OUTfits Clothing Closet is a donation-based resource that provides gender-affirming clothing and accessories, free of charge. OUTfits can be visited Monday-Friday from 8:00am-5:00pm in Union 372. It is open year-round to all UNT students.
In summer 2014, the Trans and Intersex Alliance of Denton (TRIAD), a student organization on campus, met with Kathleen Hobson, the new student services coordinator for the Pride Alliance. TRIAD had been saving clothes for a few months to create a clothing swap event for trans students. In order to make gender-affirming clothing available to students year-round, the Pride Alliance purchased a small rolling closet and started accepting clothing and monetary donations from the community. The Pride Alliance also worked with Underworks to create a matching binder donation agreement. This was the beginning of the OUTfits Clothing Closet. OUTfits was originally located within the Pride Alliance in Sage 332.
In August 2016, the Pride Alliance and OUTfits moved to the Union. The Pride Alliance was gifted a storage unit by the Multicultural Center, which became a space that housed the Pride Alliance storage and OUTfits. Despite the small, shared space, OUTfits was able to expand for the first time and underwent construction to install racks, a mirror, and a curtain to create a changing area.
In September 2020, the Dean of Students gifted an additional storage unit to the Pride Alliance, which allowed OUTfits to expand into its own, fully functional space for the first time. OUTfits was able to incorporate more shelving and racks, which led to an expansion of accessories and personal care products.
The OUTfits Clothing Closet at UNT has been the inspiration for several similar projects on campuses across the country. Pride Alliance staff have worked with other campuses to support their vision of creating a resource like OUTfits for their students, to work toward a common goal of providing free, gender-affirming clothing and accessories.
OUTfits currently serves roughly 1,000 students a year and receives at least five donations of clothing and accessories per week. The student assistant hired for the role of Clothing Closet Coordinator is the point person for OUTfits. They sort clothing, maintain the closet and inventory, assist students in finding clothes, and help create advertisements for the program. Any clothing and accessory donations that are not able to fit in the OUTfits Clothing Closet are donated to the Denton County Friends of the Family Upscale Resale Thrift Shop.
The Closet accepts washed, gently used donations from students, faculty, staff, and community members. Donations can include clothing, shoes, accessories, jewelry, bras, bra inserts, and binders. New socks, underwear, makeup, and personal care products are also accepted. Monetary donations are used for the purchase of new binders, bras, bra inserts, and packers, as well as occasional renovations.