On the terrace floor of the Cesar Chavez Student Center, room T121, decorated with vines around its door frame, serves as the home of the Environmental Resource Center (ERC). Just outside at Malcolm X Plaza, students congregated around tables, sifting through donated clothing from fellow students as the ERC marked the start of the semester with its inaugural Clothing Swap event on Sept. 26.
Brittany Hernandez, the student director of the ERC, is continuing the legacy project of the Clothing Swap for other students to enjoy. The Clothing Swap was started by both the Queer and Trans Resource Center (QTRC) and the ERC, providing students the opportunity to donate and collect clothing.
“I was walking by. I grabbed some [clothes]… it’s a really cool idea,” said Evie Pengilley, a second-year student at San Francisco State University. “I also think they should pick up the piles of clothes people leave in the laundry for weeks for some reason. I live on campus right now and people just leave laundry everywhere like socks, jeans, there’s piles and they have not picked them up, so I was like ‘Oh they can add that.’”
First-year student Daniel Roberson stumbled upon the Clothing Swap while he was skating by the area.
“This is great. I’m broke and trying to get new pants, I got a couple of pairs of pants and found this interesting shirt,” Roberson said. “This is probably one of the best things you can do for the environment. We have fast fashion and always have a bunch of stuff going into landfills all the time. If you can donate and let someone else have some clothes that you’re not using anymore, it’s perfect.”
Multiple tables from Associated Students were set up in the quad. Programs such as the QTRC, the Legal Resource Center and more all gathered to promote their services.
(Ryosuke Kojima)
“We decided to host this event to just really talk about what the Environmental Resource Center does on a day-to-day basis,” Hernandez said. “This event was really created for the students just to stop by and really understand all the partners that we have… just building that community and building that collaboration I think is really exciting.”
According to Hernandez, the Clothing Swap has been going on for approximately five years and is always hosted in collaboration with the QTRC.
“We give people the opportunity to express themselves as much as possible with free clothing,” Hernandez said.
When it comes to any clothing that is left after the event, the ERC and QTRC like to get creative.
Hernandez said that last year, someone from the ERC took the jeans that were leftover from the school’s fashion department and made them into tote bags. At the following Clothing Swap, those tote bags were given out to students. The ERC will also take any leftover clothes to Goodwill or find ways to repurpose them.
The ERC eliminates paper waste by promoting most of its events and projects through social media.
Students who have questions or are interested in getting involved are invited to reach out via Instagram or stop by the ERC’s office.
