Friendly Fashion

The EcoCreators Design Club meets at least once a week at Diamond View Elementary School, in Greenacres, Florida. Kids learn about ocean conservation and other science topics. And they get wildly inventive, transforming an unlikely material—plastic waste—into one-of-a-kind outfits.

Availa Johnson, 9, started the club in 2024, as a solution to the plastic pollution problem. She told TIME for Kids she was inspired by ocean animals. “When I learned how plastic materials were harming them, I wanted to help,” she says.

On April 22, EcoCreators will share its designs at Diamond View’s third annual Earth Day fashion show. “This will be our biggest year,” says Syndie White, the school’s STEM program director. “It’s a school-wide event. Everyone wants to be a part of it.”

Trash to Treasure

Oceans cover more than 70% of Earth’s surface. They’re home to marine animals, from 100-foot-long blue whales to inch-long seahorses. But oceans are littered with plastic trash, from big laundry-detergent bottles to tiny flecks called microplastics, some of which are invisible without a microscope.

Availa has seen plastic waste on Florida beaches. “It hurts my heart,” she says. “Usually, I just pick up all the trash.” But sometimes, she adds, “I think the plastic bags are jellyfish.” Marine animals make the same mistake. A plastic bag in the ocean looks like prey, so they eat it. Ingesting plastic can make them sick or even kill them.

Kids in the EcoCreators club learn how to reduce plastic waste, such as reusing water bottles and shopping bags. Plastic items in the fashion show come from collection bins in classrooms and an upcycling nonprofit group. “I just want to teach people that we save materials,” Availa says. “We can make them into something new.”

Making Waves

In 2025, Action for Nature honored Availa as an International Young Eco-Hero Award winner. In a statement, the nonprofit group called her “a true innovator with a flair for fashion and a heart for the planet.”

MAKING WAVES Availa competes at the 2024 Future Wavemakers event, in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she’s named one of the winners.

One of the things Availa is most proud of is the impact she’s made at Diamond View. EcoCreators started with just her and a few friends. Today, the club has about 30 members. “We have a waiting list” to join, White says. “[The club has] grown from something really small in her heart to something just so big.”

IMAGINE THAT Availa sketches fashion ideas during an EcoCreators Design Club meeting.

Availa now wants to expand her ocean conservation effort to Connecticut, where she moved last summer. “I am starting an art class soon and planning on pitching my plastic fashion idea,” the fourth grader says. “I’m gonna tell them, right when I get there.”

“She’s bold,” says Availa’s mom, Rachel Cimmino. “She sees a need, and she runs with it, and she makes it her mission.” Availa’s mission at Diamond View continues. She won’t be there for this year’s Earth Day fashion show. But White hopes Availa will visit the club virtually.

“I just like helping the world,” Availa says. By combining her talent for art and fashion with her love for ocean animals, she’s doing her part to protect the planet.

Inspired?

Let Availa’s story inspire you to make a positive difference to the planet. Click below for ideas on protecting the environment.