On the first and second of December, Middleton High School (MHS) Girl Up hosted their most recent clothing swap, allowing students to bring in unwanted clothes to swap with other students. This follows the first clothing swap the MHS club organized over the summer.
The Girl Up club is an extension of the global Girl Up organization founded by the United Nations (U.N.) It was created with the goal of empowering girls, emphasizing equality, leadership, and supporting women in underrepresented spaces. There are seven pillars of focus that Girl Up concentrates on to uphold those values and build the foundation of the club. Each year, Girl Up members vote on four pillars to focus their club activities on. According to MHS Co-President Jennifer Dai, “This year, climate was one of our chosen pillars. We decided to do a clothing swap […] reducing our carbon footprint from textiles.”
International fashion supply chains are one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions and environmental harm. The fashion industry is estimated to produce over a billion tons of carbon dioxide, consume tens of billions cubic meters of water and pollute 20% of global clean water. These environmental impacts have been found to disproportionately affect women. In many low income countries, women bear the responsibility of securing food and water, with less access to the natural resources they depend on. MHS Co-President Lily Hanson, mentions that, because of the impact fast fashion has, “Girl Up wants to do our part in encouraging the reuse of already produced clothing.”…