Drexel University: Student-Led Thrift Store

Can student-led fashion be stylish and sustainable? Yes, if you’re a student of Drexel University in Philadelphia. 

Drexel University has a program aimed at reducing waste and keeping items in the community — a well-curated secondhand shop, Reworn, that encourages students to donate their pre-loved clothing.

Launched by professor Rachel Higgins in 2024 to promote a sustainable campus consumer culture, Reworn reflects her commitment to sustainability. She is also co-founder of the non-profit Pennsylvania Fibershed, which aims to create a circular textile economy and address the environmental impact of the fashion industry.

At Reworn, there are casual items, like jeans and tops, and some pieces that can be worn on professional occassions. Students can come in and shop from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, by scanning a QR code and paying online. Funds are split between the Fashion Industry Merchandising Student Fund and Pennsylvania Fibershed.

Reworn aims to help address textile waste at Drexel. Bo Solomon, executive director of Climate and Sustainability, works annually to collect and donate clothes that students discard at move-out as one part of what his office does as they try to build a more sustainable Drexel with initiatives including the Climate Action Plan, the Race to Zero Waste and the Buy Nothing Depot. 

Higgins joined the collection efforts to help divert items from the donation pile. “Only about 20% of everything that you donate actually goes somewhere. About 80% of it ends up in a landfill,” Higgins says on Drexel’s official website. “We want to say, ‘OK, what can we keep in our own local community?’ A lot of the stuff we donate gets baled up and shipped to places around the world and ends up as waste there. We have to deal with our own waste.”

Part of dealing with that waste includes collecting data on the clothing left behind, which includes cataloguing the fiber makeup, if it’s synthetic or natural and what type of item it is (like, for example, pants, a top or something else). Higgins’ goal was an elevated thrift store where you don’t have to search through piles or crowded racks.

Since fall 2024, senior Fashion Industry and Merchandising student Sadie Patterson has taken on the role of curator for the store and is working on making an ecommerce space. She’s created new graphics and organised a photoshoot featuring clothes from the fall collection styled on students at Westphal. Day-to-day, Patterson makes sure the store stays stocked, replacing things that have sold with inventory.

“I’ve worked in retail since I was 15, so I understand how retail spaces are laid out and organizing and picking the clothing came very easily for me,” Patterson said. “I learned a lot about the accessibility of a space and how to make it clean and visually interesting.”

Patterson’s role also involves building Reworn’s online presence, which will be live soon. This includes photographs from the shoot she led, graphics she created, a website and an Instagram account that helps market the store.

“Styling is my main interest and I love visual merchandising, so I really embraced the idea of having the space and clothes that I can design,” Patterson said on Drexel’s website. “I took a lot from what Rachel did, and I’ve noticed things sell pretty quickly, including a lot of the things I used in the photoshoot, which felt really nice. The best feedback I get is when things sell.”

Students who want to get involved can help with sorting, both in the current inventory and at the end of the year, when donations are collected from students moving out. Patterson is working on photographing and cataloguing everything in the inventory to put it online. “Overall, it’s a really exciting and fun thing for Westphal to have and I just wish more people knew about it, and I’d love to hear input on what people think about it,” Patterson said.

Drexel students can also become PA Fibershed ambassadors and will be trained to put on campus events like mending workshops or clothing swaps. Ambassadors also work with Higgins at a down-cycling center that’s now open in the URBN Center outside of room 108. Worn-out jeans, lingerie, socks and shoes can be dropped off here, and they’ll be down-cycled into dog beds, insulation and playground surfaces. It’s a way to make use of fibers that can’t be reused in their current state.