Swapping Clothes with Swap Society

Earlier this year I met Nicole Robertson, a mom of two living in west LA with a green heart for sustainable fashion. She talked to me about swapping clothes, which is an eco-fashion technique that has allowed her to not buy any new clothing for the last seven years. Let that soak in for a moment…

If you haven’t heard of it, clothes swapping is a fun process where you ‘swap’ clothing with other women to give your closet a fresh look without having to buy anything brand new.

Turning Passion Into Businesses

Able to save a lot of money and reduce her personal carbon footprint, Nicole turned her love of swapping clothes into a business called Swap Society. How it works is that you can send in your gently-used clothing in exchange for points to get new pre-loved clothes of equal value. It’s a membership club, so you get to know the other women in Swap Society and have fun wearing each other’s clothing!

I’ve heard stories of how sweet it is to see friends you’ve met wear a dress you used to love. People will often swap a piece of clothing and style it in their own unique way, recycling it in a whole new way. I’ve experienced it myself how magical it is to see an item that you had gotten tired of brighten someone else’s life. The process of renewing your wardrobe and style with recycled clothing is a great way to have fun with fashion while being sustainable at the same time.

A Sustainable Fashion Transition

I think swapping clothes is a great way for someone to transition into a sustainable fashion wardrobe because it doesn’t necessarily take the fun out of rapidly mixing up your wardrobe. If capsule wardrobes make you nervous, and you can’t help but get tired of a dress after twenty wears, no fret—you can still be a sustainable fashionista. Trying Swap Society in those moments is a great way to keep your closet fresh and save a lot of money at it too!

I tried on a few dresses from the Swap Society collection and they are beautiful! I put on this long red maxi dress for starters. It’s made with a beautiful fabric, and a special flow to it. I thought this was a great piece for someone who had a special event to go to, such as celebrating your birthday. It’s perfect to swap for this item, because you can wear it for a special occasion and stand out, but don’t necessarily have to commit to having it in your wardrobe forever if you don’t feel like you have the guts to wear a red maxi all the time.

It makes me think of my own wardrobe and wonder if anyone has ever felt a similar feeling… do some pieces in your wardrobe give you a little bit of anxiety? As if it’s a lot of effort to rock a certain piece? Or, have you ever felt guilty that you bought something for an event but don’t really care to wear it again? Swapping clothes through Swap Society is perfect for those moments because you can allow someone else to refresh their wardrobe with high-quality pieces you haven’t worn in a while.

Preventing Textile Waste

Another reason I think Swap Society is a cool concept because it’s a zero-waste cycle of fashion that helps prevent the 21 billion pounds of post-consumer textile waste per year. If swapping sounds like your cup of tea, I’d totally recommend giving it a try! You can begin with a 90-day free trial with this link! Given fashion is the second largest polluter behind the oil industry, any change we implement helps!

Photos by Sustainable Style Solutions