At SUNY New Paltz, it is hard to walk outside without seeing someone dressed to the nines. Whether you find it on Main Street, Parker Quad or in the row next to you in Calc 2, individuality is preserved in every vintage drop-waist and grandpa sweater.
Students here hone an ingenuity that gives our campus vibrancy. Recently, there has been a boom in students selling used or reworked clothes through Instagram accounts. Now, they have begun working together, selling clothes without consumerism.
First-year sociology major Ava Stavrianeas runs an account on Instagram to sell clothes to students. She posts her pieces, and students can message her if they see something they like.
As someone who has lived in and traveled to many different places, Stavrianeas has been exposed to a wide variety of self-expression and has accumulated a collection of pieces where there is something for everyone. “There’s a little piece of Ava everywhere. All my clothes are from different spots and different eras of my life. They all reflect a different part of me,” Stavrianeas said. For the first two months of her account, she only sold her own clothes. Then, she started thrifting. “Thrifting is such a cool thing because you’re giving something a new life.”
For Stavrianeas, New Paltz serves as the perfect audience for her business. “I feel like a lot of people don’t feel like they can express themselves, but here it’s so different,” said Stavrianeas. “Everybody’s style, it’s very recognizable.”
Second-year art major Cameron Ackerknecht is another student running a reselling business. She started selling clothes on Depop before coming to SUNY New Paltz, but transitioned to doing self-deliveries on campus. This became a lot to handle, but Ackerknecht still wanted to sell her pre-loved pieces. She started her Instagram @roundabout.np in October of last semester, to keep thrifting accessible to students. “I noticed a lot of people don’t have a car on campus, or there’s kind of no way they can go out thrifting very much,” Ackerknecht said.
She goes out almost every week to find new pieces, all second-hand and pre-owned. “It’s always slow fashion. Almost all of it’s vintage, and I think, that’s a great thing to keep having around because I don’t want to spread fast fashion. I love slow fashion, like things you can flip into new things. It’s obviously so much better for the environment to keep it going.”
Ackerknecht collects an array of styles, ranging from basics to “fairy” and “whimsigoth.” She understands the financial difficulties that come with being a college student and keeps her prices low, including a pile of clothes she sells for $3 to $5. Even though her prices are affordable, Ackerknecht puts a heavy amount of work and care toward her pieces.
“It can get stressful at times,” she said. “Having [the clothes] look nice, tagging all the clothes takes a while and making sure it’s all clean.” This labor of love and careful curation of styles is worthwhile when students and customers find the perfect piece for them. “I think the fashion here is so cool. Everyone’s really unique here. I really like to find these unique pieces because I know that they’ll go to someone so cool,” Ackerknecht said.
In high school, third-year visual art major Lucas Monasterio would paint on his own jackets, and people started to ask where he got them. He decided to start thrifting jackets to paint on and sell. Monasterio carried on his hustle at New Paltz and has been selling on campus for two years now.
As an art student, Monasterio has dabbled in numerous mediums, from metal to wood. He has observed from the art department the care that goes into not being wasteful, with professors ensuring that every piece of material is used for some purpose. “I think sustainability is my number one thing,” said Monasterio. “I use clothes that I either thrift or sources that are always used at least once. I also try to use materials that are also recycled. So instead of buying yards of fabric, I’ll use curtains or blankets that’s at the thrift store already.”
Monasterio enjoys working with different materials. He sews and finds high-quality jackets to maintain the clothing’s durability. “I feel like everyone here, they make their clothes last, or they buy clothes that have already lasted through someone else,” Monasterio said. “I don’t want it to be a trend. I hope it sticks.”
From selling his clothes to students on campus, Monasterio found a community of people who appreciate the art of upcycling and the value of student work. “I get really excited when I see people on campus wearing my stuff,” he said. “It helps me as an artist, to not feel like what I’m making isn’t gonna work out.”
Students used to have a space on campus to sell their work. Jewelry stands, baked goods and clothing racks lined academic row every week at the Thursday Market, which shut down ultimately due to insurance reasons. The Thursday Market gave artists and entrepreneurs an easy way to share their craft. With that gone, business opportunities only come through Instagram direct messages, limiting customer exposure to the hard work and personal thought that goes into students’ creations.
Second-year business entrepreneurship major Emilien Boyer created e30thrift, a clothing reselling business. What started as a side hustle in his hometown has expanded into a corporation, with events in New York, Boston and soon Philadelphia. Its main mission is to sell ethically sourced, curated second-hand clothing.
With a growing business, Boyer began to notice other New Paltz students doing the same thing he did on a smaller scale. As his markets got bigger, he wanted to collaborate with them, creating an outlet for students to sell their creations once again. Boyer had the idea of gathering student thrifters like Stavrianeas, Ackerknecht and Monasterio, as well as printmakers and crocheters to do pop-up events near campus that highlight student entrepreneurship and creativity.
After losing the Thursday Market, e30thrift wanted to bring back a community vendor event for and run by students. “We only want student vendors,” Boyer said.
We want students who are working hard and are actually passionate about what they’re doing.” With multiple sellers at each popup, there is always something for everyone to love. “We have something for everyone at any price range and aesthetic,” he said.
Even with the loss of our beloved Thursday market, students do not want to give up the opportunity to share what they have found and made with their peers. New Paltz has long been known as a vibrant and colorful place to live, and our campus would be lacking without student art and business. On top of that, the Thursday Market allowed students to practice sustainability and environmentalism by not shopping from big names and buying second-hand.
Student creators, whether selling online or at a pop-up event, bring back the collaborative creativity that makes our campus so unique. Ackerknecht said, “Being able to do something that you love doing, being able to sell to all the people around here, it’s really a positive experience.”