Niani Phillips, a 24-year-old environmentalist, fashion designer, and model created a sustainable denim brand called “Not Your Normal Denim” using recycled denim to promote sustainable fashion and make it accessible to all. Her collection includes patchwork coats, patch jeans, and three different patchwork bags.
NYND was founded during the pandemic when she had more time to create and experiment with different materials. Throughout her education in the fashion industry, she was distraught to learn about the danger of the denim and cotton industry and was interested in upcycling.
Starting with posting patchwork jeans on social media, people inquired to buy her items. She thought to herself, “I can make this a business.” From her brand’s popularity on social media, the Howard University sustainability club invited her to a campus pop-up shop to share her brand with Howard students.
Phillips attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City during the creation of Not Your Normal Denim. Currently getting her graduate degree in design for sustainability at Savannah College of Art and Design, she balances graduate school and her business.
Phillips describes her design process as “abstract and lets creativity flow”. She lays everything out to see the design as a whole, then goes to work by experimenting with sourced recycled denim materials. What’s special about her pieces is that no two pieces are the same. Not Your Normal Denim designs have the same concept but there’s always a twist with each piece.
Materials from thrift stores have been used denim for her pieces instead of buying new ones. Phillips sources all her materials and has a seamstress sew the pieces together when she finishes the creative design. When sourcing material, she looks for strong denim with no additional chemicals. Fast fashion creates weak materials that won’t be strong enough to be reusable materials. “I want to show people these jeans were made in 1970 and can still be used in 2023”.
Phillips’ clothing brand cuts back on energy, water and chemical usage in the cotton industry by reusing materials. Phillips shared that “1800 gallons of water produce 1 kilogram of cotton.” The usage of water for a single pair of jeans is astronomical. NYND alone saves substantial amounts of water and cotton which helps reduce the environmental impact of the production of these materials.
NYND is all about using the materials we already have. Within the cotton industry, workers suffer from inadequate working environments, child labor and slavery. NYND shows people this is a step toward making a change. What makes NYND special is there’s a story behind the brand. It’s not about making money, but about an environmental impact to show sustainable fashion can be accessible to everyone. This faces a major issue within fashion, where sustainable fashion is only marketed to the rich. Phillips works hard to keep her prices as low as she can to show sustainability can be an option for everyone and continues to bring her brand to communities who have never experienced sustainable fashion.
If you are interested in Not Your Normal Denim, you can find her Instagram @notyournormaldenim and you can find her pieces at Lite Foot Company, a sustainable store in Savannah, Georgia.