When I first joined the Hanley Sustainability Institute as a student leader in January 2023, I never imagined the campus-wide impact I’d be taking part in within the University of Dayton community. As someone who came to sustainability through its human and social dimensions, I’ve always believed that change becomes most powerful when it is community-driven and community-focused. As a pre-dentistry student, working on HSI’s Circularity Team has shown me how much is possible with motivated peers and a supportive campus community.
While our team’s mission is rooted in reducing waste by keeping materials in circulation, we are also helping students rethink what it means to consume responsibly. Fast fashion culture has made it easy to throw things away and replace them, causing textile waste to become a growing issue everywhere. The simple, yet impactful idea of “swapping clothes instead of buying new” quickly expanded into one of my team’s more exciting and engaging programs.
The Clothing Swap initiative launched as a pilot project led by Zay Min Htike, a fellow Circularity Team member in fall 2024. This pilot was intended to gauge interest and test whether these events could shift campus culture and promote circular fashion. Our goal was to reduce textile waste and give gently-used, unwanted clothing items a second life, while providing students an opportunity to donate their clothes and refresh their wardrobes at no cost.
Since the pilot, the program has expanded significantly, gaining traction and enthusiasm from the UD student body. Throughout the 2024-25 academic year, we hosted five Clothing Swaps, where more than 200 students participated. As a result, 188.8 pounds of clothing were given a second life on campus, with an additional 199.2 pounds of surplus items donated to St. Vincent de Paul in Dayton.
During the fall 2025 semester, we hosted three more Clothing Swaps and continued expanding our data-tracking efforts. From these three swaps alone, 128.2 pounds of clothing were swapped by students, and 48.1 pounds of clothing were donated to Dayton’s St. Vincent de Paul. We also tracked student engagement last semester, revealing that 121 students participated and 289 clothing items were received. As our quantitative impact continues to increase, I am excited for our team to continue to grow this program.
As a team, we have reflected on our Clothing Swap successes and challenges over the past year and have used this information in our semester planning to make our program stronger.
To reach a greater audience, we now have eight semi-permanent donation locations, including the Roesch Library 1F Main Staircase; Brook Center’s Food4Flyers Pantry; Marycrest Main Lobby; Marianist Main Lobby; VWK Main Lobby; Stuart Hall Main Lobby; Campus South Main Lobby; and the HSI Office in Fitz Hall 585.
Our spring 2026 Clothing Swaps are Feb. 23 at KU Torch Lounge; March 26 at the ArtStreet Amphitheater; and April 26 at Earthfest at Old River Park. Follow our Instagram @ud_hsi for more information regarding times, event updates and donation information.
With this being my final semester at UD, I am proud to see all that I, the Circularity Team, and the Hanley Sustainability Institute have accomplished. I am excited to spend my last semester here continuing to make sustainable fashion accessible and engaging for the UD community and applying these habits in my life beyond UD.