THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2008
NEWS
3A
LAWRENCE
Used clothing stores provide secondhand style for shoppers
BY ANDY GREENHAW
agreenhaw@kansan.com
For college students looking to make a quick buck for spring break, consigning their clothing is an easy option. Plato's Closet joined the list of secondhand clothing stores in Lawrence in January, and it celebrated its grand opening on Monday.
Students can bring their clothes they don't wear anymore to secondhand clothing stores, which sell them for cash and buy other used clothing at discount prices.
John Nichols, owner of Plato's Closet, 23rd and Kasold streets, said he usually paid students about 40 percent of what the clothes were worth. That price is determined by a computer program that takes the condition, brand and style of the clothes into consideration.
"College students are always looking for a way to raise quick cash to cover entertainment, rent or whatever," he said. "I see a lot of
kids on Thursday nights who come in looking for a few bucks to party."
While Plato's Closet uses a computer to assess the value of its clothing, other secondhand clothing stores such as Arizona Trading Company, 736 Massachusetts St., and Wildman Vintage, 939 Massachusetts St., train their employees to make their own judgments.
Erica Voetsch, Leawood junior and employee at Arizona Trading Company, said she saw a wide variety of students and styles.
"We get the artsy kids looking for something unique and the fratty kids looking for their polo shirts," she said.
Nichols said Plato's Closet got clothes from all over the world.
"KU is a melting pot of students, therefore it's a melting pot of fashion," he said. "It's a place where different styles converge."
Both Arizona Trading Company and Plato's Closet try to avoid buying clothing that are out of style.
Nichols said that Plato's Closet carried mostly name-brand and designer clothing. Corey Sievers, manager of Arizona Trading Company, said only 10 percent of what his
store carried was older than two years.
On the other hand, Wildman Vintage strives to buy vintage clothing from as far back as the 1940s.
Tom Kimmet, a KU student who's worked at Wildman Vintage for three and a half years, said the store's owner traveled all over the world looking for the most outlandish clothing out there.
"What differentiates us from the other two is that we pride ourselves as being kind of laid back, mellow and just having a good time," he said. "We get a lot of students that come in looking for stuff to wear for theme parties."
While Wildman Vintage deals mostly with vintage clothing, it also buys clothing from local designers.
Kimmer said the store gave designers 70 percent of what their merchandise sells for.
Like Plato's Closet and Arizona Trading Company, Wildman Vintage paid people 40 percent of their clothes' resale value, but unlike the other two, it would not take name-brand clothing, Kimmer said.
Edited by Madeline Hyden
Photo Illustration by Mindy Ricketts/KANSAN
senate notebook
Position created for Latino greek organizations
Student Senate created a new senator position last night for the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations (NALFO). That organization, which includes Latino fraternities and sororities, is one of two in the entire nation.
Ryan Rowan, National Pan-Hellenic Council Senator, said adding the seat would help represent the diverse opinions of Greek organizations.
Senate also has separate positions for the National Pan-Hellenic Council, which represents
black sororities and fraternities, the interfraternity Council, which represents fraternities, and the Panhellenic Council, which represents sororities.
Cuts will offset energy and sustainability fee
Senate created a renewable energy and sustainability fund that would come from student fees. Students voted 90 percent in favor of the fee in last year's Senate election.
The referendum said that campus fees could not be increased to fund the fee and that other
fees would need to be reduced to compensate.
The Women's and Non-Revenue Intercollegiate Sports Fee, the Campus Safety Fee and the Newspaper Readership Program Fee all took cuts to support the new fund.
Adam McGonigle, Student Executive Committee chairwoman, proposed an amendment to not take money from the Women's and Non-Revenue Intercollegiate Sports Fee. McGonigle said Student Body President Hannah Love and Vice President Ray Wittlinger had met with Chancellor Hemenway, who said he did not
want to take money away from the sports fee. Wittlinger said Hemenway was willing to consider all options when the legislation came before him.
The legislation passed without this amendment.
Senate considers changing e-mail service to Gmail
Senate is asking KU Information Technology to look at giving students Gmail in the place of Outlook Web Access e-mail accounts.
Jarrod Morgenstern, journalism senator, wrote the bill and
said he had contacted Information Technology. He said Donna Liss, associate vice provost for information technology, had asked for more student input before looking at the service.
"She wanted student input and this is it." Morgensten said.
Google offers Google Applications to universities for free. Google Applications includes e-mail, chat, calendar and document services. If the University adopted this program, Google would host the e-mails on its servers, eliminating the need for the University to pay for servers hosting e-mails.
KJHK to receive $75,000 to fund move
Senate will give $75,000 to KJHK 90.7 FM to help fund the station's move to the Kansas Union.The station currently broadcasts from Sudler House, also known as "the shack."The University has given the station a deadline of Fall 2009 to move out of the building.KJHK will move to the third floor of the Kansas Union after a $242,200 remodel to house the station is completed.
Brenna Hawley
THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS
Start and End at Macell's, 1031 New Hampshire.
One mile Walk and 5K Walk/Run.
Registration 7-8am. Stretch and run with Red Dog, at 7:50am. Walk steps off at 8am.
A full breakfast, sponsored by NetworQ, will be served for returning participants from 8:30-10am.
Awards Ceremony 10am.
Saturday, April 12th
Center for Community Outreach challenging. educating. empowering.
We have 15 volunteer programs working throughout Lawrence and can connect you to many local programs.
Looking to volunteer? Center for Community Outreach can help!
Contact us!
405 Kansas Union (in the SILC office)
864-4073 • cco@ku.edu
www.ku.edu/~cco
sponsored by the Phi Beta Delta honor society for international scholars
Contest Details:
- Only printed photographs may be entered (8x10, 8x12).
- Photographs must have been shot outside the United States.
- Any KU alumni, students, staff, faculty, or scholars may enter.
* Each contantant may enter one to six entries.
- Each contestant may enter up to six prints.
- There is no entry fee for active members of Phi Beta Delta.
- There is no entry fee for active members of Phil Delta
The entry fee for all other contestants is $3 per photo
- The entry fee for all other contestants is $3 per photo.
There will once again be great prizes for the award winners.
Winning and Noteworthy Photos will be displayed on campus.
- Selected photos may be published, with credit to the photographer.
- The deadline for entries is Friday, March 30th.
For Complete Photo Contest Rules and Contest Entry Forms, go to:
http://www.international.ku.edu/~oip/pbd/photos/