After being rescheduled due to weather, the fraternity Beta Theta Pi will host their third Beta Theta Thrift fundraiser at 1327 E Foothill Blvd from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. on April 15. The fraternity is collaborating with 10 vendors who sell thrifted and used clothing as well as around 15 jewelry/accessory vendors.
When Marcus Kim, a sophomore business administration major and Beta Theta’s vice president of finance, was walking across Dexter Lawn on his way to class, he passed some vendors selling second-hand apparel and thought of an idea.
“Walking to and from class it’s kind of hard to spend time browsing [on Dexter Lawn] like you would at a mall or a thrift store,” he said.
Kim went up to the vendors and asked if they’d be interested in using Beta’s house as a selling location. This would allow students to shop in their free time on the weekends and have extra time to browse.
It also would begin the collaboration between Greek life and sustainability on Cal Poly’s campus.
Previous Beta Theta Thrift events have included booths from Thrift Cal Poly and other third-party sellers. At this event, Beta Theta Thrift is collaborating with the Sustainable Fashion Club.
“We haven’t worked in the Greek life space before at all, so we’re excited to make new friends and new connections,” business junior and co-president of Sustainable Fashion Club Kiana Williams said.
The fraternity charges a $5 entry fee. Proceeds from the event will be split between Beta and the Sustainable Fashion Club in order to fundraise for their upcoming fashion show in May.
The Sustainable Fashion Club will also be selling homemade cookies for between $1 – $2.
While there’s an entry fee, the first 50 customers who attend the event will be offered free boba. After that, coffee and tea will be sold for $4 and $4.50 with boba.
Computer science sophomore and Beta member Ian Loo will arrive at the fraternity house early in the morning to cook the boba.
Loo said they set out different milk alternatives to be added and set up the drinks in a self-serve style. Beta, influenced by the Sustainable Fashion Club, is enforcing “BYOC,” [Bring Your Own Cup], to prevent single-use plastic waste.
WIlliams said that BYOC, “encourages people to think sustainability,” and is something the club does at their regular meetings.
Members from Sustainable Fashion Club will also show up 30 minutes prior to the event to set up booths and canopies.
Along with collaborating with Sustainable Fashion Club, Beta Theta Thrift is also collaborating with other third-party vendors.
Third-party vendor industrial engineering senior Jon Chang worked at Beta’s previous thrift event in January. He runs his own Instagram account @jooglifeco and specializes in “true vintage.”
When highlighting the industry of third-party vendors Chang said, “They go through the process of finding and picking up all different vintage items that you won’t usually find when going to the thrift store.”
In the past Beta Theta Thrift has hosted up to 300 people.
Kim said as the event gains traction, he hopes to raise enough money to donate clothes and money to local homeless shelters.