MPorium Hosts Annual Fall Fest
Students looking through racks of clothing at MPorium's Fall Fest. Photo by Ciara Molloy '26.
MPorium and the Ethical Fashion Initiative teamed up to host their annual Fall Fest outside the Steel Plant and Allied Health buildings on Oct. 15. The festival, which featured campus organizations as well as outside vendors, encouraged students to engage in fun activities, shop for new clothes and learn more about Marist University’s fashion programs.
Despite the cloudy and windy weather, students gathered excitedly, looking forward to thrifting vintage clothes or creating dried flower bouquets, sponsored by MPorium. Jewelry, clothing and craft vendors such as Myriad Mirage, Dainty by Sof, Crochet by Neha, BYKRIS, Charms & Chit-Chat and Pink Coast Boutique chatted with students as they browsed or asked questions about their products.
Samantha Fiorino, owner of Charms & Chit-Chat, a charm bracelet business that hosts pop-up events around New York, heard about the event through a Marist alum.
“I love being able to reach students,” she said. “This is my third event with Marist, and it’s always exciting to see what everyone creates.”
While Charms & Chit-Chat typically operates as a pop-up business and is hired for girls’ nights, bachelorette parties and bridal showers, being present at Fall Fest gave Fiorino a new audience and a chance to reach students differently.
“I love to see what everyone creates,” said Fiorino. “Everyone has such a different style, and not one person has made the same charm bracelet.”
Several experiential learning classes, such as Silver Needle Runway and Measure, had tables at the event, offering insight into the many opportunities that these classes give to fashion and non-fashion students. The Measure Magazine table requested student feedback on ideas for their new podcast, “Measure Unmuted,” in addition to entering a raffle to be a special guest.
“Events like these bring exposure to different things on campus and activities you can be a part of,” said Allie Napolitano ‘27, a member of the Measure Magazine team. “We’ve had a lot of people come up to us and check our table out. I think it’s going really well so far.”
In years past, Fall Fest has been a remarkably successful event for MPorium, the student-run retail boutique on Marist’s campus. The class, FASH 315 Retail Entrepreneurship, seeks students who want hands-on experience while looking to learn more about the various sectors within fashion. Students from an array of programs, not just Fashion Merchandising, gain skills in marketing, store operations, public relations and customer service throughout the course.
MPorium’s new theme for the semester, “Homecoming: Better Together,” highlights the importance of uniting the Marist community and coming together to celebrate everyone’s ties to the Marist campus. With its festive fall themes and cozy interior, MPorium continues to generate excitement on campus with every new product release or special event.
“I think events like these are super important because they bring the fashion community together as well as outside the fashion community,” said Eliza Hieter ‘26, a member of the Event Planning team at MPorium. “We have vendors that are students, alumni, as well as experiential classes and clubs here.”
For Hieter, the event also had a personal meaning: “I remember freshman year being here and thinking ‘this is so cute’ and it was such a fun day,” she said. “So now it’s kind of crazy that I am the one running it. It’s kind of like a full circle moment.”
MPorium’s collaborator on Fall Fest, Ethical Fashion Initiative (EFI), is also well known on campus for its vintage clothing pop-up shops and sustainability events. Their first vendor event of the year was held back in September and featured jewelry, clothing and student vendors, with a plethora of thrifted and sustainable items for students to shop for. EFI’s vendor and sustainability awareness events challenge students to think critically about their consumption, buy less and repurpose vintage items.
Beyond shopping and socializing, Fall Fest served as an opportunity for students to connect with student-driven fashion, creative alumni and on-campus clubs and organizations. Both MPorium and Ethical Fashion Initiative aim to encourage students to connect with the Marist fashion community as well as the larger community–building connections one thrifted t-shirt or charm bracelet at a time.