Free Gently Used Clothes

Palomar College’s Fashion Program has racks of gently used clothes available to students for free on their San Marcos Campus. Students in need of clothes can request a private appointment by contacting Professor Rita Campo Griggs at [email protected].

The clothes are gently used and donated by the Fashion Department. The clothes were part of fashion shows put on by students in Visual Merchandising. The garments, shoes, and accessories change out often. The clothes are body inclusive although there may not be all sizes available at any given time.

Currently, there are plenty of business casual pants and tops for women, dress shirts for men, and men’s trousers in size 40. The department hopes to soon have regular operating hours for what is dubbed, Comet’s Closet. The program reflects the value of helping others but has an environmental impact as well.

“The fashion industry is one of the largest consumers of the global water supply and produces 10% of all humanity’s carbon emissions—more emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined,” according to a Forbes article. Forbes further states, “The synthetic textiles used in the majority of clothing production go on to pollute the oceans with micro plastics, before ending up in landfill.”

The fashion industry launched a global campaign called Rewiring Fashion to solve its environmental abuses. Clothing brand, Patagonia’s Common Thread campaign encourages their customers to resell the gear they no longer use or return it to them for them to rehouse. This action will align the industry with the values of its newer consumer base.

Nine in ten Generation Z consumers believe companies have a responsibility to address environmental and social issues. Gen Z was set to account for 40% of global consumers in 2020, according to McKinsey & Company.

To learn more about Palomar College’s Fashion program, visit https://www.palomar.edu/fashion/ .