{"id":12102,"date":"2018-06-04T14:19:57","date_gmt":"2018-06-04T18:19:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.tx.ncsu.edu\/news\/?p=12102"},"modified":"2018-06-04T14:19:57","modified_gmt":"2018-06-04T18:19:57","slug":"protection-by-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/news\/2018\/06\/protection-by-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Protection by Design"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
By Cameron Walker<\/p>\n\n\n\n
North Carolina has the sixth largest migrant worker population in the nation; conservative estimates number these farmworkers and their dependents at 150,000 per growing season. Migrant laborers face on-the-job hazards like UV radiation, heatstroke and pesticide poisoning, yet they work long days in clothing ill-suited for the fields. New Fashion and Textile Design<\/a> graduate Ashley Maurice challenged herself to help these workers through a project she calls Prot\u00e9gete, Spanish for “protect yourself,” and Textile Technology<\/a> major Ngoc Nguyen joined the team to search for a protective fabric finish for these garments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the 2017 fall semester, Maurice took Dr. Katherine Annett-Hitchcock\u2019s<\/a> menswear class, FTD Studio II, for which she had to design a menswear look that addressed an environmental concern in the workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Usually (students) create workwear garments for the office, but the people who are most affected by changing environments are not people in offices — it’s people who work outdoors, like farmers,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An environmental science minor, Maurice took the literal approach. She set out to design a garment that would help protect migrant workers — especially those harvesting tobacco, which, according to the United States Department of Agriculture<\/a>, is still North Carolina\u2019s top crop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “When Ashley first started thinking about the project…I thought it was intriguing,” said Annett-Hitchcock. “I was impressed by the amount of background work she did for the first part of the brief, which was to find out as much as possible about the potential user’s lifestyle and work requirements. She dug deep into the problem and came up with a very functional and attractive outfit.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n