Elon University Student Confronts Fast Fashion with Knit Clothing Brand
Sophomore Delilah Eby quickly turned a quarantine hobby into her own personal brand this past year and used this creative outlet as a platform for social change.
Eby learned how to knit when she was just seven years old, but the hobby faded away until last November when she decided to give it a try once again. At first, knitting was simply her quarantine activity of choice, but being home with not much else to do played a part in her dedicating more time to her craft and creating something special from the ground up.
“I’ve always been a really crafty person, so I picked up knitting and got really passionate about it,” Eby says.
This passion led to the creation of Delilah Designs, a line of custom-made knitwear and a creative escape to confront the fast fashion crisis on her own terms. Although she created the brand just three months ago, it took off pretty quickly and gained the attention of the devoted knitting community across social media.
“The knitting community on Instagram is a pretty niche thing,” Eby says. “Everyone is really supportive [which helped me] learn a lot through that process.”
Having a distinct style has also built a name for Delilah Designs, Eby believes. The pastel colors and cropped designs of her work are incredibly recognizable and add a stylish flair to each piece.
While Eby had the intention of creating this brand as a means to share her creations, it turned into something much more meaningful.
“After I started my knitting Instagram account, I wasn’t looking out for sustainable materials until I started looking around and did more research,” Eby said.
What she found about the realities of fast fashion were shocking, and sparked a dedication to changing it.
“This is disturbing and it’s not an issue that has enough attention,” Eby realized after her inquiry.
Ebay believes that the negative effects of fast fashion on climate change, working conditions, and worker wages all over the world should be so much more recognized. Despite the cheap prices and easy access of the fast fashion industry, Eby knows change is possible—it will just take a little more work.
“It’s okay to have a learning curve,” she says.
Eby is confronting the issue one piece at a time, which can be ordered through her Delilah Designs Instagram page. Since she started creating custom orders recently, Eby is still trying to figure out the most efficient process for making each piece. And while every order is different, she plans on completing about two or three commissions every month, all while balancing the schoolwork and extracurriculars of college life.
What started as a casual hobby has quickly transformed into something much more for Eby—a passion project for social change through her favorite creative outlet.
“When I began [Delilah Designs], I didn’t recognize the importance of sustainability until I started putting my work out into the world,” she says.
And although Eby has just started, her brand is gaining followers at a rapid rate, thanks to her knitting friends across social media. She is incredibly grateful for the close relationships she has formed with her fellow designers over DMs, and hopes to meet them in person someday.
“Infiltrating into a community that is so ‘tight-knit’ and helps each other out is amazing,” Eby said cracking a smile at her unintentional joke.
Eby has found a purpose to her art and plans on growing her brand for a long time.