brooklyn babyy

Brooklyn Karasack, a 27-year-old from St. Petersburg, Florida, has turned $5 thrift finds into $350 fashion masterpieces while helping reduce clothing waste. With over 92 million tons of textiles ending up in landfills each year, her creative upcycling is both stylish and sustainable. Her journey began in 2021 while searching for unique festival outfits. Unable to afford expensive pieces, she started sewing her own, inspired by lessons from her grandmother. What started as a hobby soon became a passion project, and she now makes nearly all her clothes from thrifted materials. Karasack spends as little as $5 on fabrics and a few dollars on buttons or zippers, transforming old shoes, blankets, and purses into stunning new designs. Her top sale so far is a $350 sweatshirt made from a blanket and sweatshirt that cost only $20 to produce. In 2021, she co-founded Controlled Chaos with her friend Mariah Allen, earning over $10,000 in upcycled festival wear sales. On TikTok, her thrift transformations have gone viral, bringing in $13,000 from the Creator Fund. Despite her success, Karasack isn’t leaving her full-time job as an audit consulting manager earning $108,000 a year. For her, fashion remains a creative outlet, not a career replacement — a way to give new life to forgotten clothes while staying true to her love of music and self-expression.