Since 2020, thrifting has catapulted in popularity, especially amongst teenagers. There were 28,849 thrift stores across America in 2023, a 3.5% increase from 2022 as more people became enticed by the reusing and recycling phenomenon. Green Hope sophomores Ella Chase (‘26) and Hutson Catullo (‘26) hope to spread this love for thrifting to younger generations.

Catullo and Chase began their initiative, known as Threads of Kindness, as a project for their DECA Community Awareness event. DECA is a national organization that provides high school and college students an opportunity to participate in different events related to business, finance, marketing and hospitality, with 3,200 chapters in high schools around America. The Green Hope chapter traveled to Greensboro from Feb. 29 to Mar. 2 to compete at the NC DECA Career Development Conference (CDC), where Catullo and Chase won third place overall in their event.

Chase and Catullo partnered with social service organization Dorcas Ministries to write the picture book “The Magical Threads of Threadsville.” Their purpose was to educate students in grades one through four about the benefits of recycling and reusing clothing in the form of thrifting. They also touched on the harmful effects of fast fashion, using popular fast fashion brands such as Pacsun and Shein as examples to spread the word.

The story in “The Magical Threads of Threadsville” is narrated by a girl, Jessie, who walks into her closet of talking clothes that each share their origin stories and their journeys through recycling and reusing. With the help of the talking clothes, Jessie organizes a clothing drive to help her community and inspire those around her. Through their story, Chase and Catullo seek to educate readers about what it means to reuse and recycle clothes, and inspire them to take action within their own closets.

Catullo and Chase have been able to reach over 400 students in elementary schools across Wake County and have plans to expand their efforts further. Their third place win at States qualified them for DECA Nationals (ICDC) and they plan to travel to California on Apr. 27 to present their initiative to a new panel of judges and compete at the national level.

Regarding their presentation, Chase said, “Our presentation at DECA States was essentially a 15 slide slideshow about our book (as well as our key metrics), and we also provided the judges with a hard copy of the book. The panel really liked our presentation and didn’t provide us with any feedback on changing anything, so we most likely won’t make any changes to the book and will probably just make slight changes to how we present it at ICDC.”

Catullo touched on their initiative’s impact. “It’s been a lot of fun to read the book and see the kids participate in our interactive activities. We had an activity where the kids drew one piece of clothing from their home that they would like to donate, and it was rewarding to see the kids apply what we are trying to teach into their own lives,” he said.

Although Chase and Catullo began Threads of Kindness as a project for DECA, they plan on continuing the initiative after ICDC and look forward to impacting more students across Wake County.