they must also be of “suitable materials, balance aesthetics and functionality, consider ethical implications and all while employing innovative techniques,” according to the rules set forth by ArtsQuest.

Visiting from San Francisco, Calif., designer Martinez-Masarweh spoke about how she met this test of her abilities at a May 3 First Friday reception.

“I imagine that our air quality will probably get worse,” says Martinez-Masarweh about “Aire” (2024; mixed media with 100 percent post-consumer waste). The artist envisions a time when clean air is another commodity to be bottled and sold to consumers like bottled water in nations with lax air pollution regulations.

Items in “Aire” include diving-gear apparatus, music CDs, athletic protective gear and “butt pads” Martinez-Masarweh picked up at a thrift store to serve as the outfit’s shoulder pads.

In addition to her three other fashion pieces in the exhibit, Martinez-Masarweh noted that the dress and accessories she is wearing is made from upcycled materials.

Calling herself an “upcycler,” Martinez-Masarweh is also an independent filmmaker. “My whole life journey is to bring awareness to overconsumption, textile waste and especially microplastics and nanoplastics,” says Martinez-Masarweh, “and the harmful effects of it and how it’s integrated in our DNA.”

The serious side of the exhibit focuses attention on what is called “fast fashion.” The term was coined to delineate inexpensive and inferior-quality clothing swiftly manufactured and cyclically introduced and withdrawn from the market to keep up with trends.

While providing the average consumer with high-fashion aesthetics at low cost, the fast-fashion trend has led to an unprecedented scale of mass production and waste driven by mega brands.

Posted on the wall at the gallery entrance is “Of the 100 billion garments produced each year, 92 million tons end up in landfills.”

In keeping with the recycling and repurposing theme of “ReFash,” a community clothing swap was held during the May First Friday event at the Banana Factory.

“ReFash: A Futuristic Intersection of Style, Sustainability, and Consumption,” through July 7, Banko Gallery, Banana Factory Arts Center, 25 W. Third St., Bethlehem, 8 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. Monday - Friday. 8:30 a.m. - 7 p.m. Saturday, 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sunday. 610-332-1300; www.bananafactory.org

“Gallery View” is a column about artists, exhibitions and galleries. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com