We all eat, and we all wear clothes.

Unfortunately, a staggering amount of both food and fashion waste ends up in landfills.

Jordan Kraft Lambert, director of agricultural innovation at the Colorado State University Spur campus in Denver, wants to change that. To spotlight her ideas about sustainability and waste reduction, Lambert is bringing together two very different industries during an annual event known as the Offal Party.

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Slated for Jan. 25, the event is set during the National Western Stock Show and will showcase offal —otherwise known as organ meats — as well as sustainable designs that incorporate leather. Focusing on the value cows provide to both our food and fashion economies, both supply chains can become more sustainable, Lambert said.

“Cows are magical creatures,” Lambert said. “They’re able to eat things humans can’t eat — like grass — and they can do it in mountainous areas, where we can’t grow human food. This is really important in places like Colorado, where mountains are over half of our land mass.”

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ORGAN MEATS

Every part of a cow is valuable, but American consumers often don’t get the benefits of the whole animal. While most U.S. consumers are familiar with cuts of meat like sirloin and filet mignon, they often don’t know that organ meats such as heart and liver are the most nutrient-dense part of the animal.

When U.S. consumers don’t eat these meats, they’re often sent to foreign markets but can also very often end up as waste in landfills.

What’s inside a cow isn’t the only consideration, either.

“Roughly 4.8 million hides rot in landfills each year in the U.S.,” Lambert said. “Using leather provides cattle producers with a few dollars more revenue for each animal they sell, and it also keeps the hides from rotting in landfills and emitting methane into the atmosphere. By purchasing leather, consumers are participating in sustainable fashion that honors the cow, the rancher and the environment.”

This requires showing the fashion industry and the public that leather is a sustainable clothing option. That’s why Jordan partnered with the CSU Department of Design and Merchandising to have a class of upper-level students create designs inspired by more than 50 loaned leather pieces, which include everything from purses to saddles and jackets

LEATHER FASHION SHOW

Their work will be on display on the Offal Party’s runway (which, fittingly, happens to be inside a horse arena) during a Genuine Leather Fashion Show.

The students’ final designs took inspiration from the stock show theme, blending everything from Western and workwear to couture. But despite the very different styles that will be on display, they’re all united by a quest for more sustainable fashion.

“The whole concept of using the entire animal and not wasting any bit is really in line with how I design already,” said Jessie Magalit, a junior majoring in apparel design and production as well as ecosystem science and sustainability.

Her piece for the fashion show incorporates leather details with black chaps and unique white sleeves. To reduce waste, her entire design was upcycled or thrifted; her process involves assessing available materials before she begins designing, Magalit said.

“I think that having tighter guidelines like we do with the Offal Fashion Show actually makes students more creative,” said David Russon, the Design and Merchandising instructor who partnered with Lambert.

That creativity was very much on display in the students’ designs.

When junior Colby Zur learned the fashion show would take place in a horse arena, he said he immediately pictured a Mongolian rider wearing wool hunting pants. His traditional looking outfit is accompanied by a leather riding skirt, and he used a laser to etch images on the skirt of cattle in the Colorado mountains.

“It’s more traditional than the stuff I usually do, which is very Star Wars, Jedi-esque,” he said. “This gives me a chance to branch into new materials and hone my techniques.”

It’s a very different set of techniques than other materials students work with, as Sebi Suarez, a fifth-year apparel and merchandising major, learned firsthand while crafting his project: a brown leather dress that combined quintessential Western fashion with inspiration from Dior.

“The challenge with leather is you definitely only have one go at it — if there’s a hole, it’s there forever,” Suarez said, adding that he stabbed his finger with a needle while putting on the bows and seams.

Junior Ryan Baker spent three hours cutting the fringes on his design, a Western jacket inspired by the movie Tombstone and more specifically his favorite character, Doc Holliday.

FINDING INSPIRATION

Baker grew up in Colorado and has fond memories of the National Western Stock Show, where he was inspired by the unique fashion at this quintessentially Denver event.

“I get a lot of inspiration from people who don’t want to look fashionable as much as they want what they’re wearing to be functional,” Baker said. “There’s an energy in manufacturing garments that are meant to last.”

Russon noted that leather’s durability adds to its sustainability. Unlike synthetic material, which is often made of petroleum byproducts, leather gets more comfortable the longer it’s worn. A good piece, he added, can last a lifetime, in contrast to fast-fashion products. “If you’re smart, you can use the whole hide without waste,” Russon said.

That idea of creating something beautiful and functional while reducing waste is very much in line with the entire idea of the Offal Party, Lambert said.

“What we really want to do is create regenerative, circular food and fashion systems that support human, animal and environmental health, and at CSU, we’re showing the next generation how this is possible,” she said.