Close-Knit COT Family Donating Apparel

By Julie Watterson

This fall and throughout the school year, an NC State Wilson College of Textiles student organization by the name of Fashion Group is putting on a clothing donation service project. Fashion Group is asking that students and faculty go through their closets and donate their unwanted clothing items. The group will be hosting drives throughout this semester and next semester to ensure that every individual has plenty of time to participate.

The first drive was on Tuesday, Oct. 18. They’ve almost collected 2,000 items from the students in Fashion Group and others who came to the first donation event. The next upcoming drive will be on Tuesday, Nov. 29 in the Talley Student Union on NC State’s main campus from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“Fashion Group decided to get involved in a service project because we wanted to have involvement in the community. Although we love talking about Fashion and trends and we often have speakers come and talk about industry at our meetings, we wanted to incorporate something that members can really get involved in that is for a great cause. It’s something to talk about and feel good about doing which I think is important and beneficial in the long run,” said Fashion Group member Emma Yacovelli.

By donating you are saving textiles from entering landfills, as well as being a Good Samaritan. All of the items will be donated to charity. The Group has also thought of more ways to get students and faculty involved. As an incentive, they have purchased gift cards as raffle prizes. For each article of clothing that is donated, you will receive a ticket. The more items you donate, the more tickets you get, ultimately giving you a greater chance of winning a gift card.

For those who cannot make it to the collection times in Talley Student Union, there are two bins at the Wilson College of Textiles campus where donations can be dropped off. One bin is located in the Student Lounge (across from Port City Java). The other bin is located in the breezeway between the Student Lounge and the Atrium. Both bins are labeled clearly for convenience.

This clothing donation service project will span the academic year as the Fashion Group hopes to collect as many clothing items as possible. The group will also host an event at the end of the school year where the public can help sort through the articles of clothing by category and style in teams. This event will showcase the various fashion forward outfits that can be made from the donations received. All of the items will then be donated to charity.

“We are doing a styling event at the end of the year because we wanted to add our own twist on the idea of a clothing drive. It’s definitely something that has been done before and we wanted to tailor it to fashion students, since that is what we all are. We thought it would be a neat idea to donate the styled outfits so individuals who get the clothing can say their outfit was styled by a fashion designer or fashion student at NC State,” said Yacovelli.

For more information on the Fashion Group, this service project, or the collection events planned, please contact Emma Yacovelli at eyacove@ncsu.edu.