Sydnee Jackson
Semmi
Many stereotypes and misconceptions about thrifting cause the community of people that thrift to be small. This means that the overwhelming majority of young adults, whether they acknowledge it or not, are supporting fast fashion by buying from mass-produced fashion lines in department stores. Sure, it may be easier to walk into Target knowing what you want and being able to pick it out among the countless other exact same products that come in a multitude of different colors.
Not only is the mass production of clothes wasteful, but it lacks individuality and the ability to express yourself through fashion. With just slightly more thought and effort put into a shopping trip, thrifting can bring a sense of individuality into your life, while also allowing you to make a more ethical choice. On average, Americans throw out 60-80 pounds of textile waste every year. Thrifting, resale, and donation needs to be implemented into more people’s shopping process in order to eliminate this unnecessary and harmful waste.
Semmi’s mission is to accomplish raising awareness for the harmfulness of clothing waste and to, in turn, get more people to follow the cycle of reselling, rewearing, and upcycling. We want to educate people about responsible and eco-friendly shopping and disposal of clothing in fun and engaging ways. This passion for sustainability shows in our name as well. Semmi is a shortening of semicolon, the punctuation mark that extends a sentence by bringing two together. We want more people to give second-hand clothing a second chance.
