A New Shed for All Those Threads
The Colgate Free Store — an Office of Sustainability initiative that recycles goods ranging from clothing to school supplies to small appliances — is celebrating two landmarks in its third year.
During student orientation, the Office of Sustainability and campus partners hosted the inaugural Free Store Giveaway, supplying first-year and transfer students with nearly 2 tons of dorm supplies in a single day.
Then, in October, the sustainability office received a $5,000 grant for a shed to meet its growing need for storage space. The new shed will enable the Free Store to recirculate an estimated 1,000 more pounds of goods annually. Additionally the shed will support Colgate’s Community Garden Compost Program by providing off-season storage space for composting supplies.
“The Free Store supports Colgate’s zero-waste initiatives by diverting items left during move-out from the landfill and redirecting them back to the student body for free, building individual waste-reduction habits from a student’s first day on campus,” says Julia Sparks, assistant director of sustainability. “The additional storage over the summer will increase the Free Store’s waste diversion from approximately 2,500 pounds annually to an estimated 3,500 pounds or more each year.”
Hand It Down Through Hami-Down
Handwritten price tags dotted piles of clothes on tables and hung from racks on Colgate’s residential quad in late October. The tags were one small indication of the large-scale efforts by the student leaders of Hami-Down during their first big sale of the semester.
Hami-Down — a play on “hand-me-down” and Hamilton — gives new life to students’ unwanted items by connecting student sellers and buyers on campus. The group organizes large sales, like the one in October, but also coordinates sales between individuals.
Leigh Frankel ’23 and Cameron Stokes ’23 founded Hami-Down in 2021 through Thought Into Action. Since its inception, Hami-Down has officially become an established LLC and has earned 1,406 followers on Instagram (@hamidown_).
Hami-Down is now in the hands of three CEOs: Valeria Reyes ’26, Perin Romano ’26, and Ella Bishara ’26.
The campus sale events usually happen twice a semester, often around breaks, to give students the chance to also bring clothes back from home to sell.
Individually coordinated sales occur through Instagram: Sellers post items, buyers message if interested, and Hami-Down coordinates the purchases.
Whether buyers are interested in pieces during large sales or individual sales, they have the opportunity to try on clothes before purchasing. This arrangement contributes to the group’s sustainable mission by ensuring that consumers purchase clothing they’ll actually wear.
“I loved being able to try on the clothes in Pinchin [Hall] so I could make sure they fit before buying,” says Grace Duggan ’28, who bought a black dress and a white top at the October sale. “It is such a great idea for campus so people don’t throw their clothes out. And it is a perfect way for people to find new pieces at a cheaper price.”
In addition to apparel, buyers can find listings of lifestyle and dorm items, such as TVs, furniture, and drawer sets. “It’s always fun when we get a big-ticket item like AirPods or an expensive sweater,” Reyes notes.
For the business’s online platforms going forward, Reyes says, “We are developing a website to house our submissions and FAQs, but we plan to keep the e-commerce side of our business on Instagram, potentially utilizing a partner platform like Shopify. With these updates, we hope to take a broader range of payment methods and simplify the buying process on our established Instagram page to make things easier for our present and future customers.”
Additionally, since the current team primarily consists of seniors, they are looking for the next generation of Hami-Down — to whom the current leaders can “hand down” the business.
“We have seen a huge expansion in Hami-Down’s presence, popularity, and success on campus, and this is a testament to the hard work and dedication we have put toward Hami-Down,” Reyes says. “Before our sale, an underclassman said we were ‘the talk of the town,’ which was awesome to hear.”
Whoever runs the business in the future and wherever they take it in its growth, Reyes emphasized the importance of maintaining Hami-Down’s mission of sustainably connecting students with new items to cherish.
“Hami-Down’s future is ever-evolving and is imagined differently by each set of leadership; however, what stays the same is the mission and original vision of our founders,” Reyes says. “At its core, Hami-Down was started to connect the Colgate community while propelling a shared interest and passion for sustainable fashion.”
— Alyssa Storey ’28