Now we get to meet another person in our community whose creations are making an impact.

Shelby Mengel's fascination with thrifting and sewing started in her teens, now she transforms old items into eye-catching pieces.

Producer John Branscum shows us how she takes her passion for fashion to the next level in a sustainable way.

- [John] Several days a week at Copycat Printing, you'll find Shelby Mengel tucked away in a corner.

- [Shelby] During the day, I'm a graphic designer.

- [John] It's challenging and creative work, but when she's done with the keyboard and the mouse of the office, at home, she has something else up her sleeve.

- I am an artist, designer and I create art and designs under Shelby Lynn Lives.

- Her medium of choice?

- I love to work with upcycled materials.

I love to use a lot of blankets, heavier things that you know maybe wouldn't be assumed to get turned into fabric for clothing.

- [John] Shelby remembers that spark that first ignited her interest.

- I learned how to sew a button in home ec in middle school and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.

We were allowed to like go home with it 'cause what were they gonna do with it?

I think I sewed like eight buttons on it that night.

From there I had a lot of assistance from my grandmother learning me the basics.

She absolutely helped like ignite my love for it and certainly my confidence with it.

- [John] With a solid foundation, she quickly moved past buttons.

- Things I'm like seeing online and I'm like looking at my own clothes, trying to figure out how I can do that or things like it.

So using clothes and fabrics that were laying around that I already had are pretty much how I learned how to do everything that I do was through upcycling, but at that time it didn't have the word upcycling, - [John] No matter what you call it.

One thing's for certain.

Shelby is hooked and she is always hunting for raw materials.

- All but exclusively thrift stores.

Anything can be turned into anything.

Sometimes I know immediately what I'm gonna make out of it and other times to the detriment of my storage, it sits around for a little bit until just like that one day that like the idea hits.

When it comes to using the heavier materials, blankets, quilts, those things are generally turned into sweaters, vests, jackets even.

Just got a bit of everything.

- [John] The Pennsylvania native moved to Charlotte in 2023, but before the QC, she spent a few years in Beantown.

It was while living in Boston, she entered the popup market scene.

- It's a social event as much as it is a shopping event and honestly, I like immediately felt like I found my community, my creative community.

Like I kind of joke that I pay to like be at events with my friends.

- [John] At first, Shelby focused on selling hrr custom paintings.

- When I first started, I would say painting was 80% and clothing was 20%.

That has like very quickly, completely reversed and I would say confidently now that clothing is probably like 80 to 85% of my business.

The price range on my clothing, you know, simpler, maybe like anywhere from like 30 to $50 range depending on what I've done to it or how much altering I needed to do, completely from scratch tends to be anywhere from like 60 to over a hundred dollars.

- It's just so incredible that someone is able to create all this stuff and takes the time to, you know, puts so much energy and thought into such unique pieces and share it with the community.

- [John] It didn't take long before her clothes and her techniques caught the eye of fellow upcycler CT Anderson.

- Oh my gosh.

I met Shelby at a market and I was like, oh my gosh, this woman is amazing.

This sweater that she made out of a Chapel Hill throw, University of North Carolina throw is amazing.

- [John] With a professional background in corporate sustainability, CT is the founder and creative director of Spring Clean.

- Spring Clean is a resale boutique with a twist.

We focus on creative reuse.

You can donate your clothes, you can get them altered or repaired.

We have fun sewing workshops and we make sure that 90% of what we collect doesn't go to waste.

- [John] With their shared interest in upcycling, CT invited Shelby to stop by.

- You should come hang out with us and teach a workshop.

And then she showed all of these beautiful throws and bags that she makes and I'm like, well, you can actually come sell it in our shop.

Like we feature artists all the time.

That's the goal of Spring Clean is to not just highlight our items, but items of others in the community that are offering creative reuse.

- [John] CT says there's more going on here.

Their creative reuse is really a win-win for the environment.

- Takes 700 gallons of water to make the average T-shirt.

Only 1% of clothes that get donated are actually recycled or reused.

1%.

When you donate your clothes to a traditional thrift shop, only about a third of them get resold.

The rest of them are shipped overseas to countries that have less of a waste =infrastructure than we have in the US.

- [John] And as for that term upcycling?

- It's funny, I don't think it's a novelty.

I think we just put a name on it.

People have been reusing and remaking things for a very long time.

A lot of artists use what they call found materials and make things out of it.

We're just making wearable art.

- [John] In the end, for Shelby.

- If I'm making something, I'm happy.

That's the goal is just keep playing around, keep trying new things.

The fact that I can do something I find so fun, getting to do this for whatever portion of my time and my life I get to do is in itself like so rewarding.

- Thank you.

- For Carolina Impact, I'm John Branscum.