THE NYC FASHION FOUNDATION THAT TURNS SAMPLES INTO SCHOOL SUPPLIES
By: Hillary LeBlanc
For every item on a shelf, sold at a store, perused by a consumer there is a sample where the item was first conceptualised. Many designers hold sample sales and will try to make some money off of selling the not-as-perfect versions that came before. The idea of selling samples was he catalyst to creating the Fashion Foundation, which uses fashion samples to change the lives of children.
Amanda Munz created the Fashion Foundation, a 501c3 fashion nonprofit that recycles samples to help kids in need. The Foundation simply acquires samples that happens to be sitting in offices taking up space and sells them mainly through an e-store. Funds from sales go provide New York students with school supplies and uniforms allowing them to have better school experiences.
Image Source: Fashion Foundation website
The samples have sold internationally and have amassed 200,000+ pounds of designer merchandise sent to the Fashion Foundation supporting their mission. The Fashion Foundation has been able to impact more than 40,000 children throughout New York.
According to the Fashion Foundation website, the organization works with some of the fashion industry’s leading designers and retailers to fill their shop with products. Brands such as Calvin Klein, Rebecca Minkoff, Marchesa, Amanda Uprichard, Komar, Show Me Your Mumu, Gorjana etc. have donated samples and / or products they no longer need to the Foundation.
Schools being supported do not have the funds to provide students with school supplies all year round.
“We provide our partner schools with clean uniforms, new backpacks, notebooks, pencils, art supplies, gym equipment and all other tools their students need to succeed. We never hand a school a check. We work directly with the school's staff to provide their students with the exact supplies they need, shipping them new supplies as they need them!” - Fashion Foundation website.
Munz started the Fashion Foundation at 23-years-old after being in the fashion industry and constantly seeing brands with excess samples and merchandise lying around their showrooms. The Fashion Foundation supports students all over New York. they have serviced areas including Brooklyn, Queens, Harlem, the Bronx, Manhattan and Long Island.
The Fashion Foundation has created a Community Closet for an elementary school in Queens. Their website explains, “we completely transformed an empty storage room into a fun space, fully stocked with free clothes for the children to take whenever they needed. We painted the room, provided the fixtures and stocked it with an initial 800 pieces of clothing in various styles and sizes so there were plenty of options for the kids. Our goal is to replenish this closet as needed so it is continuously stocked with these resources.”
In 2022, the Fashion Foundation launched a nationwide campaign for people to nominate a teacher who deserved to win $1,000 in new supplies for their classroom. The organization had over 500 submissions of deserving teachers and were blown away by the responses, leading them to double their impact and give 10 teachers $1,000 in new supplies. Beyond school supplies, the Fashion Foundation has also given an empty Brooklyn library $10,000 in new books and helped create a mural as well as a new playground for a Harlem school.
The website is extremely user friendly. Browsers can shop by recently donated samples, new arrivals, types of clothing, accessories, by brand or by price with some items selling for as little as $5! There are also sections to donate product or to simply donate money if you want to support their cause.
If you love the thrill of finding treasures at sample sales, here is your chance to get near one of a kind merchandise while making an impact.
cover Image: Lucrezia Carnelos / @ciabattespugnose