New Mexico State University’s Aggie Fashion Club hosted a pop-up thrift shop on Oct. 16 to raise funds for NMSU students’ membership at the National Retail Federation.
The National Retail Federation helps fashion students’ network with major companies and brands to enter internships from all over the country. The funds earned at this year’s pop-up thrift shop will go toward paying for the subscription fee and for other events hosted by NMSU’s fashion students, like their fashion show in the spring.
Aggies Fashion Club does more than just support fashion students. Any student with an interest in fashion is welcome to join. The club also has a focus and goal on sustainable design and merchandising.
“We’re doing some partnership with that association, and we will try to help students to have the opportunity to go to New York for the school program,” Hai Chau Le, Aggie Fashion Club President said.
This was the second time the club held a pop-up event, with the first being last semester. The club accepts donations all year long, and this year they had two semesters’ worth of offerings to sale.
The clothes cost between $5 to $8, but the club was not against customers negotiating.
Many customers found the selection of both men and women’s clothing appealing. Like Nievez Rodriguez is a biology student and customer who heard about the pop-up through an Instagram account associated with NMSU.
This was Rodriguez’s first time attending the pop-up, and she said it will not be the last.
“I like that there’s, like, both boys and girls clothing, and I like that a dude’s holding a mirror [for customers to look at themselves],” Rodriguez said.
As a self-proclaimed avid thriftier, Rodriguez said she wants to donate to the club.
“I like to donate at, like, Goodwill and Savers and stuff like that, so, yeah, I would love to donate some clothes [here] as well,” Rodriguez said.
Daniela Carranco is the club member and fashion student responsible for planning this year’s event. The donations the club receives come from all sorts of sources, and even NMSU alumni come with items to offer.
“We accept donations from, you know, families, you know, our parents, students of the fashion program, usually [we] take out items from our clothing, and we donated, or even tell our friends,” Carranco said.
Those with clothing donations can go to Room 308 in Gerald Thomas Hall to drop them off.
“I hope we can do a lot of good events like to raise awareness about the sustainability, and then I hope that we will have more designers to go to our fashion show, and that’s when our students can show their talent and their leadership,” Le said.
The club asked NMSU students to stay on the lookout for another pop-up thrift shop next semester by following their Instagram @nmsufashion.
