Palo Alto High School students sift through items of clothing at Paly’s first thrift fair, which took place during lunch yesterday on the Quad. According to organizer and sophomore class senator Simone Batra, she was pleased with the student participation in the fair. “I was a little bit nervous for this event, but it went really well,” Batra said. “A lot of people really enjoyed thrifting, especially since the clothes were free.” (Photo: Kristine Lin)

From button-ups and cargo pants to vintage skirts and sweaters, piles of clothes were heaped and strewn across tables as Palo Alto High School students excitedly browsed through the assortment of garments — holding up, trying on and taking home new finds.

Paly’s first thrift fair, which took place during lunch yesterday on the Quad, encouraged students to donate old clothes and find new outfits, free of cost. According to organizer and sophomore class senator Simone Batra, she hoped to provide an opportunity for students to recycle old clothes, promoting sustainability and thrifting culture among the community.

“I realized that I have way too many clothes sitting at home and in bags, and I really wanted to donate them,” Batra said. “It [Batra’s idea] evolved into a thrift fair once I started getting into thrifting and learning about how recycling clothes is environmentally friendly.”

According to junior Lily Jeffrey, she found the concept of a thrift fair fun and creative.

“It’s nice to have a place to bring all the clothes that you don’t want, and then reuse it and let other people have them,” Jeffrey said. “It’s something that I wouldn’t have thought of, but it’s really nice that it was organized.”

Freshman Jasmine Carranza shared a similar sentiment, saying that she picked up several new garments.

“It’s fun for people that like finding clothes,” Carranza said. “I found some shirts [and] a sweater.”

According to freshman class president Katie Kim, she enjoyed seeing the students’ excitement finding new clothes.

“It was really fun, and I was happy to see a lot of students come up to get what they wanted,” Kim said. “The turnout was great. A lot of people donated, which was really nice, too.”

Batra said her goal was for students to donate 500 articles of clothing to the event. Despite not being able to reach that goal, Batra is hopeful that more students will donate to and participate in the next thrift fair scheduled for March.

“[The goal] wasn’t quite reached — we were at around 200 or 300-ish [clothing items],” Batra said. “But I think that people didn’t really know about the fair, so hopefully in March, we will get a lot more clothes.”