Clothing Hub is an SRC project that focuses on mutual aid. This is done by taking excess clothing donations during the term and recirculating them at the end of the term. This addresses sustainability concerns in fast fashion, community building, and broader wealth redistribution. Furthermore, in the cost-of-living crisis, providing free clothing is a way the SRC seeks to strengthen student welfare initiatives.
Step One: Give What you can.
There are big donation bins near the Arc Clubs Space, next to Homeground and inside Foodhub. You can drop off any clothes you no longer need. This is a great way to save yourself a trip to your local charity shop while contributing to your student community.
Step Two: Take What You Need
On the 16th of April, come down the Quad any time from 11-4 and take whatever you’d like. Any clothing remaining at the end of the event will be donated to charity.
This cycle of giving what you can and taking what you need underpins clothing hub and general mutual aid.
What is Mutual Aid
Have you ever done something to help out a friend? Maybe you assembled a piece of furniture or drove them to the hospital. Instead of paying you like a contractor, they repay you by helping you when you later need them. The mutual relationship is the form of payment.
Now expand this to a broader community scale; mutual aid uses community building as a form of activism. It is not a form of charity but rather a way to show solidarity with other community members. This is done through voluntary contributions such as money, food and labour. Whereas charity is structured and hierarchical (ie. a giver and receiver), mutual aid treats all parties as equals who are voluntarily contributing to each other. The basic idea is that if you strengthen your community, they’ll be in a position to help you when you’re in need.
Furthermore, helping one another is one of the most radical forms of activism; current systems are reliant on us being isolated and denied our basic needs. Standing up against the system requires us to stand up for each other.
