We wear them, sweat in them, wash them, replace them and order them by the hundreds. But how much do we actually know about the life of a sports shirt?

What happens before it reaches us? What does “recycled polyester” really tell us? Why can two shirts carrying the same fiber label feel, perform and age completely differently? And what happens after the final game, the final wash and the final season?

In this interactive workshop, participants will take a sports shirt apart without cutting a single thread, tracing its hidden journey from fiber and yarn through fabric construction, performance, garment making, care, durability and ultimately its next life.

Through hands-on fabric comparisons, simple demonstrations and discussion, we will challenge some common assumptions about sportswear, performance and sustainability. Rather than asking simply, “Is this sustainable?”, we will explore a more useful question: what makes a garment appropriate, durable and responsible for the way it will actually be used?

Participants will leave with practical questions they can take back to their schools when choosing sportswear and uniforms, as well as ideas for using an everyday sports shirt to start conversations with students about materials, design, consumption and responsibility.

You may never look at a sports shirt in quite the same way again.