Ocegueda, Carlos
Swap 'til you drop
Issue #33
Clothing swaps are good for your wallet and the environment
By Mengly Taing
Published: September 1st, 2007 | 12:00am
Friends have been swapping clothes informally for years, but in the last few years, as recycled clothing has become more and more fashionable, clothing swapping has grown into an organized affair. Now, even giant corporations such as Visa are getting in on the swapping action.
Two enterprising women — Wendy Tremayne and Suzanne Agasi — are at the forefront of this movement. Tremayne is the brains behind the popular Swap-O-Rama-Rama parties, which started in New York and are currently being staged throughout the U.S., and Agasi founded Clothing Swap Inc. after organizing her first swap in her San Francisco apartment 10 years ago. Between the two of them, they have taken clothing swaps to nearly 100 different cities around the world. Both women strive to raise awareness about the importance of responsible consumerism and to teach consumers that they can make a difference.
“I believe that swap culture is partly fueled by the green movement, the necessity to reduce waste, and to reuse our trash,” says Tremayne, who is currently in New Mexico constructing a hotel made of recycled paper.
In addition to the clothes swapping, Tremayne’s Swap-O-Rama-Rama parties include sewing stations and a variety of DIY workshops for swappers to explore ways to recycle and reuse their garments.
“People are making choices, they’re living green, and they want to leave a smaller footprint,” says Agasi, who has hosted more than 120 clothing swaps over the last several years, working with different collaborators and causes. Though her clothing swaps started out women-only, Agasi added men-only events in 2006, and recently launched an online swapping community. So far the events are not co-ed. After every swap, Agasi donates the remaining clothing to shelters.
A small entrance fee and a contribution to the collective pile is all it takes for some uninhibited swapping, and events range from small affairs with 15 to 20 participants to large-scale events with hundreds of guests and fully produced fashion shows. As opposed to corporate-sponsored swaps — like the one Visa recently staged in London, which used a point system and distributed tokens for swapping privileges — shoppers here are encouraged to take as little or as much as they want. Just like among real friends, no one keeps track.
Visit swaporama.org and clothingswap.org for more information.
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