The free Threads of Love pop-up shop will return for its second year from 12 p.m. to 5 pm. on March 9 in the lobby of King Hall. Lambda Pi Eta, the communications honor society, adopted what started as a group project for the Small Group Communication course. There are no stipulations on who can shop at Threads of Love; it is open to Emporia State students, faculty and staff, as well as the Emporia community, at no charge. 

A campus-wide clothing drive for the shop began two weeks ago and will close on Friday, March 7. Anyone can donate clothing and shoes to the marked boxes in Beach Hall, King Hall, Roosevelt Hall, William Allen White Library and the Student Advising Center. Threads of Love is primarily seeking business casual slacks, skirts, dresses, button-ups and dress shoes.

“We try to veer away from t-shirts and sweatpants. We’re looking for business casual or just nicer pairs of jeans,” said Lambda Pi Eta Vice President Alyssa Jensen, a founder of Threads of Love. “Because when we’re asking for donations, we don’t really want a bunch of people’s old … high school t-shirts, because obviously not as many people are going to be in the need for those.”

Threads of Love will receive additional clothing donations from Spartan Stop, a free basic-needs base for students in the USD 243 school district. Jensen revealed that moving the drive from the fall to the spring almost left them without extra donations.

“I actually emailed (Spartan Stop Director Heather Wager) in just the right amount of time last fall,” said Jensen. “And I was like, can we still possibly partner with you and get some clothes? And she said, ‘You emailed me at the perfect time.’ She only has her shop open for a short period of time as well. And when she’s done, she ships them all off somehow. And so we’re fortunately able to go get those clothes.”

According to Jensen, the initial shop in Fall 2023 was a significant success, so Threads of Love will not see any changes to its set up this year. 

“I was a huge advocate for (Threads of Love) to be a prolonged thing and continue annually, because when we did it that first year, it was just so rewarding to be able to see people come in and be able to leave with clothes at no cost to them,” expressed Jensen. “And so I would like to know that that will be continuing on even after I graduate and to know that people have the opportunity, hopefully, once every year, to go get some clothes at no cost to them.”