Hip Threads Used Clothing Store
Vision
“Change the Label, Change the World…One Thread at a Time”
To encourage students, parents, school staff and the broader community to become more thoughtful consumers by raising awareness of where new clothing comes from, and to provide an environmentally, socially and financially responsible alternative by operating a used clothing store right in our rural school.
Action
Evergreen Heights Education Centre in Emsdale, Ontario is changing people’s thinking about clothing. “Change The Label’s Hip Threads” used clothing store meets a local need with global benefits. With start-up funds provided by Learning for a Sustainable Future, students celebrated the store’s grand opening following extensive planning, including store organization, data and money collection systems implementation, making environmentally-friendly laundry soap, clothing collection, sorting and washing, and a school assembly espousing environmental, social and economic benefits of clothing re-use. “Hip Threads” came to life every Thursday in the school’s main foyer from unused lockers where clothing donations were stored. A highly popular school fashion show and other marketing initiatives promoted the store. Clothing was sold by donation, and was available free of charge as needed. All store proceeds were subsequently donated to Free the Children’s “We Create Change,” where $50 buys a goat to empower a woman and her family in a developing country.