Sophia Made This is a small business run by Sophia Karas, who creates and sells art pieces made with recycled materials. Many of her products depict the human body and have an overall grungy style with some abstract art pieces. 

“I do a lot of stuff with bones and the skeleton and skulls,” Karas said. “At the end of the day we are all just skeletons and it’s something we all can agree on that brings us together and unites us.”

Karas is a Kent State freshman majoring in Spanish and minoring in painting. She also single-handedly runs her own sustainable small business. Everything Karas sells is upcycled clothing. All her clothing is “pre-loved” meaning from thrift stores, friends and family, and she uses environmentally friendly products, too.

“I use all recyclable materials,” she said, “so when I’m shipping, I try to use brown paper bags, ink that can be safe in the water once people wash the clothing, and just trying to reduce waste any way that I possibly can.”

“She’s doing it all on her own in her dorm room,” freshman fashion merchandising major Brett Ashley Richter said. “All of her clothes are second-hand and upcycled which I think is cool, and that’s why I keep buying too because I feel like it’s really important to shop sustainably in this era.” 

Karas started her business in 2021 during her first semester of college. Although she started in the middle of a pandemic, Karas said she doesn’t believe it had a negative effect on her sales. 

“If anything, it goes along with my morals that I kind of already had in place of double sanitizing, make sure everything’s clean for whoever purchases it and being compassionate when it comes to working with others at the thrift stores,” Karas said.

Karas has a very specific vision for her art, so she is wary, but expansion is something she wants to think about in the future. She has been getting exposure on her own by being a part of the FSO Goodwill fashion show and the Phi Delt flea market. She has also made items for the Kent State Drag Queens and she sets up a table in the Student Center once a month.

“I really like creative clothing and clothing that you wouldn’t really expect, which I think is kind of why I like Sophia Made This,” Richter said.

Karas holds a passion for art and believes it isn’t something to just be hung up on a wall. She said she believes expressing art through clothes every day is something more emotional and has a deeper connection.

“I believe we were all made with a purpose,” Karas said. “So I try to make all of my clothes and my art with purpose.”

Support Student Media

Hi, I’m Grace Avery, the Editor In Chief of A Magazine. My staff and I are committed to bringing you the most important and entertaining news from the realms of fashion, beauty and culture. We are full-time students and hard-working journalists. While we get support from the student media fee and earned revenue such as advertising, both of those continue to decline. Your generous gift of any amount will help enhance our student experience as we grow into working professionals. Please go here to donate to A Magazine.