The annual pop-up shop event known as The Story is back.

Fanshawe’s fashion marketing and management students have curated a shop full of lightly-used thrifted clothing, spanning a wide range of styles, separated into categories the students are calling “chapters.” The pop-up event will be hosted in the London Life Village Square in Fanshawe’s Innovation Village on Nov. 20 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

“This year, the theme we’re doing is ‘chapters,’” student and member of The Story social media crew, Kayla Jongsma said. “So there’s different chapters. There’s formal wear, dressy, streetwear, casual, sportswear.”

Students from the fashion marketing and management program spend hours combing through racks at Goodwill, one of The Story’s main sponsors, in order to find the very best garments. This year, the students held a poll online to determine what sorts of garments shoppers wanted to see, and this played a large part in how they selected the items.

“We posted some stories about, like, ‘What type of clothes do you guys want to have?’” explained Thai Tran, another student member of the social media team. “Like, for example, for streetwear, would you go for a long sleeve or a jersey shirt? Or for casual wear, would you prefer it to be miniskirts or pants? So, you know, based on the vote of the polls, we’re going to shop more on that type of clothes so that we can…boost the sales during the pop-up event.”

When selecting pieces, students also looked out for trends and good brands, avoiding fast fashion items like those from Shein.

Abby Barnes, another student member of the social media crew, added that the students tried to consider all demographics when choosing items as well.

“We’re not only shopping for students our age, but also faculty…older men and women,” Barnes said.

The Story is an annual project put on by students in the fashion marketing and management program, and as Tran explained, the work starts early.

“We started to do The Story since the beginning of the semester,” Tran said. “So basically [we get] divided into three different groups, which is merchandising, social media, and store design. So each group is going to have their different roles.”

With the event just a few weeks away, Barnes said they are excited to watch their hard work come to life.

“I don’t think there’s any stress with us,” Barnes said. “I think we’re all excited. We’re all getting to that stage. We’re like, ‘We got this, guys. Let’s do it. Pull off a great event!’”

Barnes added that students should take the time to stop by the shop if they can, even if just to take in the experience.

“It’s just good to take in because when else is your school going to hold a pop-up store? That won’t happen everywhere,” Barnes said.

All the items sold at The Story pop-up will be reasonably priced to fit the average student’s budget. Any unsold items will be available to purchase on The Story’s Shopify account for a limited time following the event. After that, any leftover items will be upcycled or reused by the fashion department. With sustainability at the core of the event, Jongsma said it’s important that every aspect of The Story speak to the issues surrounding fast fashion.

“Places like you see Shein, Zara, H&M, all those places, they go through seasons so quickly,” Jongsma said. “Like, 26 different seasons for them. So thrifting really, first of all, [is about] helping the environment because it’s not sustainable to be shopping fast fashion at all.”

To learn more about The Story, visit @thestorypopup on Instagram.