For over 60 years, Oakridge resident Cheri Moritz has made clothes out of recycled materials. In the realms of thrifting and upcycling garments, which have gained significant cultural traction in recent years, Moritz is a seasoned veteran.

Although selling her designs to various retailers has served as a primary source of income throughout her life, her motivation to create has always been the practicality and expressive freedom it allows.

Today she frequently displays her designs in local “Trashion Fashion” runway shows, where all of the designs are made out of trash. Moritz’s fashion journey began at the age of 16 when her stepmother gave her a sewing machine.

“I’d sit up and make a whole outfit one night and wear it to school the next day,” Moritz said. “Everybody loved it and wanted to know where I got it, and I was able to say I made it. So it kind of began there.”

After high school, Moritz moved to Nebraska and became a go-go dancer, which was a pivotal moment in her fashion career.

“I made my own costumes, and so I ended up making a few costumes for other dancers,” she said. Moritz explained that she prefers making “costume-y” clothes, drawing from her experience designing for the stage.

When Moritz moved to Laguna Beach California in her early 20s and was introduced to the 1970s hippie movement, the role that fashion played in her life evolved from a means of personal expression to a means of interpersonal connection.

When she arrived in California with her Nebraskan go-go dancer look, nobody would talk to her at first.

“I bought a tapestry, made a set of bell-bottom pants and a cute little halter top,” Moritz said. “I let the hair down, got rid of the makeup, got rid of the shoes, got rid of the bra walked out there and then everybody wanted to know who I was.”

As she moved around in her 20s making clothes for herself and the people she met, Moritz’s designs evolved with her surroundings. After hitchhiking from California to New Jersey, Moritz quickly found work at boutique stores in New Jersey and New York.

She said her designs were noticed by a contractor who asked her to design stage costumes for singer-songwriter Carly Simon, but she spontaneously returned to California despite the opportunity.
Landing in Santa Cruz, Moritz briefly sold designs to an artisanal shop before deciding on a drastic change of lifestyle.

“I decided to move out of houses and live in the woods, so I made a lean-to tent out of a big parachute up in the mountains,” she said. “I had a cast-iron pan and the only thing I knew how to cook was pancakes, but they were so good.”

At the time, countercultural sentiments shared among the Californian youth inspired many young adults to retreat to nature in pursuit of a new way of life. Hippies moved to the woods and depended on their creativity and craftsmanship to survive and lead fulfilled lives. The nature of Moritz’s clothesmaking practice — designing for life as life transpired — resembled the eudaimonic ambition of the back-to-the-landers.

While living in the forest, her designs became more rugged and practical to withstand the conditions of the wilderness.

“I would just make things that were comfortable for where I was,” Moritz said. “I made clothing that was easy to wear in the woods, so you could climb over some branches if you needed to.”

When offered a ride to Oregon on the back of a motorcycle, Moritz agreed. “I wanted to meet people like me, who lived in the woods and just loved nature and lived simply,” she said. Moritz said she has stayed in Oregon ever since.

In 1971, Moritz brought approximately six of her designs to the Oregon Country Fair. “People just loved what I made,” she said.

“I think this year will be my 55th year. I keep making more and end up taking about 300 pieces there every year.”

Moritz entered the local fashion scene upon her discovery of “trashion” shows — runway fashion events where designers are challenged to create using solely discarded materials.

“The first Trashion Fashion show I saw was in Eugene hosted by St. Vincent’s, and it just triggered me,” Moritz said. “I just loved it.”

She made her debut at a Trashion Fashion show in Cottage Grove, featuring a collection of 11 looks sewn out of discarded materials. Most of the designs were constructed from shredded and fading curtains or old bed spreads. One look featured a skirt made entirely from a plastic shower curtain, despite her preference to work with fabrics rather than plastics and synthetic materials.

“The looks just took their own life,” Moritz said. “Everybody loved what I made.” Moritz has shown her work at local trashion events ever since.
Moritz’s environmentally friendly practices are central to her work. “I think it’s really important to reuse and repurpose other things,” she said.

To a youth grappling with the pressures of habituating sustainable consumption, Moritz’s unique relationship with clothing has unintentionally become an inspiration to many.

“I didn’t know for a long time that I was an inspiration,” Moritz said. “But it’s inspiring to me that I might be inspiring others.” Although her designs regularly attract attention, Moritz reiterates that her work is simply a part of her life. “I just make them for me,” she said.

Moritz has witnessed people have intense emotional reactions to the designs she sells at the country fair. “Some women have come into my booth and were so shocked that they couldn’t even breathe,” she said.

“They call it a vision, and I’ve been getting a lot of that kind of compliment through the years,” Moritz said. “Lately I’ve realized that this vision inside me might come from the way I live.”

Ever evolving according to the reality that surrounds her, Moritz’s relationship with clothes is harmonious and sustainable — in stark contrast to the tendency toward overconsumption that so often characterizes the fashion industry. More than just a pastime, Moritz’s work is a way of life.