NFEC clothing swap is good for the closet and the Earth
North Fork Environmental Council held its second annual Clothing Swap July 31 at Borghese Vineyards in Cutchogue. Guests brought three to five gently used items to exchange and then browsed each other’s offerings to refresh their closet. Participants were given numbered tickets and took turns perusing the racks and tables to choose their favorites. Any left over clothing was donated to CAST.
Photos by Amanda Olsen
“NFEC does a lot of zero-waste initiatives,” said Lisa Gavales, the NFEC board member who came up with the swap. “We’re always trying to figure out what we could add to our zero-waste portfolio that keeps things out of the landfill. Everybody seems to have stuff in their closets that they don’t want, and everybody always seems to have things that they do want.”
The idea for the swap came after Ms. Gavales saw how her daughter traded clothes regularly with her friends at college.
“They used to do swaps at night — a bunch of friends would get together and trade clothes. I thought it was such a great idea. Every time I saw her, she had something new that she loved and she didn’t pay for. And we thought about how to execute something like that on a slightly bigger scale,” Ms. Gavales said.
Ms. Gavales brought the idea to the board, which approved the fundraiser, and Susan Mackenzie, another board member at NFEC, had connections with Borghese Vineyards and ran with it. They donated their space for the event. The proceeds of the swap go to NFEC’s high school scholarships for seniors who are interested in the environment.
After the success of last year’s fundraiser, the NFEC decided to add hors d’oeuvres and make it a wine and cheese party.
“It’s a ladies’ night out, and it lets you go home with some new and fabulous,” said Ms. Gavales.
Coming up, the NFEC will host a repair café in Riverhead Saturday, Sept. 13, and international coastal clean up day Saturday, Sept. 20.
