As a college student it can be hard to fit shopping for amazing, new, stylish, high end apparel into your budget and into your small dorm room; trust me I speak from experience. But what if there was a way that you could dress like you had 1 million dollars and not pay more than $10? You could clean out your old, SO last year clothes, and replace them with new looks all while cutting down on textile waste and saving our planet. Well there is, it is called thrift shopping and believe it or not we actually have a thrift store on our campus!
The Red Closet thrift store is located in the basement of the Netzer building. It is open Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 11-2. You can bring your old clothes to donate to the thrift store so that they can become repurposed or recycled instead of becoming trash. The Red Closet is always getting new inventory from other students and faculty. It collects such unique items, shoes, dorm supplies, jewelry and more. There are no price tags on items, just suggested donations, so you can pay what you can afford and all the proceeds go to college scholarships at SUNY Oneonta. These photos are of SUNY Oneonta students Abby, Mary Kate and Gabby, rocking looks from the thrift store. They are wearing brands like J Crew, H&M, American Eagle, Emoda, and Gap, proving that you can find current, trendy, brands while thrift shopping.
As if the price tag wasn’t already a big enough incentive to go to the Red Closet, by thrift shopping you are also helping to save the planet! American’s throw away an average of 80 pounds of clothing a year, per person, or 14 million tons of textile waste as a country annually. This goes straight into landfills where it sits for an eternity, seeping into our soil and water. As citizens and consumers we need to be socially responsible and aware of the impact we are having on our environment and support sustainable fashion.
Stop by the store in between classes and start looking fabulous. It is so easy to shop smart, sustainably, and creatively while on a budget. I volunteer at the store on Fridays from 12-1, come say hi and check out the racks! Hope to see you all there!
HCXO, Abby