Recently, Thriftsburgh, a new consignment store opened up on the University of Pittsburgh campus. The store is a student led initiative that kicked off last week. The store not only raises awareness for social and environmental issues, but also provides students with a place to pick up some inexpensive thrift finds. I had the opportunity to chat with some of the students who organized the launch to learn more about Thriftsburgh and its cause.
Name: Anna Greenburg
Role: Student Organizer
CollegeFashionista: What inspired you to open a consignment shop on campus?
Anna Greenburg: We were inspired mainly by the volume of end-of-semester waste students leave on campus. We wanted to provide a place for students to bring the stuff they no longer needed for reuse rather than just throwing it out.
CF: Where do most of the clothes and items available for sale come from?
AG: More or less all of them came from a world-record attempt hosted by the Office of PittServes called Give a Thread. Paul and I and the old student government board environmental committee chair, Kacy McGill, were the student organizers of the attempt, but it was mainly headed by Misti McKeehen and Erika Ninos from PittServes. We tried to gather 150,000 articles of clothing, but only ended up getting around 111,000. Thriftsburgh got its start up inventory from the collection, the rest of which went to GoodWill, Dress for Success and several other places. Many students have been donating directly to the store since we opened to receive store credit. We award half of the store-value of a donated article of clothing in store credit to the student. For example, if a student donates a dress we would price at 10 dollars in the store, they receive a five dollar store credit.
CF: How do you plan to use the proceeds from the store?
AG: We plan to maintain a “rainy day fund” in case we need to make any large-scale purchases or repairs for the store. The rest of our proceeds will go to the Pitt Green Fund. The Green Fund is a team of eight students under the Student Government Board that reviews funding applications and allocates funding to sustainability-related projects on campus. This year we’ve funded a coffee-grounds reuse event, three new hydration stations, a hydroponics initiative and the start-up supplies for the thrift store, among many other projects.
Learn More: To pick up some thrift pieces and contribute to the Pitt Green Fund, visit Thriftsburgh, located on the first floor of the O’Hara Student Center. Thriftsburgh is great little shop with lots of available clothing and accessories. Try looking for pieces you can layer, T-shirts that can be styled up and cardigans that can be worn with anything. Check it out!
