Maha Barsom is on a mission to show that one need not sacrifice all luxury in order to help save the world.

Born in Syria to a father who owned a barley, cotton, and wheat plantation, Barsom experienced firsthand what it was like to live in a society where waste was a somewhat unthinkable concept.

“When I was growing up as a little child, I would see my grandmother in the summer time, and she was sitting under the tree in our backyard,” she said. “She was sitting with all the old garments that had no use, and she would cut them and make yarn from them. And someone would come from the big city, going house to house, and they would weave from them a carpet to use underneath the Oriental rugs. Nothing was thrown in the garbage. There is use of everything.”

Living in Riverside for the past five years, Barsom has established herself as a designer of high-end (haute couture) clothing swanky enough to briefly own a boutique on Boston’s vaunted Newbury Street, right before the 2008 recession upended those plans.

Her own journey into the profession started in childhood, designing her own dolls and their clothing. It took a detour when her father insisted she get a business degree instead, which she did, from Damascus University. But after emigrating to America, she found herself enrolled at RISD, who saw potential in her and gave her the opportunity to study haute couture at the Paris American Academy.

“I posted the best grade in the history of the school, that’s what they told me,” she said.

After graduating, Barsom was approached and asked if she would teach a class at RISD that was in need of someone with her skills. Initially she was skeptical, wanting to go back to Paris. She agreed to fill in for a semester until they found a permanent replacement.

“I said okay, for one semester. And I’ve been there since,” she said with a laugh. “I like teaching. I like to pass my knowledge on to my students, and as much as I challenge them, they challenge me. It’s beautiful.”

Zero Waste, high fashion

Barsom said that she had always been motivated to find ways to reduce waste when it came to design.

“In this practice, I see my students all the time cut too much fabric and throw it in the trash,” she said. “When they cut the garments, so much is left.”

In 2012 she oversaw a class that sought to repurpose existing clothing into higher-concept fashion. At RISD, she was teaching a class on designing customized denim. As she saw the waste pile of denim scraps stacking up, an idea formed. She told the students to give her the excess fabric, and she was going to show them what could be done with it.

This is the genesis for the “Zero Waste Collection”, a 10-piece fashion line of Barsom’s creation that takes leftover fabric and turns it into high-fashion articles of clothing. No two pieces are alike, as each comes from its own unique scraps. You can’t buy it in a boutique, as each item needs to be custom designed and tailored by Barsom herself.

It’s a production method that will limit her ability to sell a ton of pieces, but in a sense that is the whole purpose.

“I cannot do a lot, because I do everything by myself…At the same time, I don’t want to do a lot,” she said. “Because I don’t believe in this philosophy of producing so much and then trying to sell all the designs. How much can people buy at the end of the day, especially if the price point is high?”

Barsom said that the modern practice of over-producing and over-consuming is something she wants to break free from, and encourages others to do the same.

“People, they buy so much, and they end up dumping it in a bin for the Salvation Army or another place; so much clothing,” she said. “Some of it they donate to other countries, but how much are they going to take? Most of it will end up in a landfill.”

Barsom said that fashion used to involve the purchase of high-quality items that were treated with respect and high regard, because they would be passed down through generations and last for decades. She said that quality is what she strives for, using only Supima cotton, a revered quality of cotton grown in the southwestern United States.

“Cotton is a breathable fabric, it’s a natural fiber and washable and very friendly to the Earth and it’s been used for thousands and thousands of years like linen, wool, or silk,” she said. “These kinds of fibers are the best.”

Without wanting to jump onto a political soap box, Barsom did say that she wished people thought more about the ecological impact of shopping at places whose only concern is bottom-line profit.

“I believe in slow fashion. I don’t believe in the production of a lot. I believe in custom-made. If we go back to that, the way we did it throughout history, we can save the planet,” she said. “Ethically, it is better for the Earth. And it is better for us.”