Thrift Markets and Local Development: The Socio-Economic Impact of Campus-Based Textile Reuse in Kerala, with a Case Design for the Department of Economics, Mar Thoma College, Thiruvalla

Liji Samuel Samuel

Thrift Markets and Local Development: The Socio-Economic Impact of Campus-Based Textile Reuse in Kerala, with a Case Design for the Department of Economics, Mar Thoma College, Thiruvalla

Author(s)	Dr. Liji Samuel Samuel
Country	India
Abstract	Abstract Purpose. Student-run thrift markets, in which donated clothing is collected and resold at low prices, are spreading across Kerala’s colleges, yet no peer-reviewed work measures what they deliver. This paper develops a measurement framework for the socio-economic impact of campus thrift markets and applies it to the thrift market run by students of the Department of Economics, Mar Thoma College, Thiruvalla (Pathanamthitta district), where students collect and sell textile items to finance departmental needs. Design. The paper (i) assembles verified secondary evidence on Kerala’s consumption, migration-driven income and textile-waste context; (ii) reviews the second-hand consumption literature and comparable Kerala campus initiatives; (iii) specifies five impact channels (buyer savings, institutional finance, equity, environment, student learning) with explicit formulas; and (iv) sets out a mixed-methods protocol (transaction ledger, buyer and donor surveys, volunteer interviews) with testable hypotheses. Findings. Secondary evidence shows a favourable environment for thrift markets: Kerala’s high remittance-driven spending power coexists with national textile waste of about 7.07 million tonnes a year, and Indian evidence identifies hygiene and garment condition as the main barriers to second-hand purchase. Department sales records for 315 donated items show gross sales of ₹17,441 and an overall sell-through of 41.2% (95% CI 35.8-46.8%) on the 306 items whose sales were counted. Sell-through differs significantly across categories (permutation p < 0.001): sarees sold at 56% against 25% for children’s clothing, and sarees alone produced 41.5% of revenue. Women’s clothing was 42% of stock but 66% of revenue. Costs, buyer-survey and donor data are still to be collected, so net proceeds and household-level effects are reported as pending. Originality. To our knowledge this is the first framework to value a Kerala college thrift market simultaneously as a revenue source for the institution, a price-relief channel for households, a waste-diversion mechanism and an experiential-learning tool for economics students
Keywords	thrift market; second-hand clothing; Kerala; Pathanamthitta; circular economy; social return on investment; student enterprise
Field	Sociology > Economics
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 6, November-December 2026
Published On	2026-11-10

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Thrift Markets and Local Development: The Socio-Economic Impact of Campus-Based Textile Reuse in Kerala, with a Case Design for the Department of Economics, Mar Thoma College, Thiruvalla

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