Giving Purpose to Swapping Out Your Clothes: Host a Clothes Swap!

by Rise Riyo, Community Outreach Manager

Ever look into your closet and notice the amount of clothes, jackets, handbags, and other personal accessories that have accumulated over the past several years, if not decades? It can be a daunting task to lighten your household load, but it doesn’t have to be. Ever heard about a clothes swap before? Well, if you haven’t, then read on!

A clothes swap is an event that involves exchanging unwanted clothes with other people’s unwanted clothes, or simply giving away your unneeded clothes for free without taking in any swaps. A clothes swap is a sustainable way of reusing clothes or even upcycling items making them into something creative for someone else to use. There’s no obligation to swap-out and swap-in an item. But who knows! There’s a good chance that you’ll find something that perhaps catches your eye. All clothes that are left un-swapped can be donated to a local charity of your choice. It’s a win-win situation for all.

If you’re a mom or an older sibling, you know how kids and teenagers love wearing their group of friends' clothes. Gathering a group of friends for a fun social evening of swapping clothes prevents perfectly fine clothes to wear from going into landfills here and abroad. Or you could team up with your friendly zero waste refillery market, a senior center, your community church or favorite nonprofit, and ask them if they’d like to collaborate on running a weekend clothes swap event.

The cool thing about organizing a clothes swap is that it addresses the fast fashion industry. The fast fashion industry implements a business model which mass produces cheap garments and accessories that are currently trending in clothing markets and pushes these items out really quickly to fashion-conscious consumers while the demand is high. Might be great for the buyer, but for the planet, fast fashion is a problem for the environment.

The global fashion industry is responsible for 8–10% of global carbon emissions per year, to which fast fashion is a large contributor. The low cost of production, favoring synthetic materials, chemicals, and minimal pollution abatement measures have led to excess waste.^[1]

So how do you begin organizing for such a clothing swap? Well, let’s take a look at the steps for just inviting a small group of friends.

1. Think about how many folks you’d like to invite. If you're imagining a small group in your living room, then send out a group text message asking if anyone is interested in coming to your clothes swap event at your house. If you can confirm a date and time via text or email, or by whatever communication means, then keep going with your plans. Ask your friends to confirm with you so you can nail a date and time, and get a head count.
2. Once you have the head count, you’ll probably need to look at your home and see how you would like to set up the space for viewing all the clothes. If you own a fold-away table, you can simply have the clothes folded and placed on top of the table. Ask your friends, if any of them could bring folding tables as well – and chairs – to place more folded clothes on top to display. A large mirror or two is wonderful to pose in front of so ask your friends about that item as well, if you don't happen to have a mobile one.
3. Think about a local charity to donate any clothes that are unswapped at the end of the event. Contact the charity in advance, and let them know your clothes swap event plans. Any extra clothes will be given to the nonprofit for free. I’m sure they’ll greatly appreciate the act of kindness.
4. Food, drinks, and upbeat music. Always important to have. Make sure to ask if anyone has any food allergies, are vegan, etc.. You can even ask them to bring different food and drink items to cut down on the cost at your end. Make it a joyful potluck, even. Consider reusable plates and utensils first before buying compostable ones.
5. Send out friendly reminders to your guests as the date approaches your clothes swap event.
6. And most importantly, have fun!