A new alternative to fast fashion is at the University of Maryland.
What began as a late night thought recently became a reality for the six students operating UMD Thrift, a small business aiming to promote sustainable buying by selling second hand clothing.
One late night during the fall 2021 semester, sophomore Ethan Pham was with fellow sophomore Ben Chipurnoi thinking about his experiences with thrifting. “Whenever I go thrifting, I always see stuff that doesn’t fit me, or is cool but like I wouldn’t buy it myself,” said Pham. “I call some friends and I’ll be like ‘oh do you want this, do you want this, do you want this,’ and then I don’t end up getting it and then it’s like, oh, it’s a shame, I could’ve given it to someone.”
With this thought in mind, UMD Thrift was born. Pham and Chipurnoi, joined by fellow students Maddie Collins, Elan Rosenberg, Ava Reiner, and Malec Fahmy, run UMD Thrift, with each person filling a certain role.
One of these roles, fulfilled by Pham, is planning events such as the pop-up shop they hosted at McKeldin Mall on Thursday, March 10. “We just want it to be successful,” said Chipurnoi of his hopes before the event. “We want people to know our name.”
Sophomore Sai Thrasu attended the pop-up. “I got there kind of late so I wasn’t able to get anything, but I’m definitely planning on going to the next one they have,” she said. “They were playing music and everyone that was helping was so nice. Good vibes for sure.”
This was UMD Thrift’s first pop-up shop, but they plan to have two more pop-up before the end of the year, said Pham.
Following the event, UMD Thrift announced via instagram their temporary closure through March 28, the end of spring break while they restock their inventory.
As for the future, UMD Thrift hopes to continue to grow. “I think we’ve seen a lot of growth in the past two weeks,” said Pham. Chipurnoi also shared their aspirations to open a permanent shop in the future, so long as the business continues to expand.
“I didn’t think it was gonna get this big when it just started off as like an idea in our living room like a few months ago,” said Pham. “I’m really proud of how far we’ve come in such a short amount of time.”
You can follow UMD Thrift on instagram to keep up with their latest news, and on depop to see what items they are currently selling.