Threads of Charity at the Free Wear Fair

Emmanuel Paalam

ejp25@students.uwf.edu

I last made an event-related post in March, right after midterms, so isn’t it ironic that my next event-related post would arrive with finals? What’s with the timing? Life passes by when it comes to university. I mentioned this when I was writing about the Gallery Night, but student health is important to keep in check, and especially now, as the final stretch of the term arrives…I feel bad for not attending the Honors Spring Formal due to Intermediate Computer Programming.

I struggle with self-management, and that’s what outside help is for. There are immediate ways we can take care of ourselves, like with dietary needs or sleep, but it’s also important to ensure you have access to the proper facilities and resources to help with this. Take clothing stores, for example. It’s important to have a wardrobe that’s both functional and self-representative, and the constant issue of growing out of old clothes is why it’s necessary to have access to quality suppliers. Most UWF students may argue this is one reason our campus doesn’t earn full marks, as English and philosophy major Quinn Gibson discovered via a final for their Professional and Technical Writing class.

“My final project of the semester was that I had to create a proposal for something local,” they said in an interview. “One of the ideas that was suggested during class was a local or a student thrift store. I liked the idea so I chose it.’” Quinn, specifically interested in writing a proposal on clothes thrifting, sent out a survey testing for campus clothing insecurity. Of 30 student responses, 15 percent reported they didn’t have cars, “which means that when they need clothes, they’re not able to just go down to Walmart or Target”. The transit system is an option, but—I can attest to this as a shuttle-trip volunteer for Dr. Anayet’s exchange programs!—it’s poorly managed and not viable long-term.

Gibson’s class offered extra credit for anyone who emailed the appropriate leadership for approval of their completed proposal. He’d not only requested approval from UWF staff for a proposal on a clothing thrift store for students—but found that they couldn’t really help them enact it (“But it makes sense,” Gibson shrugged). They did, however, encourage them to contact a student organization to adopt it themselves. This led them to work with the Honors Council service committee, then run by Kelsey Valente and Gracie Whitley, on what would become the council’s most successful event in history.

Now, it turned out that the three of them wouldn’t go for a clothing thrift store. This was the initial idea Quinn had: a permanent location, supported by its own profits (while donating excess money). But they found that this wouldn’t be necessary: for one, SGA provided funding for their project, and “realistically we don’t really have a place to plant a thrift store right now.” They and their team opted for the alternative Free Wear Fair, a pop-up shop style event where Honors and other student organizations gave out free clothing on the green. The project was a “labor of love,” said Whitley over email, “for me, Quinn, and Kelsey. We started work on this about 2 months ago and it required a lot of day to day commitment…The other student organizations were awesome to work with and eager to participate, but we absolutely weren’t expecting the number of donations we received.” While there were some concerns on whether the advertising or organized support for the event would be sufficient, things were ultimately secured by the end. “I am super proud of the Free Wear Fair,” Gracie reflected, “but more importantly, I am proud of Kelsey and Quinn, and I could never have done this without them.” The turnout, Quinn said, was thrilling: there were 200 students in attendance overall, not including those who hadn’t signed in. “We had outside people attend who aren’t students at UWF,” Quinn described. “We had teachers, faculty stop by; we had Dr. Evans and Dr. Tomso stop by. It was absolutely huge.”

But what were the attendees’ thoughts? I visited the event at around 12:15: as hot as it was, the engagement was encouraging, and many students seemed to like the fair! A Japanese international student, Sawa Ueda, expressed such sentiment in one of some interviews I held on-site: “American clothing is different from Japanese ones, so it’s interesting to me. And also, the party dresses—we don’t have parties in Japan, so [they look] so cute and gorgeous!” Sawa mentioned the event’s economic benefit for her, noting that because Japanese yen is currently weaker than the American dollar*, “everything is expensive for me. So this event is so helpful for me.” In other words, the Free Wear Fair lived up to its name!

The event’s financial accessibility was something many students enjoyed. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for people to get free stuff,” said Alyssa-James Gray, a tabler for SEAS and YDSA. She, like Sawa, also appreciates the fair’s affordability, saying that “even getting clothes at thrift stores is kind of an issue sometimes when I’m running really short on cash.” I mentioned to her that the Free Wear Fair reminded me a lot of Pensacola’s Really, Really Free Market, a gift-based economy movement that has found support at Bayview Park. She agreed with this, saying the Free Wear Fair is similarly based on mutual needs. “Even just between the different groups tabling here,” she said, “it’s just a really cool example of solidarity and the stuff we can accomplish if we work together, and I really think that’s awesome.” Chiara Chappotin, a tabler for YDSA, also mentioned the impact of sharing: “There’s huge, huge cost-of-living issues in Florida especially. So it’s great and fun to be sharing, but we also kinda have to. I don’t have a budget for clothes! I get clothes from these kinds of events, literally.” The fair was great news for members of YDSA, which had previously conducted a free clothes swap last April and had been planning to host another before hearing the council was planning one and were inviting them to participate.

The “free” aspect of the fair went beyond a lack of capital barriers, as I found with another Honors event held in conjunction with the fair on the Green. T’Yanna Williams and Elliot Graber, the co-chairs for our Equity and Diversity committee at the time, held a chalk-and-bubbles hangout event, titled Chalk for Change. Aware of the fair’s anticipated high attendance, they chose to use it as an opportunity to invoke LGBTQ+ rights awareness, which was the objective of their event. This was especially important to them: they’d previously been informed their committee may need to be renamed in light of current state legislation, for them a sign “that we needed to show support for diverse groups on campus.” I did my share of chalk drawings with them, sketching my own pride flag among other things on the sidewalk next to the Green, and T’Yanna and Elliot had positive things to say about the turnout for both their event and the fair. Their chalk event stirred conversation (mostly requests “to Google how to color the different flags,” Elliot laughed) and was a great mental break for tired students who needed some bubble-blowing time. However, they both noticed that the fair itself permitted the breakdown of gender barriers with clothing. “With the Free Wear Fair, I’ve seen a lot of people that will pick clothing that isn’t gendered,” noted Elliot. “So people are just doing whatever they want: males are grabbing dresses and then they’re coming over and drawing a trans flag, and it’s just a cool thing to see.” The Free Wear Fair offered not only good bargains, but also diverse gender expression. “I really love these sorts of events because people can express themselves in whatever way they want,” said Chiara. “It doesn’t matter what gender it’s made for, quote-unquote. [They] can just get stuff that is expressive and represents them.”

Video includes several of the drawings from Chalk for Change, including what I made! You can see the message "Aroaces 4 Trans Life" poorly scribbled next to an aroace flag in the video.

I didn't draw the trans flag, but I did draw the guy next to it. Dungeon Meshi fans rise up 🫡

“I think the categorization in stores between ‘male’ and ‘female’ clothing is super arbitrary,” Alyssa-James Gray said, when comparing the effects of traditional clothing gendering to the lack thereof at clothing drives. “I find clothes that fit me better in the mens’ department, honestly most of the time. And so, I more often find clothes that fit me secondhand, in thrift stores and stuff like that, so an event like this is really really cool and I think helps kinda break down those barriers a little bit.” Both she and Chiara emphasized to me the importance of events like the Free Wear Fair from multiple slants: free clothing drives not only combats fast fashion and its effects, but distributing clothes without social prerequisites offers a space of acceptance to students without one. “As far as gender, people could have hostility from their parents who maybe don’t wanna support their gender expression,” Chiara said. “Being able to come here anyway is really great.”

Participants in this event had a lot to say about its impact and meaning. Will we ever see at least something like it happen again? Quinn says that the current focus is assessing the project’s performance. “I would love to see the FWF be a recurring event. I would like to be a part of that in the future, in whatever capacity makes sense,” they stated. “Kelsey and Gracie really headed the project. I was there to support them wherever I could, but really they did manage this time around.” In terms of revisiting their initial idea for a permanent store, they pointed out that this likely will not become a concrete phase until “years long down the road”, after they and most current students will have graduated. “It seems to me like the Free Wear Fair event was sufficient for the majority of UWF students: that most people who wanted to come were able to come,” they concluded. “I think that a permanent location could be great. I also think that if we wanted to reach more students, we could look at something as simple as adding another day to the event, rather than having to manage a permanent location.” Nevertheless, the success of the Free Wear Fair has been widely recognized among Honors Council, with all parties involved taking note. “This is absolutely something I would love to see Honors Council do again!” Gracie said. “It’s safe to say this event was a total success and it was so much fun to do, not to mention the positive impact it had on the campus community.”

Of all the Honors events I wasn’t able to attend out of having to prepare for finals, the Free Wear Fair was the exception. Writing this out now, I’m glad it was. Even if we’re not always able to see it, there are various people working, sometimes collaboratively, to give us chances to take a break and remember that we’re seen and supported—and some of those people are our own coworkers or friends. Every person involved in the Free Wear Fair, from its managers to its tablers, went to incredible lengths to ensure the fair’s success. While I do feel bad about missing some of the Honors events these past weeks, it actually feels great to rest assured that so many people in Honors and the general UWF community are continuing to provide student support. At least for me, in light of my finals, events like these give me another reason to work hard with my academics, besides just staying in Honors. They’re reminders that people around me are working to support one another. Maybe someday I’ll be able to attend the Honors formal or help with one of Maggie’s bake sales: but even this post can uplift our university’s community.

So, to the very few of you that will read this post, good luck on your finals! Infinite Wisdom has had a great first run this term, and we’re proud to have the opportunity to support our campus in our own way. We can’t wait to see what’s in store, and I, like most students, look forward to the next Free Wear Fair!

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*You don’t know how little it cost to go to USJ a few years ago for my American ass…which isn’t a good thing! Yes, I’m showing off the fact that I rode the Kimetsu no Yaiba XR Ride.