One man’s trash is another man’s couture.
At least, that’s Evan Hirsch’s philosophy.
The 28-year-old Midtown-based designer went viral on social media in March, after he bought a $6 sheath from Goodwill and transformed it into a sparkly cocktail dress.
Now, he’s bringing his reworked thrifted treasures to New York Fashion Week.
This Saturday, Hirsch will present his latest collection, “Found Opulence,” a runway collaboration with the thrift nonprofit featuring 30 looks, all made from items sourced through its auction site, ShopGoodwill.com, or local Goodwill stores in New York and New Jersey.
“They told me to go wild,” Hirsch told The Post during an exclusive sneak peek of the goods at the Garment District factory that produces his samples.
His recreations include a bedsheet that he’s sewn into a strapless sheath festooned with a fabric flower, then paired with a matching overskirt.
There’s a red, satin 1980s prom dress that he’s turned into a 1950s-inspired cocktail frock, accented with a gem-encrusted brooch.
He’s also mashed up a clingy, burnt-orange gown with embroidery and beading from a traditional Indian garment. He additionally teased that a sequinned cape will be tossed off to reveal a sexy secret, and an ensemble will be made entirely of vintage brooches.
“It’s going to be really fun,” Hirsch promised.
Hirsch has long been obsessed with the transformative power of fashion.
As a kid growing up in Dix Hills, Long Island, Hirsch thought he was destined for Broadway. But it was clear he couldn’t act.
“Every time the cast list for the school play would go up, it would be like: ‘Evan: Tree’ or ‘Villager [Number] Four,’” Hirsch joked.
So, he began volunteering in the theater’s costume department — transforming his suburban classmates into Dickensian orphans (for “Oliver Twist”) or 1950s teens (for “Bye Bye Birdie”).
“I loved putting together period pieces and dressing the actors and altering things,” he told The Post.
He studied fashion design at Drexel University in Philadelphia, where the first article of clothing he made was, he recalled, “a cotton tube that you could not get on or off — and if you did, you could, like, dislocate a shoulder. It was awful!”
In college, he began experimenting with garments that could be worn multiple ways or adjusted to reveal an entirely new outfit: a mini dress that can unfurl into a ballgown, or a poncho that can turn into an 8-foot train when you throw it over your head.
“I think it harkens back to the theater days, where you would try and impress the audience and shock them and get a reaction,” he said.
Hirsch was inspired by “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” shows like “America’s Got Talent,” and the avant-garde designer Hussein Chalayan, known for his garments that morphed into furniture or his famous “undressing dress” (which unzipped itself).
“I was, like, ‘I want to figure out how that happens!’” Hirsch said of the time he first saw one of Chalayan’s ensembles. “It was like magic.”
His first versions were “a little loofah-ish, a little bit voluminous, a little top-heavy,” he admitted. “But it’s a refining process. And it’s generated, like, hundreds of millions of views on social media, because people love that quick reaction.”
After graduating from Drexel in 2019, Hirsch worked as a technical designer for a children’s wear company before starting his own independent label in 2022. He continued transforming garments and posting them on TikTok, where he currently has more than 558,000 followers, and demonstrating them on daytime talk shows, like “Tamron Hall” and “Sherri.”
In March, Hirsch bought a red one-shoulder cocktail dress from Bebe for $6 and spent hours hand-sewing gold beads onto it.
He also added a sheer, red overlay to make it into a gown, added a tag with his name on it, and returned it to the rack where he found it at Goodwill.
The video racked up some 7 million views; an article for People magazine followed.
Goodwill reached out shortly after about teaming up, and Hirsch suggested an entire collection made from Goodwill finds. Some of the garments Hirsch sourced himself from Goodwill shops, but the majority were sent in blind boxes from ShopGoodwill.com.
“We thought it would be a cooler challenge if I didn’t know what I would get ahead of time,” Hirsch said.
After the show, 15 of the designs will be auctioned off on ShopGoodwill.com, with proceeds going to Goodwill’s workforce development programs.
Hirsch will continue to serve as Goodwill’s “resident fashion expert” for the rest of the year, and he said that he hopes the partnership will continue for a long time.
“This is really a touchstone for where I want my brand to go,” Hirsch said. “When I first heard about sustainability, I was, like, ‘Leave me alone — it’s hard enough to run this business!’ But then when I actually started doing it, I was, like, this isn’t hard. This is fun. It’s easy and it’s better for the planet.
“I’m hoping people take away that it’s a lot easier and more accessible to do.”
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