Siciliana-Americana-Colorada garment worker, upcycler, mender, zero waste pattern designer, creative waste manager, teacher, & sartorial social justice nerd & consultant practicing for over 18 years. 

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Rose grew up in Eagle County on Ute land, learning how to knit and crochet at a young age from her Mother, who led 4-H Knitting and Crochet clubs. Her maternal side of the family had been farmers (Greeley) and ranchers (San Luis Valley) in the Colorado settled areas for over 150+ years. Her paternal side of the famiglia are Siciliana-Calabrese that settled in Pueblo, Colorado around 1900 after the Risorgimento, who have long lineages of spinning, crochet, and needlework. 

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While studying Psychology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Rose started designing upcycled fashions and producing shows with friends as a way to subjectify her experience after feeling objectified on the college campus. She didn’t have money to buy new fabric to create with, so she upcycled old clothes and linens that were readily available - even though she didn’t know what upcycling was at the time! Local journalists pegged her as an eco-fashion designer, which opened her eyes to the can of worms that the present day fashion industry is.

She continued to design and produce slow fashion events and continued her studies through natural dye apprentices in the Bay Area, obtaining her Sewing Certificate from the Emily Griffith Opportunity School (when they still had a sewing program!), workshops at the Denver Design Incubator, and sewing bootcamps at the Albuquerque Fashion Design Incubator. 

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While working as a production seamstress at a local outdoor clothing manufacturer, she saw how much scrap fabric waste was created from common industry pattern cutting techniques. This prompted her to create zero-waste patterns in her own work. A few months at the same job sewing recycled polyester fleece, she started breaking out all over, learning that micro-plastic shedding polyester carries hormone and endocrine disrupting chemicals that seep into our skin, and should never be worn next to our body! This was the start of her journey to seek out only biodegradable and healthy fibers to create with and wear.

 

She went on to tailor for high-end ski wear companies and clients in the Vail area, saving money to further explore sustainability in fashion in Europe, where education and living was cheaper, and sustainable fashion had European Union policy to lean on. She received her Master’s in Sustainability in Fashion and Creative Industries from the Akademie of Mode & Design in Berlin, Germany after writing her thesis on the importance of collectives in garment work.

 

Rose has taught as Adjunct Faculty at Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design, Directed & co-wrote curriculum for a local Fashion Academy for Elementary to High Schoolers, practiced as a Production Assistant in an Aurora based clothing manufacturing facility, and taught Fashion in Siena, Italia.

 

She has experienced wage theft as a garment worker in Denver as a contract garment worker, which has deepened her commitment to garment worker rights, and creating an ethical and regenerative fashion industry for all.

 

Rose created a capsule collection of Mountains and Plains Fibershed goods during COVID lockdowns, and was a bit disappointed when she didn’t hear back from M & P ! After contacting the main Fibershed and offering to help organize since it seemed like M & P had fallen apart, she was put in touch with Erin Miller, who had also done the same thing! Rose is SEW excited to be helping organize this community. 
 

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