Olivia Turner | Arts & Life Editor, Gracie Savage | LTVN Broadcast Reporter
Fountain Mall looked a little different than usual on Wednesday. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., folded t-shirts lined the surrounding stairs, shoes circled around the fountain and a dozen clothing racks clustered across the walkway with dresses, sweaters and coats draped from their hangers.
LTVN’s Gracie Savage shows you how Threads got its start.
This pop-up thrifting frenzy, hosted annually by Baylor’s International Justice Mission (IJM), marked a happy day for many a shopaholic: Threads. Omaha senior Graysie Shirey, vice president of fundraising for IJM, said this year was the biggest yet for clothing donations.
“We get these big halls of donations and then we need someone to go through them and sort them and paint things up and price things, so it’s just very tedious,” Shirey said. “We need a lot of people, but it all comes together in the end.”
International Justice Mission is the largest anti-human trafficking organization in the world. Of that, Baylor’s chapter is one of the biggest in the nation, Shirey said.
Building up to the event, 12 clothing racks, 12 tables and six storage units full of clothes were collected via donation, she said. Students are able to purchase the treasures they find via a Venmo or Zelle donation of their choice.
Shirey said the organization made a particular effort to display more men’s clothes and to get the community, fraternities, sororities and other organizations involved this year. IJM also went all-out on social media, posting about the collection process and providing information on their philanthropy mission.
“100% of what we make here is going to fight human trafficking,” Shirey said. “It’s a $150 billion industry. About 50 million people currently enslaved, and that number goes up every day, and a large portion of enslaved people around the world are involved in the fast fashion industry.”
A shopper at the pop-up, Cedar Hill senior Dani Bigham, said buying fast fashion and new clothes is something she tries to avoid at all costs.
“Yes, the price is tempting, but knowing how it’s made and what goes into it, it’s just awful,” Bigham said. “I knit and crochet. I know how it’s done. I primarily knit, but knowing how long it takes to create one knit piece and seeing it sell for like $5 online, it just doesn’t sit right.”
Instead, Bigham aims to find her fits at garage sales and via thrifting. This is how she gets most of her clothes, she said.
Likewise, New Braunfels freshman Jaela Bailey, who browsed a table of folded shirts, said she finds the thrifting process rewarding, like finding a diamond in the rough, in addition to its ethical nature and the good it does for the environment.
“A big plus of thrifting is that it gets you away from following trends and just buying to buy,” she said. “You get to find things that you like, and that you can keep wearing for a while.”
Eradicating fast fashion is just one aspect of IJM’s mission. The organization advocates for all forms of human trafficking, Shirey said. Threads may be their biggest fundraiser, but they also do other events throughout the year, such as Dressember — a challenge lasting the month of December that encourages students to dress up every day to raise money for their philanthropy.
“Everyone on our team wears dresses on social media,” Shirey said. “It’s kind of like a 5k where people will pledge to your campaign, and all the money we raised goes to fight human trafficking.”
Shirey said the group has meetings every other Wednesday. There will be more advocacy events in the spring focusing on industry-related human trafficking. Those who are interested in learning about and advocating for trafficking in the medical field, law and faith spaces should show up, she said.
“Buying things for cheap is great while we’re in college, but ultimately, they’re not going to last,” Shirey said. “Invest in good quality pieces that will last, thrift when you can and if you don’t need something, don’t buy it.”
