Las Vegas Super Bowl Lives On: Budding Fashionistas Rely On Recycled NFL Super Bowl Materials To Craft Clothing Under After-School Program
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Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Super Bowl 58 blasted into Las Vegas in February 2024 like a sports hurricane from the Sphere to Bellagio to Allegiant Stadium, with the legacy of this major sports event enduring in a creative way you would never have imagined.
The literal remnants of the National Football League’s premier event from 15 months ago live on in clothing crafted by Clark County middle and high school students who were able to design and sew blouses, dresses, skirts and jackets from recycled Super Bowl fabric materials.
It’s fashion meeting sustainability meeting student growth.
Steve Spann, co-owner of The Doyle event center in downtown Las Vegas and a post-consumption material artist, teamed up with Las Vegas entrepreneur Cindy Coleman to launch a resourceful and fascinating program that allows kids to create fashion from NFL Super Bowl materials like fence coverings, flags and wall banners.
“The kids checked put materials that caught their eye,” Coleman said. “They were very enthusiastic. They started nervous and then grew confident.”
The program is The Thread with students ages 11-18 already staging a fashion show with their creations at The Doyle a year ago with Spann, Coleman and the 25 students plus their parents.
At The Thread, we envision a world where creativity, sustainability, and community intersect to inspire future leaders and innovators — The Thread vision
The fashion show was so successful that it served as a launchpad for The Thread to roll out projected seven-week pilot programs that would be held for kids in Las Vegas, New Orleans and Los Angeles.
Here’s a a look at that fashion show that featured the clothing crafted from the recycled Las Vegas Super Bowl materials. Spann’s daughter, Maye, 13, a seventh-grader, said she liked the program because it “teaches students to recycle. You can use things over again. You can recycle anything.”
Spann and Coleman are targeting September and the fall for a time frame to launch the pilot program.
They hope to create a website for the students to eventually sell the fashionwear from recycled NFL Super Bowl materials and even recycled fabrics from local businesses and sports teams. They also want to attract sponsors for The Thread.
The NFL likes the concept of recycling materials because it’s consistent with the league’s sustainability goals.
There’s a storage container in New Orleans packed with Super Bowl 59 banners, flags, posters and coverings from only three months ago. Spann and Coleman have hooked up with two designers in the New Orleans area for them to helm the program there.
The two also made contact with a former historic West Side resident Charlie Mac, who is the point man for starting The Thread program in Los Angeles with materials from The Grammys.
The plan is to even involve Las Vegas Mayor Shelly Berkley, who is receiving a fashionable piece of clothing from The Thread students. The Thread proposed to Berkley that she and the city look into getting businesses to donate recycled materials.
A year ago, students worked on sewing machines at The Doyle to craft the clothing. The items still hang on racks at the former industrial site that used to be a home for artist studios. Steve Spann and his wife Mary Ellen have owned The Doyle since Aug. 2016.
The venue hosted an NFL event during Super Bowl week in Las Vegas in 2024, with Commissioner Roger Goodell and celebrities honoring unsung heroes.
Spann and Coleman have volunteered their efforts to guide The Thread. They’re also working with sports philanthropists, designers and educators to grow the program.
The Thread would like to see if local teams like the NFL Raiders, NHL Golden Knights and WNBA Aces could donate recycled materials.
But the program is not limiting itself to only sports-related recycled fabrics. Spann said one idea is to use the promotional materials for performer residencies on the Strip and make outfits for the performer. He noted talks got going with Adam Levine and Maroon 5, but did not advance to an actual arrangement.
Maye Spann, Steve Spann’s daugher, recalled a day when she wore her Super Bowl material dress in public: Another “girl came up to me and asked, ‘Where did you get that?’ I said I made it.”
