In a concrete facility in West Hollywood, models walked down the L.A. Fashion Week runway in 3D-printed Balenciaga-style sneakers.
Vuelanova, a high fashion shoe brand, made its premiere on the LAFW runway Oct. 16, presenting a new approach to street shoes: customization, self-expression and sustainability. Using artificial intelligence scanning technology available through their website, Vuelanova crafts shoes fit to individual consumers’ feet needs with sustainable filaments.
“While we start off in high fashion, we want to be able to do shoes for children, the disabled, the elderly . . . just because you’re comfy doesn’t mean they’re ugly,” Aadhi Agilan, co-founder of Vuelanova, said.
The brand began as a tech start-up targeted at reducing children’s shoe waste in landfills. Agilan founded the brand with Mario Ronquillo, and Vuelanova was recognized as a Young Enterprise 2026 regional finalist at the University of Chester, where the brand won an award for sustainability. Now Vuelanova has evolved to include various elaborate styles, all with a unique, futuristic and monochromatic look, launching at LAFW.
The brand is currently only accepting waitlist orders as they navigate their launch.
Research in the Journal of Cleaner Production reveals that the world averages about 25 billion shoes bought per year, which can cause an immense carbon footprint during the 360 processing steps of manufacturing, once the shoes are discarded.
LAFW ended its first day with the premiere of a climate-conscious brand, and at USC, less than 10 miles away, students value the same principles for Los Angeles’ fashion ecosystem.
At USC’s arts, culture and lifestyle magazine Haute Magazine, working with clothing that already exists offers another approach to sustainability.
Natalia Rocha, Haute’s editor-in-chief and senior majoring in narrative studies, said photographers source clothing for their shoots themselves, often drawing from their own closets, models’ wardrobes and thrift stores. They find ways to bring their ideas to life through what they can borrow or already own.
“A lot of times they find a way to complete these photo shoots completely without spending any money,” Rocha said.
That resourcefulness extends to props and locations. While those decisions can come from financial constraints, it also encourages students to collaborate and experiment.
“It forces you to connect with others when you don’t have the means … to buy everything by yourself,” Rocha said.
Within Haute, Rocha described secondhand shopping as part of the group’s culture: asking another member where they found an outfit often leads to an answer about a thrift or consignment store.
Those exchanges also have a counterpart beyond Haute. pare, a clothing rental platform for USC students and organizations, aims to connect students looking for an outfit with others willing to rent out pieces from their closets.
pare was created by USC students to address the expense of dressing for different occasions, from formals to job interviews, while making use of clothing students already own. Users can list pieces and set their own rental prices, giving others access to an outfit without purchasing it.
While Vuelanova is rethinking how shoes are made, Haute and pare offer ways to rethink how existing clothing is used. At USC, borrowing and renting can give students access to different looks without requiring a new purchase for every occasion.
For Rocha, working with what is already available can also push fashion forward creatively.
“I think it really allows people to look outside the box and to stretch their brains creatively,” Rocha said.
