Enactus held the Thrift-a-Roo pop-up on Wednesday for students to purchase second-hand clothing at the university walkway.
The proceeds raised will go to a school in Mexico to tackle both the fast fashion industry, and to give back to an under-resourced community.
Thrift-a-Roo Project Manager Dariana Torres, a native of Mexico, aimed to support families who use personal funds to donate essential supplies to schools.
“With the money we want to donate school supplies for students. My idea is for families to not have to use their money and instead by helping our community, we want to help those,” said Torres.
It is both about helping the families and finding a more affordable way for students to participate in sustainability. The clothes found at the pop-up were all under $10, making it highly affordable for students.
The idea for this project came from an Enactus competition last year, where students had the idea to address fast fashion.
Fast fashion is the phenomenon of the clothing industry producing high quantities for cheap to keep up with trends. It is more about the quantity and availability rather than the quality of clothes.
“I’m buying everything second hand, it’s just not worth it anymore,” said Grace Gomez-Palacio, a sophomore attendee.
Thrifting is one solution towards fast fashion as it is giving new life to unused clothes. Often the unsold clothing in stores end up in landfills. There are hidden costs associated with the industry including wasted water in production and plastic in the materials.
“The quality of clothing that you can get when you thrift vs the quality of clothing that’s being made now is completely different, so that’s why I choose to thrift, it lasts a lot longer,” said sophomore Enactus member Frida Rodrigez.
Thrift-a-roo has been holding donations throughout the semester, both through clothing drives and donation bins. There are donation bins located in Johnson Hall, Oak Street Hall, Hospital Hill, the Student Union, and the Atterbury Student Success Center. They were able to collect 7 bins worth of clothes, accessories, and dorm items.
“If you want to get involved with the project, it takes a lot of work to get this done, so you can join the thrift-a-roo team or you can just join Enactus in general,” said Leah Mcintrye, vice president of projects for Enactus.
The goal is to hold another pop-up in March and to continue every month. More information about upcoming events can be found at both @thrifta.roo and @umkcenactus on Instagram.
