Presented By: Aaron Giorgi, West Virginia University
Co-Authors: Jordon Masters, West Virginia University
Elizabeth Shorrock, West Virginia University

Production of apparel for Fast Fashion enterprises has been documented as a resource intensive and environmentally unfriendly industry. To increase pressure to change practices, many counter movements developing sustainable production practices have emerged. Fashion programs associated with colleges of agriculture are beginning to explore and research sustainability driven production methods through agriculturally centered lens. While positive efforts have been made to re-shore domestic Textile and Apparel Industry (TAI) jobs in the United States, the return has been slow. Dissemination of practices into the workforce for utilization, coupled with increasing recruitment efforts targeting youth to become the next industry leaders will be key for the sustainability movement to retain efficacy. We sought to explore the impacts of a traditional extension workshop model for dissemination on knowledge change and influences on academic plans of high school students related to fashion and textile industry careers. Study was guided by Azjen’s Theory of Planned Behavior, whereas influencing knowledge and intentions can have downstream effect on outcome behaviors. Participants (n = 13) were high school aged children who were attending a state level, agricultural youth organization competition who self-selected to participate in a sustainable dyes workshop. Participants in the workshop were surveyed asking them to describe their level of knowledge change and influence on potential future career decisions related to participation in the workshop. Participants reported the workshop strongly increased their level of knowledge about sustainability practices in TAI (μ = 4.31) and relationship of TAI to agriculture (μ = 4.23). Participants reported neutral feelings about influence on likelihood to pursue a career (μ = 3.38), major (μ = 3.38) or courses (μ = 3.69) in TAI. It was concluded a stand-alone workshop model can only influence knowledge about practices. Further work should be done to influence changes in the practices and workforce recruitment efforts.