Threadwork 2018 Recap & 2019 Plans
Goodbye 2018. Looking back, Threadwork has accomplished some awesome events in the Fall 2018 term.
But first...Need a Refresher on What We Do? No Problem! We Got You Covered:
Threadwork is an OPIRG Public Interest Group working to raise awareness about the fast fashion industry, support ethical and sustainable fashion, and educate individuals on the changes they can adopt to stimulate positive changes in fashion and conscious-consumerism industries.
Looking Back - What Did Threadwork Achieve?
September 27th Thrift Crawl
We hosted a thrift crawl in September. Our goal was to show McMaster students second-hand clothing stores in Hamilton. Buying second-hand and reusing clothing is one of the best ways to reduce our fast fashion impact. It only takes a bit of imagination and creativity to create a whole new look. It’s also eco-friendly since you are reusing clothes rather than buying new ones which often require the extraction of raw materials from the Earth. Thrifting has also become very mainstream in the past year and is a great way to shop for new pieces at low prices. We had a great turn out and many students found some new additions to their wardrobes! Check out the photos below for some of the students that came out and the neat clothing items they found!
October Semi-Annual Clothing Swap
This year, we hosted our 16th Semi-Annual Clothing Swap on October 19th! The clothing swap is one of our biggest events of the year. It is another way we encourage the community to support sustainable fashion, debunk misconceptions about second-hand clothing, and reduce our fast fashion consumption. We collected clothes from McMaster students and the wider community for four days. Each type of clothing item was given a specific number of points. Once clothes were counted and points were tallied up, people who donated clothes received a total number of points. On October 19th (Clothing Swap day), each type of clothing “costed” a specific amount of points and participants used their points to “buy” the items they want. All leftover points were transferred to next semester’s clothing swap and all leftover clothing items were donated to Good Shepherd. The Swap was a huge success! About 70 students donated clothes and we donated 1000 items to Good Shepherd.Thank you to all the students who came out to our events, to the team at OPRIG McMaster for always supporting us, to the 2017/2018 Threadwork committee whose resources have helped us transition smoothly into this semester, and to the current students of 2018/2019 Threadwork committee for all your hard work this term. Thank you all for making 2018 so great!
So, 2018 Is Over....And What Do We Have In Store for You In 2019?
At Threadwork, we are committed to implementing change by providing conscious-consumerism based services and events to you and the local McMaster community. And that’s why we are so excited for 2019! We wanted to learn from our past successes and mistakes to ensure the improvement of our future events.Here’s what we have in store for you this year:
More Thrift Crawls!!! <3We are excited to announce that more thrift crawls are planned for the new year! We are aiming to show students thrift stores located in different areas in Hamilton such as the ones near McMaster University, in Downtown, and maybe even some in Hamilton Mountain!Stay tuned for the dates and times we are planning to go!
Winter 17th Semi-Annual Clothing Swap
Missed the Fall Clothing Swap? Or maybe you have left over points from last semester? Have more clothes from yourself and family members that you were planning to donate?If “Yes” was your answer to any of these questions than make sure to check our Winter Clothing Swap! We will be hosting our 17th Semi-Annual Clothing Swap in March sometime after reading week. Follow our social media (see below), for updates on the days we will be collecting clothing and hosting the Clothing Swap.
Documentary Screening - The True Cost
The True Cost is a 2015 documentary about the the clothing we wear, the story and lives of the people who make our clothes, and the impact of the fast fashion industry in our world. We will be hosting a screening of this documentary on February 13th, 2019 to illustrate the true human and environmental costs of the majority of clothing we wear. Our hope is that this documentary screening could serve as a pathway for education.
Finally...Be Part of Our Team - Hiring General Members for Winter 2019 Term!
During the September Thrift Crawl and the Clothing Swap there were many students who were interested in joining our team! Many of these student valued conscious-consumerism practices and wanted to volunteer with us. In light of their enthusiasm and in order to grow the effectiveness of our future events, we want to provide more opportunities for people to join our team. Thus, we are officially welcoming students to join our Threadwork 2018/2019 - General Members Team!What does a general member do? Threadwork general members are volunteers who help the Threadwork Committee run events. As a general member, some responsibilities include: volunteering on the clothing collection days, volunteering at thrift crawls, providing any ideas for the team, and promoting events on social media! The time commitment is relatively low and it’s entirely up to general members to decide on the events they chose to volunteer for and the amount of time they spend. Being a general member for Threadwork is a way to take personal action on issues like unethical labour and fast fashion industries. It’s also a great way to meet people of similar interests and values and, of course, to have fun.If you are interested in becoming a general member, or know of people who are interested, please fill out the Google form below and we will contact you sometime in January. We are so excited that you are want to be part of our team!General member Google form: https://goo.gl/forms/MhmiggWFqDMiaeXp2
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We cannot believe an entire year is already over. Thank you again to everyone who took part in our events in 2018. We hope you are looking forward to the ones in 2019!Follow us here to stay up to date on what we do:
Facebook: threadworkatmac
Instagram: threadworkatmacWe hope everyone had a great 2018 and we wish you all a happy new year!Post written by:Shunmathi Shanmugam & Michelle HioeThreadwork Executive Volunteer Members