MUSKEGON, Mich. — One West Michigan company is working to make clothing more sustainable.
"Oshki creates performance apparel out of US plastic waste, with a portion of that waste coming from our beach cleanup efforts along the Great Lakes," founder Jackson Riegler said.
Riegler founded Oshki when he was a high schooler, and he says his inspiration started long before then.
"I was fortunate enough to grow up in Muskegon and fall in love with the beach and everything that it stands for," Riegler said.
Now that he's graduated from the University of Michigan, it's a full-time career. He acknowledges he's a part of a larger trend of Gen Z getting involved in the environment.
"I think undoubtedly, in our generation, we see the impact more immediately," Riegler said.
The company currently hosts volunteer beach cleanups all over the Great Lakes, both in Michigan and Wisconsin. They then send off the trash to a facility so they contribute to the recycled materials their clothing is made out of.
"Our my eventual goal, though, is to first source only Michigan plastics," Riegler said.
But for now, he says seeing people show up to these cleanups is encouraging.
"That is a huge step," Rielger said. "Just to see people start to really care about these issues is the first step."
The company turns this recycled trash into sustainable hats, shirts, and bags. Riegler says it's all for the big picture.
"We're thinking about our kids and our kids' kids," Riegler said. "For me, that's always what it's been about."
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