Creating a Cycle of Giving: A Proposal for a Free Store at Allegheny College

Petti, Jacob

Creating a Cycle of Giving: A Proposal for a Free Store at Allegheny College

Persistent URL

https://dspace.allegheny.edu/handle/10456/56625

Author(s)

Petti, Jacob

Date Issued

April 2023

Abstract

Throughout the clothing production and eventual disposal processes, there are many practices that speak to the unsustainable nature of the clothing industry. These practices involve massive greenhouse gas emissions and heavy water consumption during production, and large amounts of waste when clothes are ultimately disposed of. These challenges are exacerbated by fast fashion, which ultimately speeds up these processes making them much harder to mitigate. This paper explores a possible means to mitigating these challenges on a local level in the city of Meadville, by way of implementing a free thrift store. The paper argues that a free store at Allegheny College offers the school, and the city of Meadville a reasonable solution to economic issues, as well as a sustainable way to engage community members. This paper looks to understand the lifespan of the previous free store at Allegheny College in an effort to understand what a free store may look like at Allegheny and what challenges it may face. Moreover, this paper will investigate the active free store at Oberlin college as a means to show how a working free store can operate. The paper concludes with a two-step proposal that will act as the foundation for a permanent free store at Allegheny College.

Major

Environmental Science

First Reader(s)

Choate, Beth