At the Student Union on Feb 9, Mills students were rummaging through tables and tables of treasures and potential fashion finds. After rifling through ripped jeans and beaded tank tops many came away from the event with a few new pieces to add totheir wardrobe.
The Tuesday’s Club, a club dedicated to creative community building, hosted the clothing swap. Club President and senior Kyla Kelley, came up with the idea after having a successful clothing swap with her friends.
“I thought it would be a fun thing to bring to Mills,” Kelley said.
This is the second year in a row Tuesday’s Club hosted a clothing swap on campus. Last year, they rounded up all the clothes left over at the end of the swap and donated them to a local charity in San Leandro.
This year, however, they’re doing something new. The volunteers who helped clean up the event got to take a box of clothes and donate them to a charity of their choice.
Shannon Cook, a sophomore, just transferred to Mills and recently signed up for the Tuesday’s Club at the Block Party on Jan 27. Even though she did not intend on taking any clothing for herself, she volunteered to help donate any clothing left over after the event.
Cook did not have a particular charity in mind, but said, “I’ll just take the box wherever they tell me to.”
Elena Ruiz, a junior, also volunteered at the event. Although she was busy, she still wanted to make sure she took part in the swap.
“I talked to Kyla and told her that I want to go, but it would only be fair if I work it,” Ruiz said.
Club members like Amy Alaman, the Co-Publicity Chair, heavily publicized the clothing swap via Facebook, Student News and even handmade fliers.
Casey Honath, a sophomore, heard about the event through Mills’ Student News and made sure to bring her friend Valeska Munoz, also a sophomore, along with her. Like the rest of the participants, they were looking for some new clothing to update their wardrobe.
Clothing may often hold fleeting sentimental value and a clothing swap is just one of the many successful ways to recycle and share your treasures with others.
Kelley came up with a thrifty and genius solution to bring those old treasures to life again by giving them away to someone else who will wear them all the time just as you once did.
She also shared a funny anecdote about the time she ran into someone wearing something of hers last year and said, “It was really exciting seeing one of my Mills sisters wearing something that I used to wear all the time.”
