By Grace Haas
As a new member of the Circularity Team within Hanley Sustainability Institute’s Student Leaders Program, I have been working on one of my team’s main and most recent programs: on-campus clothing swaps.
The goal of these swaps is to reduce consumption and create a reuse culture on campus. In this cycle, we can give clothing a longer life that otherwise may not have been worn at all, or worse, thrown away in the landfill.
To facilitate this program, we designate donation bins around campus where students can donate pants, shirts, jeans, sweatshirts, skirts, dresses, coats and hats they no longer wear or want to donate. Then, my team and I collect, categorize and fold clothes for upcoming clothing swap events.
The goal of these events is to give those who donated clothing the opportunity to pick out new-to-them items. Because we typically have more than enough donations, anyone is welcome to “shop” what’s available, even if they weren’t able to contribute clothing this time. This is a fun, free and intentional way we reduce waste and create community as a circularity team.
This semester, we kicked off the first clothing swap on Wednesday, Sept. 10. This was the sixth clothing swap hosted by the Hanley Sustainability Institute and the first one that partnered with the Flyer Farmers’ Market. Typically, clothing swaps are an event of their own, but my team and I wanted to expand the clothing swap to be a part of the farmers’ market experience.
As I have a wide range of interests within sustainability, I knew I wanted to be involved in Hanley Sustainability Institute’s Circularity Team after participating in UD’s EarthFest Sustainable Fashion Show during the 2025 spring semester. During that show, participants created their own sustainable outfit, whether thrifted, sewn, borrowed or ethically produced.
Building on that experience, working the Flyer Farmers Market clothing swap as a member of the Circularity Team was both memorable and rewarding. The experience of thrifting, creating and thinking through my clothing choices pushed me to reflect more about where the items I use come from.
I love clothing swaps and other circularity events because they highlight the community-building aspect of sustainability: using donations from students to help other students. By using the resources we already have, we can help close the loop of unsustainable consumerism and consumption, but also strengthen our connections within our community. To me, the heart of sustainability involves finding creative solutions to the problems we all share.