Consumers looking for more bang for their buck may turn to fast fashion retailers for ultra-low prices, like the Chinese fast fashion giant, Shein, which is popular among Generation Z.

There’s growing concern among New Yorkers who are in the sustainable fashion industry. They want Americans to be more conscious about where they get their clothes from and, more importantly, how they’re disposed of.

The Hudson Valley is getting its first sustainable fashion week in October, a chance to raise awareness and educate people on lowering their carbon footprint through fashion choices.

Kaitlyn Murray is spearheading those efforts.

Murray’s life took a turn a year and a half ago. She left a luxury fashion house in Paris and created her own sustainable fashion brand called “la vie après l'amour,” or “life after love.”

“Life is so precious and short,” she said. “And there’s a lot of damaging aspects that the industry has on the environment, and that just started to really eat away at me. You know, I took this leap, and came back home, and have started from essentially nothing.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says more than 17 million tons of textile waste end up in landfills each year. Murray wants Americans to find eco-friendly ways to shop, to not treat clothes like trash.

She believes sustainability is wearability. To wear a recycled piece over and over again.

“Fashion has such an influence on people,” Murray said. “And I think it’s so important that if fashion really got the word out there, that we need to be making these changes, that there’s different things that we could be doing that’s better for the environment, people would really follow suit….Why were shoulder pads a thing in the 80s? Because fashion made it a thing. You know, if fashion made composting a thing, I think everyone would be composting.”

Murray is a Millennial and so are most of her clients. A recent study my Morning Consult says 44% of Gen Z adults view the fast fashion power house, Shein, favorably, compared with 22% of adults across all generations.

“All of us need to be a part of this,” Murray said.

Murray is a one-woman show, from thrifting to shipping. Her hand touches every piece.

“There’s long days, there’s been a lot of tears, a lot of really good times and a lot of really questioning times, but I feel so secure in the work that I’m doing,” she said. “This work, though it may be little, is actually making a positive impact, and it’s going to have impact beyond what I can see.”

Murray says she still loves high fashion. She wants to bridge the gap between the fashion world and environmentalists, because that’s where she fits best.

Hudson Valley Sustainable Fashion Week, a runway show dedicated to sustainable fashion, will be held on Oct. 21 on the Walkway over the Hudson in Poughkeepsie.