Runway fashion is all about perfection, but Lisa McRoberts snaps a bite out of the flawless concept, saying imperfections can also be embraced on both catwalks and sidewalks.
McRoberts, University assistant professor of human ecology, recently received a $107,000 grant from the Louisiana Alligator Council to promote the incorporation of lesser-quality alligator leather into fashion.
Grade No. 1 alligator leather is 100 percent flawless, but McRoberts said Grade No. 3 alligator leather is just as useable, and it’s more affordable and easy to come by.
She said Grade No. 3 alligator leather is half the quality, and it usually comes directly from the wild.
Alligators are killed in Louisiana to maintain the ecological balance of the bayou, McRoberts said. Although the meat is used, the skins are put aside or discarded.
She said her goal is to bring this product to the public eye.
The money spent to buy the alligator skins goes back to the Louisiana economy, which McRoberts said was a reason she took on the project.
“From an ecological standpoint, we don’t want to waste them,” McRoberts said.
McRoberts said the lower-grade skins can be sold as part of numerous products outside of the fashion world, such as headboards and computer bags.
“You can work around blemishes, cuts or bullet holes, or you can embrace them,” McRoberts said.
Two of the courses McRoberts teaches encourage University students to do just that.
Along with the grant money, the Louisiana Alligator Council also pledged to donate 30 hides to McRoberts’ project per year from 2010 to 2012. These hides are used in Human Ecology 4045, which is an undergraduate senior-level collection class, and Human Ecology 7044, a graduate creativity and product development class.
McRoberts said the undergraduate class designs clothing, and the graduate class uses the alligator leather in innovative ways for other products.
Kelsey Perry, apparel design graduate student, said the class helped her think outside the box and find more creative ways to work with a different material.
“It was really neat to work with such a different textile,” Perry said.
McRoberts said she shows her students how to work with alligator leather, instructing them how to sew it and lay it out.
“Anything you can make with leather, you can make with alligator,” McRoberts said.
Kenneth Koonce, dean of the College of Agriculture, said the alligator industry generated more than $32 million last year for Louisiana’s economy.
Chuanlan Liu, assistant professor of human ecology, is currently working with McRoberts to get Grade No. 3 alligator leather more awareness.
Liu said the main purpose of her involvement with the project is to promote the locally produced items.
“We want to bring up the awareness of the available product here in Louisiana,” Liu said.
According to Liu, the largest emerging consumer market now is China. Her goal is to connect with global consumers, as well as send University students and their work to China for Fashion Week.
Bringing Chinese manufacturers to visit local manufacturers and look at the students’ designs is key to achieving recognition, she said.
“The projects are really great for getting attention and getting people aware of such potential,” Liu said.
To showcase this potential, McRoberts put together a fashion show last May, “Marsh on the Catwalk,” which featured her students’ alligator leather designs. A similar fashion show is scheduled for the Thursday before graduation this year.
 
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Contact Meredith Will at [email protected]