Meet Alina Yan, the 18-Year-Old Who is Transforming Old into New

By Gibran Caroline Boyce | April 2020

Alina Yan sat criss-cross on the floor of her white spacious bedroom in her family's apartment. Her grey British Shorthair cat named Bullet stumbled into the video purring for attention. It was minutes before the cat had been acknowledged, or even noticed, somewhat blending in with Yan who clearly had a strong bond with Bullet.

As soon as I met Yan, I could tell there was something unique about her. I couldn't pinpoint it. A freshman in Boston College's Carroll School of Management (CSOM), I initially assumed it must be her incredible entrepreneurial spirit from such a young age, or the fact that she is far more charismatic than I was at 18 years old.

At Yan's age, many teenagers are getting their clothing fix from fast fashion brands like H&M or Zara at rapid rates. The idea is to have more for less. Yan — bubbly and filled with energy, even during her 9 a.m. wake up call for our Zoom meeting while she's in quarantine in Beijing, China — is working to change that.

During her first semester of freshman year, Yan entered an elevator pitch competition for funding in which she pitched to a panel of judges her idea for a start-up company. Although she did not win, that did not stop her from pursuing the opportunity to change the fashion industry for the better. Instead, while taking classes in CSOM on the impact of fast fashion, she became even more motivated.

"I was a person who bought into the idea of fast fashion when cheap clothes were everything. Because of that, my closet had been an absolute disaster."

Yan pulled an all-nighter considering what she could do to make a difference, googling all that she could about the subject and how to make tote bags.

With $1,500 in funding and one particularly wonderful mentor, both provided by the BC Shea Center for Entrepreneurship, as well as a freelance seamstress she met online via Upwork, "Apparycle" was born.

Customers send any clothing items to Apparycle that they would like to "upcycle." For varying fees, they will transform it into your choice of a tote bag, medium drawstring pouch, or small drawstring pouch.

“After the transformation is complete, we will send it right back to you or who you want to gift it to,” writes Yan on the Apparycle website. “All scrap fabrics during each transformation will be used to create products sold directly on our webpage. This way, we offer you the chance to buy 100% upcycled items while making no waste.”

With the not-so-small mission of “bringing us one step closer to a waste-free fashion industry,” Apparycle’s goals are simple:

• • Reduce clothing waste

• • Preserve and bring memories back to life with fashion and functionality

• • Create value again for those items that lost them

Yan came up with the idea for her start-up's name, "Apparycle," by combining the words apparel and upcycle, which means creative reuse.

Repurposing clothing and reimagining fashion, Apparycle started from the idea of turning something old into something new.

As a matter of fact, Yan was so motivated, that she even attempted joining a nonprofit sewing center located in West Newton, MA, 16 minutes away from BC's campus, called Fiber Art Boston Resource & Innovation Center. Although, she laughed that her skills (or lack thereof) did not get her quite as far as she would've liked.

That's when Yan met Anji Garcia on Upwork, a freelance seamstress in her early 30's who agreed to help Yan actually create and sew the tote bags.

"I’m motivated by how much I believe other people will join this movement," said Yan. "We can do so much more with our old clothing by giving it value again instead of throwing it away."

Alina Yan, Founder of Apparycle

Yan launched Apparycle's instagram page (thereby making it "official") February 22nd, 2020. Unfortunately, this was only three weeks before BC decided to close its campus due to the coronavirus crisis.

The upcycling company received their first sale right before students, including Yan, were told that they would be continuing classes online for the remainder of the semester. However, they were unable to complete that first sale, let alone celebrate it, due to the pandemic.

"I ended up pausing all operations, in terms of anyone sending anything to Anji because we want to maintain good health and safety first," said Yan.

Although they've temporarily paused production, they are accepting pre-orders and are offering a special bundle of a tote bag and a drawstring pouch for a reduced price as a way to thank customers for supporting them throughout the crisis.

"Once it is officially safe for us to operate again, we will," said Yan.

Yan seemed most inspired by her mentor, Ed Frechette, a part-time professor teaching Managing for Social Impact at BC. She and Frechette met through the Shea Center for Entrepreneurship.

"He's one of the most amazing teachers I've ever met," beamed Yan. "In his free time, he helps other businesses with their social impact."

Yan has similar career goals for herself. Expecting to double-concentrate within CSOM in marketing and entrepreneurship, she hopes to one day become an angel investor, providing funds and necessary resources for business startups.

"I would love to help other businesses while maintaining my love for starting something new," said Yan. "I also want to help startups that aren't already sustainable become more sustainable."

Yan's interest in sustainability comes from her love of nature.

"It’s terrifying where our environment is heading," said Yan. "We’re starting to feel those effects. I try to be sustainable where I can."

In addition to her devotion to sustainability, Yan described herself as a very "bouncy" person, always working on some sort of project, including YouTube videos documenting her adventures and experiences, like living in China in the time of COVID-19.

Noting that she often "pursues sudden ideas,” this ranges from beginning a sustainable fashion start-up to trying out new recipes like her creation of a jelly gummy bear that "did not turn out so well."

"I’m motivated by how much I believe other people will join this movement," said Yan. "We can do so much more with our old clothing by giving it value again instead of throwing it away."