Are clothing swaps the mother of all win-win shopping situations?

by Irene San Segundo

Have you ever been to a clothing swap? This is, in my opinion, one of the most fun ways of finding amazing and unique pieces, spending zero money, keeping clothes out of the trash and even making new friends. This last Sunday I had a great time at a clothing swap organized by Global Fashion Exchange in an amazing warehouse-esque space in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and once again I was amazed to see the smiles on people´s faces when they get rid of piles and piles of unwanted clothes and leave all excited with their new finds in which they didn´t have to spend a cent.

How it works

You can find out when and where the next swap is at Global Fashion Exchange. Go through your closet and separate all the things you don´t want to wear anymore and put them in a bag. There is no limit to the amount of items you can bring to these swaps. For each item you bring you will be given a ticket and that will be your currency for the swap. This is probably my favorite part of the whole thing; there is no money involved in any part of the process. If you bring 4 items you will receive 4 tickets for the swap.

If you are not sure if your unwanted clothes are in good enough condition remember a simple rule someone told me at my first swap: “would you give this item to a friend you love?”.

After checking in your bags, the GFX team goes through your garments to edit and select what is in great condition -that will go into the swapping area- and what is not -that will be picked up by Wereable Collections and they will take care of the recycling, reusing or upcycling of those garments.

When the selection of all the clothes people bring in is done, the GFX team sets up the swapping area to look like a retail store, where you can find dresses and jackets on racks, and accessories, jeans and t-shirts on tables. You can also find amazing accessories and shoes; I found a pair of unworn Dr. Martens in purple suede that are destined to become my one and only boots next fall.

Time for swapping!

There are some basic rules to the game like no hoarding, being patient and others that are reminded on posters on the walls as you enter the swap area. Once you´re done browsing and have your selection, you check out showing your tickets to the staff and go show your friends what you found!

About GFX

GFX is an international platform that helps promote sustainability in the fashion industry with this kind of events plus forums and educational content. Through the clothing swaps, GFX empowers consumers to take action for a better environment while they stylishly renew their wardrobe and save hundreds of thousands of cloths from going to landfill.

GFX has already saved 110 tons of clothing from going to landfill and their goal is to save 1 million pounds of clothing in 2018. So… join the movement! And find out where the next swap is at www.globalfashionxchange.org