Bleed out the blue: how one student group is using the crosstown rivalry to collect clothes for donation

The Trojan Pride Committee is honoring the spirit of the USC-UCLA crosstown rivalry by partnering with One World Clothing to host the inaugural “Bleed out the Blue” clothing drive.

Students and faculty are encouraged to show their Trojan spirit and drop off their old blue clothing (or really any clothing they want to give up for donation) at one of six drop-off locations around campus.

“We want to get rid of all of our blue clothes because we are Trojans, and we want to represent the cardinal red and gold colors,” Trojan Pride committee assistant director Dani Zand said. “[W]hile that is the theme, we are accepting all kinds of clothing to support the homeless shelters.”

Members of the USC community can look out for green drop-off bins positioned around campus with the One World logo through November 20.

At the heart of this drive is a call to action for the USC community to provide aid for the surrounding area. Community, Zand noted, was top of mind during this project’s creation process.

“USC is a school with ample resources...But it’s very clear that the area that we’re in doesn’t have a lot of the resources we do,” Zand said. “So because we are obviously sharing this land with them, it is our duty as people with resources to be able to give back to the community that we’re a part of.”

While “Bleed Out the Blue” is in its inaugural year, this isn’t the first time One World Clothing has worked closely with USC.

Previously, the donation center partnered with USC housing to provide pop-up donation boxes for the USC community in May 2022 during move-out week. With prior success from last school year, the Trojan Pride Committee decided to work with the organization again, this time during rivalry week.

“We reached out to [One World] and they were very excited about setting up on USC’s campus again,” said Logan Barth, co-executive director of Trojan Pride.

One World Clothing is a Southern California-based organization focused on keeping textiles, such as shoes and clothes, out of the landfill and back into the community. The organization partners with schools, churches and other groups to provide a safe and convenient way to give your shoes and clothing a second life.

“We wanted to find a clothing place that wasn’t going to thrift these clothes back into the public,” Zand said. “We wanted to have a place where we would be able to directly donate clothes to a place that would directly give it to people, to those in need, free of charge.”

The Trojan Pride Committee hopes the “Bleed out the Blue” clothing drive can become a new tradition and staple of rivalry week.

“There are lots of traditions here at USC, and ‘Bleed Out the Blue’ is definitely one that we’ll be doing every year in the future just so we can continue incorporating that charity element in our traditions,” Barth said.

If you have any spare blue clothing, or just some clothes you want to give a second life, look for one of the six donation boxes located around campus at the following locations: New North (McCarthy Side), Pardee Tower, Parkside IRC, Cardinal Gardens (Front Entrance), McCarthy Honors and Cowlings and Ilium.