Olivia Meyer receiving the Chairman’s Award at the FSF Live Gala on April 8, 2024.
On April 8, Z Suite member Olivia Meyer was named the 2024 Fashion Scholarship Fund’s Chairman’s Award Winner at the FSF Live Gala at the Glasshouse in New York City. She spoke with Berns Communications editorial director Jessica Binns about the ESG project that earned her the recognition and what gets her excited for the future of fashion. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Congrats on winning the Fashion Scholarship Fund’s Chairman Award. How did you settle on the case study topic that earned you this distinction?
I love thrifting my clothes and shopping secondhand. But when I was approaching this project, the prompt of the case study this year was ESG and how can brands improve initiatives for ESG. The first thing that came to mind was tights because I love wearing them, and research revealed how every year up to 8 billion pairs of tights are thrown away after only being worn a handful of times. That did not surprise me because from my own knowledge of wearing tights my whole life and also growing up a dancer, tights have always been a staple in my wardrobe.
This led me to Sheertex. They’re the No. 1 best-selling tights in the U.S., which I didn’t realize until I researched them, but I have been a longtime customer. They’re a B Corp company, so I really respect their mission.
Pitching The Concept
The concept for my case study was inspired by something my mom taught me. If she found tights that she liked, she’d buy two pairs and wear one until at least one leg became too holey to wear. Then she would cut the holey leg off, keeping the waistband on the other leg and saving it in the back of her drawer. And then open the second pair and do the same thing; when one of the legs got too snagged, she’d cut that off, and wear two separate legs at a time, two separate waistbands. It’s something that she and I have each done before, so I thought: Why doesn’t a brand do this?
That’s when I decided to pitch this idea with Sheertex. I did a little more research and realized a single-leg tight actually is healthier because it allows more breathability in intimate areas so it lowers the chance of getting a yeast infection. Research recommends not wearing tight garments if you want to avoid yeast infections because synthetic materials don’t allow for much breathability.
Photo credit: BFA.com