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Holiday clothes swapping

There were plenty of sweaters, most of which are not ugly at all.

On Dec. 5, a steady stream of people strolled through the Medical School lobby, some dropping off clothes and all perusing the tables and racks filled with clothing left by others, looking for a stylish fit.

The “clothing swap” was organized by the student led UMass Chan Climate Action Coalition and the UMass Chan Medical School chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society.

“My inspiration came from personal experience hosting successful clothing swaps amongst my community in the past,” said medical student Eden Diamond (pictured below), Class of 2025 and co-leader of the coalition. “Given the intense environmental impact of the clothing industry, clothing swaps are a great way to extend the lifecycle of items and divert them from landfills.”

According to data collected by the coalition, the “fast fashion” industry generates more than 92 million tons of textile waste worldwide every year, much of which ends up in landfills or incinerators.

Coalition members collected gently used clothing on campus for a week prior to the swap. Diamond estimates 165 pounds of clothing was donated and about half of those items were taken by people who found something useful at the swap. What remained at the end of the day was donated to Friendly House in Worcester.

“What an awesome event,” said Kortni Wroten, sustainability and energy manager at UMass Chan. “It was very well organized by the students. They were able to rehome so many items of clothing. Full disclosure—I took home a scarf.”

The success of this first campus clothing swap already has the coalition planning more.

“We received lots of great feedback from the community and hope to host a similar event, but for two days, in late May 2025—spring cleaning!” Diamond said.