When my friends Amelia Kopp, Sam Berry, and I started volunteering at the Los Altos Discovery shop, hardly any teens shopped at the store. Because of this, many of the “trendy” or teen-oriented clothing would be re-donated by other volunteers, who believed the clothing simply wouldn’t sell. The three of us decided to promote the store to our peers, and salvage the discarded clothing, by founding the ON TREND section: a clothing section just for teens.

What started as a single rack curated by three volunteers, expanded rapidly into a program with a separate processing corner and written methods of curating and pricing clothing. Monthly ON TREND $10-and-Under sales were implemented to make shopping sustainably more affordable for teens, and combat the frighteningly low prices of fast fashion. After a year, ON TREND sales average about $500 of revenue and have increased day-of store sales by about 70%. Since our program was established, teen volunteers at the store have tripled to 30 volunteers. Through it all, our mission has stayed consistent: fighting for cancer care with second-hand clothing.

Today, our section consists of two clothing racks: one for women’s sizes, and one for men’s. Since marketing through our social media platform, it is now common to see teens browsing through our store, or making a beeline for our section. 

On a weekly basis, I come in to help price and steam clothing, work the register, and film videos of our clothing to market on social media. I also use our socials to promote the American Cancer Society, and educate my peers about the importance of sustainability.