Adeline Hume, a senior with a passion for fashion, has big plans for her future: she wants to impact not just the clothes people wear, but the industry that produces those garments.

Adeline prides herself in her experimental fashion sense and environmentally-friendly shopping methods. She wants to go to college for fashion merchandising, and hopes to spread her idea of good taste and sustainable, ethical production methods with the world. 

Adeline lives on campus with her mother, Natania Hume, the Chair of the Art Department. Adeline has spent most of her life in Western Mass., both on campus and in Amherst, and is ready to explore other parts of the world. To that end, she’s looking at UC Santa Cruz and UC San Francisco as possible destinations next fall.

“I am really passionate about sustainability in fashion, and I want to change the industry and make it more sustainable,” she said. “I think that fashion is really cool and is a really cool form of art, but the way we’re doing it right now is not sustainable. And it’s really bad for a lot of people and the planet.”

Fast Fashion brands like Shein, Forever 21, Brandy Melville, and Uniqlo are “the second- biggest consumer of water and is responsible for 8-10 per cent of global carbon emissions” according to the UN Environment Programme.

Instead, Adeline suggests more sustainable ways to shop, like thrifting. “Buying clothes secondhand is the best way to reduce clothing waste,” she said.

Adeline incorporates vintage and eclectic secondhand pieces into her everyday outfits and it has become her signature look.

Sarah Drucker, a senior boarder from Great Barrington, Mass., thinks Adeline is a “very kind soul” and that her fashion sense is really good.  

Though Adeline now takes a lot of pride in her individuality, she was not always like this.

“I am still trying to figure it out, but I think I am a lot more myself now than I was like a year ago, and I am very proud of that,” Adeline said.  

Despite her lofty ambitions, Adeline most simply wants to enjoy her life.

“If I wasn’t happy and I didn’t live a life that I thought was like true to myself and I didn’t think was authentic,” she said, “I think I would be really disappointed in myself.”