Dress Swap Raises Money for Charity

Students traded formal dresses at a campus-wide dress swap—sponsored by student-founded fashion nonprofit Styleta—to raise money for charities geared toward women’s needs.

In the first half hour on Sunday, a line already began to form outside the dressing area in Lowell.

Yifan Zhang ’10, the founder of Styleta, and Charlene C. Wang ’11 organized the swap where students could borrow dresses on loan from fellow students. Students who lent their own dresses received a $5 discount off the $10 borrowing fee.

Zhang estimated that throughout the course of the day, over fifty people attended the dress swap. She also estimated about 100 dresses were on loan at the event.

Though many of the dresses did not get chosen, Zhang said she felt that the swap was a great start in the right direction for Styleta, bringing in a little over $100.

Zhang said that while she “wishes they had had a bit more time to sell—perhaps during a less busy weekend due to the visiting prefrosh,” she thought the event, the first of its kind at Harvard, went “pretty well.”

Zhang, an economics concentrator, came up with the idea for Styleta after attending a Women In Business event that focused on bringing the sample sale industry online. She decided she wanted to bring the thrift store concept online as well.

“I wanted to revolutionize the charity thrift store with a focus on designer clothing that can sell for very low prices and really make a profit and make a difference,” Zhang said.

According to Zhang, she chose to focus on designer clothing because many buyers associate a designer label with quality.

Marguerite Thorp ’11, who hoped to find a dress for Eliot Fête, said she thought the swap was a great concept, especially during formal season.

“The idea of reducing waste, giving people access to clothes who might not otherwise buy a designer dress, offering dresses that are otherwise way out of league—I think it’s an awesome one,” she said.

Thorp donated three of her own dresses to the swap after she heard about it from her house e-mail list, a Facebook event, and friends.

“I do definitely want to find [a dress] here,” she said. “I guess if I don’t find one, I might be in a tight spot.”