Fashion was in mind when Sigma Kappa put on its third annual Charity Denim event in an effort to raise money for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center yesterday.

“We started planning for this event in the beginning of the school year,” said event coordinator Molly Stephanson. “It’s actually quite an easy event to plan if you are on top of it, especially with all the help that Charity Denim gives us.”

Charity Denim, a national company, provides designer jeans and shirts at reduced prices for sorority and fraternity charity fund-raising events. The company sold denim brands like True Religion and Rock & Republic to students and other community members for prices ranging from $40 to $100.

Sigma Kappa received 40 percent of the sales’ profit to donate to the center.

Stephanson, a member of Sigma Kappa, said her house raised about $1,400 for cancer research last year and $2,300 in 2007 from this event. Final numbers are not in yet for this year’s event, but the total is more than $1,000.

“Our biggest difficulty is getting the word out there, which just takes time,” Stephanson said.

Several tables of women’s jeans were available to try on in the west ballroom of the HUB. Pink and green tents served as makeshift fitting rooms. Women’s tops and men’s jeans each occupied a single table.

Raechel Youngberg, a Macy’s employee, was eager to see the discounted jeans because she is required to wear them during work.

Sophomore Sugandhan Venkatachalam said he thought selling designer jeans was a good basis for a fundrasier because society is starting to demand high-end fashion.

The flow of people in and out of the event was fairly steady, but attendance may have been higher if it wasn’t during class hours, Stephanson said.

“I think the idea for the fundraiser was okay,” said Gary Meyers, a community member at the event. “But I think they could do a lot more promoting for the event aiming toward girls and boys in different mediums other than word of mouth and flyering.”

Other males at the event said they wanted to see more clothing options for guys.

“This event is really special to our house, because it requires a lot of help,” Stephanson said. “Our sorority really becomes a team to make sure the event runs smoothly and is the most successful it can be.”

The money from this event and other sorority fundraisers will be collectively presented to the center at Delta Tau Delta’s Miss Greek Pageant in April.

Reach contributing writer Katie McVicker at development@dailyuw.com.