One new organization this year is the “The Fashion Fixers”. This group features 14 students that repair and redesign all kinds of clothing for a small amount compared to prices in the real world.

“It’s a great opportunity for my fashion design students to learn real world applications, business processes and advanced clothing construction techniques,” said Mrs. Walker, the teacher of this program. “And at the same time provides services for PHS staff members for a fraction of what they would pay someone in the industry.”

These students fix all types of clothing brought to them. While doing all of these alterations, they gain new skills and learn how to apply them in the real world.

“It’s helped me tremendously in the business aspect because you start seeing the realities of life and learning about all these different parts of a business,” said junior Bella Alicea. “It allows you to learn about how incorporate all of these important things into what you’re doing.”

On top of discovering new techniques and skills, these students are setting examples for their peers to see.

“We want to make an impact on people and help this program grow,” said Alicea. “This is a new class and we want to have incoming designers make this a big deal.”

A few of the students may continue into the fashion designer industry after they graduate.

“I want to be a fashion designer for children’s apparel so this is helping me learn how to do certain stitches or techniques,” said Alicea. “It has taught me how to fix clothing in general, like sewing a button onto clothing, learning the different layers of where the fabric lays, and how to do so many other things that I can use later on.”

The program helps the designers see how businesses work and helps them practice certain skills needed to work.

“To be able to communicate with customers professionally and learn how to work with other people helps all of us greatly,” said Joel Sayers, a junior. “A variety of our projects that we have to work on include multiple kinds of clothes and we have to learn how to work on new things for every outfit.”

This program is in place to help staff members avoid paying too much for alterations and for the designers to practice these skills.

“Right now we’re working on alterations for the color guard’s costumes,” said Alicea. “ We also want to be able to help the staff members at a fraction of what it would cost at another business.”

Overall, this program has been a huge success amongst the school and a great addition. Contact Mrs. Walker through her email or phone number if you would like your clothes altered or general tips.

“The ultimate goal is to make the fashion department and program at this school grow. We want there to be great standards and expectations for all of the incoming designers,” Alicea said. “If we leave certain expectations for the people coming to this class, they’ll be able to actually learn and gain amazing skills from this class that they can apply to the real world.”