‘Shared Closet’ Concept Closes the Loop on Clothing Waste
Close the Loop, a club dedicated to reducing textile waste on campus, started with Valeria Obregon Diaz ’24 and a couple of friends carrying some of their garments to the Student Center for a clothing swap. Two years later, it has more than 10 active members, manages the thrift store on campus, has hosted multiple clothing swaps, as well as sewing and mending workshops, and was named ‘Rookie of the Year’ at the student leadership awards ceremony.
Recently, the Close the Loop project “Approaching Economic Sustainability at the Barn Good Thrift Store” was awarded a grant from the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling and the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute to support upgrades and targeted investments in equipment and supplies to bring the business to economic sustainability. And this fall, the Barn Good Thrift Store will move to a more prominent campus location near the Center for the Environment’s offices.
The Barn Good Thrift Shop offers students a sustainable solution to sending castoff items into the waste stream, as well as an affordable approach to changing up their wardrobe. The shop features an innovative barter system, issuing vouchers for clean and gently worn items that can be traded for other donated garments.
“It’s this idea that we all share one closet,” says Close the Loop founder Valeria Obregon Diaz ’24. “We want to invite people who may be looking for specific clothing items to get them from the Barn—then use them, wash them, and bring them back for a voucher to use towards something else.”
The seed for the “shared closet” concept was planted by Valeria in 2022, an inspiration that formed during her time spent living at the University’s Sustainability Farm and taking a course taught by Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Sara Ashpole, holder of the R. Sheldon ’68 and Virginia H. Johnson Professorship in the Sciences. Valeria and classmates Abigail Lateer ’24 and Alejandra Altamirano Salazar ’24 decided to expand their “Solving Sustainability” course project into a club focused on reducing waste. Starting with clothing swaps and extending to patchwork and sewing workshops, they cultivated ideas for fashion longevity.
When they learned that the campus thrift store, widely known as The Barn, was struggling, the club seized the opportunity to manage it. Alejandra also saw themed and costume-centric events as another opportunity to sell students on the concept of swapping instead of shopping. “By rethinking this idea of solely owning these items forever it has changed the way I view things and the way I feel attachment to specific clothing items,” she says.
“We want to invite people who may be looking for specific clothing items to get them from the Barn—then use them, wash them, and bring them back for a voucher to use towards something else.”
– Valeria Obregon Diaz ’24
Abigail has also embraced this idea of a shared closet. She remembers one evening when she her close friend and recognized the shirt her friend was wearing as one she had swapped at The Barn. “It’s kind of fun seeing this shared closet that we’re creating at St. Lawrence,” she says. “And we don’t need to be consuming new things if we all keep rotating.”
Close The Loop actively promotes The Barn and recently initiated private opportunities for after-hours swaps with the theme houses. The Art Annex, The Commons, and the I-House have already participated. Alejandra shared that she values the interdisciplinary interests and abilities of the club’s members and e-board “We have members from a variety of majors, ranging from environmental and global studies to data science to film and the arts,” she points out. Recently, she decided to take the lead in creating upcycled merch for the club with the assistance of L.M. & G.L. Flint Professor of Fine Arts Melissa Schulenberg, who allows them to use part of the printmaking space in the Maurer Family Studio. “We did two sessions of screen-printing T-shirts with our new logo, which we just updated through a logo competition. We also effectively collaborated with the Greenhouse for the screen-printing and a patch-making workshop.”
Close the Loop’s initiatives have received great traction, and more items are collected than can be swapped or sold in the store (items can be purchased by shoppers who don’t have any clothing to trade). The organization has found an innovative solution to this abundance by partnering with St. Lawrence County which takes donations to the Rescue Mission Alliance in Syracuse, where the excess clothing is distributed to thrift stores throughout the city, with proceeds going to help people in the area without homes. Additionally, this partnership has a connection with a textile recycling center, so clothing in poor condition is recycled rather than ending up in landfills. The club collected over 400 pounds of clothing to donate to the Rescue Mission Alliance last fall, Valeria reports.
Sharia Neha ’27, Madeline Dolge ’25, and Kelsey Simler ’25, are excited to continue the mission now that Abigail, Alejandra and Valeria have graduated. Sharia says anyone can donate but encourages clothing items that best align with the college student demographic, The Barn’s primary clientele. Still, she says, Close the Loop would rather take hand-medowns of any kind than see them go into the landfill.
