By Sophie Nikitas and Anna Van Voorhis

The case for second-hand clothing Some people see thrift stores as nightmares. Others see them as gold mines. According to the EPA, Americans discard 11.8 tons of clothing each year (EPA,2007). A lot of that clothing ends up in landfills. The rest of it, however, ends up getting resold, such as at garage sales and thrift stores. Many Macalester students praise thrift stores for providing both ecologically, and especially economically, sustainable alternatives to the process of buying clothes. Most college students know the feeling of being on a tight budget, so thrifting is mostly appealing because it’s so cheap. However, it is also beneficial to both the Earth, and to the less fortunate, as many thrift stores donate their profits to charity. Read what students have said to get tips on shopping second-hand. Anna Schmitz’s Thrifting Strategies Because it’s cheaper and you find weird things that you don’t find other places. You find a lot of things that look like they were owned by someone’s wacky aunt. At a garage sale I got a shark costume that you put over your head, kind of like a really big pillowcase. Strategies: -You have to know how the stores are organized (size, color= no sense) -You can’t go in with a specific item in mind becaues then you’ll be disappointed, but instead you should look for a specific genre. Environmental Art Samantha Leopold-Sullivan ‘14 creates environmental art by way of recycling and repurposing objects.