Student designers at the University are bringing alligators from the bayou to the boutique by incorporating alligator skins into their work.
The Department of Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising and its “Alligator Project” encourage students to experiment with alligator skins and advocates specifically for the use of grade-3 skins of wild alligators, as opposed to the perfect grade-1 skins of farmed alligators.
Assistant professor of apparel design Lisa McRoberts said a certain number of the swamp dwellers must be hunted to prevent overpopulation in Louisiana. According to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, wild and farmed alligator harvests currently exceed 300,000 annually, while the population remains steady.
Many designers shy away from wild-caught skins because they are often riddled with imperfections, but McRoberts said the Alligator Project attempts to combat this cycle.
McRoberts said she has infused the use of alligator skin into the curriculum of her graduate-level HUEC 7030 course, which revolves around the application of creativity in the product development process.
“What we’re trying to do is find innovative ways or nontraditional methods of using the alligator,” McRoberts said.
McRoberts said she has done the same with her HUEC 4045 course, called “Synthesis.” The class is a senior collections course where students use a multi-functional team approach to creative problem solving, as well as learning apparel product design, development, evaluation and presentation using advanced pattern-making techniques and technology.
Student-run fashion shows offer a more visible representation of students using the alligator samples.
In May 2014, the Marsh of the Catwalk Alligator Design Garment and Product Competition was presented at Catalyst, an annual student fashion show sponsored by the student organization Hemline.
Apparel design graduate student Erin Davis won first place in the product competition for her bowtie designs, which extensively used grade-3 alligator skin.
Two of the ties combined a purple and gold houndstooth pattern with the alligator skin samples, one of which was dyed a light purple. The third bowtie contrasted purple and gold vertical stripes against a rich, chocolate-colored alligator skin.
Davis said the pieces were her first experience working with alligator, and it can be difficult to work with, depending on what grade the skin is and how old it is.
The samples she had for her bowties were from a younger alligator, so they were thinner and easier to manipulate. However, she said she’s worked with skins from older alligators that were hard, rough and not as pliable.
“I would like to incorporate other additions to this project to further promote it,” Davis said.
The grade of the skin is determined by dividing the skin into four quarters and looking to see if there is a blemish, cut or tear in any of the quadrants. If there are imperfections in one quarter, it is given a grade of 2. A grade of 3 is assigned if there are imperfections in more than one quarter.
“We have found that, regardless of those flaws, we can either work around it or embrace it as being sustainable,” McRoberts said.
She said there have been many alumni designers who have put their alligator-inspired pieces into production in their own brands.
“I think it’s very important for the students to know how important it is to repurpose garments, to give them a second life,” McRoberts said. “Anything you can imagine you can do with leather, we can do with alligator.”
Students are implementing alligator skin in various garments, as well as accessories and products such as shoes, coasters and handbags, she said.
Apparel design graduate student Sarah Barnett designed a bucket-style purse made of clear vinyl with alligator at the base that meets the NFL requirements for bringing into a stadium, McRoberts said. A wristlet-style wallet accompanied the purse, she said.
The use of alligator also extends to the realm of men’s fashion, in that a collar or belt loop can be transformed by fusing alligator skin into the design, she said.
McRoberts said her undergraduate class in 1998 was the first to experiment with alligator skin, and since then, she has tried to integrate alligator into her personal designing and teaching.
Chuanlan Liu, associate professor of merchandising, said the Alligator Project is also an effort to be environmentally conscious. She said the market for grade-3 alligator skin has not yet been explored.

Gallery • 9 Photos

Sam Karlin

Erin Davis, an apparel design graduate assistant, holds her award winning bowties made with alligator skin.