Students have the opportunity to slow down fast fashion at 1st Bruin Bazaar

Students browsed through school supplies, board games and clothing Wednesday at a pop-up shop hosted by student government officials.

The Undergraduate Students Association Council Facilities Commission hosted its first Bruin Bazaar of the year Wednesday, where students could donate items to the market in exchange for clothes, a reusable utensil set or other miscellaneous goods.

The pop-up shop’s purpose was to promote sustainability and accessibility, said Bruin Bazaar’s project director Katherine Pappas, a second-year political science and philosophy student.

“There’s a big idea surrounding fast fashion these days and how people kind of go through clothes and styles really quickly,” said Katie Clement, a co-director of the project and fourth-year political science student. “The whole point here is it gives people an opportunity to give those clothes to us which we can put to better use and then other people can reuse them.”

Facilities Commissioner Lily Shaw said one of the Facility Commission’s biggest goals is to reduce water-waste that comes with the fast-fashion industry, as well as providing basic goods for students on campus.

Shaw added the commission is also trying to collaborate with the California Public Interest Research Group as well as CalFresh and the Community Programs Office to make the bazaar less of a clothing swap and more of a hub for basic needs materials or resources.

Shaw said one of the challenges the commission faced was publicizing the event, but added that now that students have seen the bazaar on Bruin Walk, she thinks the donation process will go smoothly.

Although students could donate things at the bazaar itself, the Facilities Commission accepts donations year-round in a neon-orange bin outside of Shaw’s office in Kerckhoff 300B, Shaw said.

Students at the event who did not donate items were asked to take a picture with the commission’s signs and promote the event on social media prior to taking from the shop. No one was required to spend money on any of the items in the bazaar.

Claire Flynn, a first-year undeclared student who saw the bazaar while walking by Bruin Walk, said she was thinking of bringing items back to donate.

“I think it’s something much needed, especially if we want to keep our world intact,” Flynn said. “There’s so many clothes that already exist, there’s no need to keep making more.”

Sophie Bronkar, a third-year financial actuarial mathematics student, said she enjoys thrift-shopping a lot and appreciated the bazaar’s efforts to promote sustainability.

“I actually took a food cluster class (my) freshman year and it opened my eyes to different sustainability outlets like farmers markets or stuff like this, so it’s cool to see the efforts of yard sales, thrifters (and) different things like that,” she said.

Amber Widjaja, a first-year pre-public affairs student, said she thinks it’s a good resource for students who cannot afford to shop frequently.

“Especially with the trends of fast fashion, the fashion industry produces a lot of waste each year, so it’s really good to see that people are donating what they don’t need,” Widjaja said. “And we can also pick stuff up, especially for people who can’t really afford getting a lot (of) new clothing all the time and want to keep up with the trend, I think it’s a good resource.”

The next Bruin Bazaar will take place during week 6.