A frequent recipient of hand-me-downs from my older cousins’ closets and fan of playing dress-up in my mother’s, father’s, and grandparents’ closets as a child, I still like to shwop with family (and friends) following our own “shop” & “swap” recipe:

• Open your closet with a fresh eye, assign new labels to your clothing tastes, and plan your outfits to cut-down on waste.
• Venture into the basement, climb up to the attic, or just pull out your dresser drawers.
• Sift through those old jeans or take down that hanger with a dress you haven’t worn in years.
• Find one item with which you’d be willing to part and to which you’re partial. (Your friends can help you decide with this donate app)
• Make sure it’s acceptably clean and bring your old clothing item to your sister’s room or your friend’s house, making a fair trade for one of theirs.
• Add your newly hand-picked garment to your growing collection, without spending a cent on sales tax and without taxing the environment.

Much like the story behind a farmer’s market of exchanging fresh corn for a neighbor’s cow’s milk, the notion behind shwopping is to share home-grown items, just with fashion instead of food! Of course, I’m not the first to coin such a term. In fact, according to your own interpretation of the idea, you might already be a shwopper. Variations are welcome, so make it your own!

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hungry to move fashion forward?

• Try my DIY recipe at home for a ready-to-make take on RTW.
• Ask your local Macy’s, Target, or favorite retailer to do the right thing and set-up a Swhop drop or partner with I:Collect.
• Host a swap at your home or in your neighborhood.
• Buy local from artisans or a fair-trade store in your hometown, at a vintage thrift store, or at a flea market.
• Enjoy the traditional form of shopping, but add an ingredient of mindfulness to your consumption choices as you add to your cart.
• No matter how you shwop, join the #sharevolution with a twit pic or by uploading photos of your fashion exchange online.

Help US mobilize a more sustainable approach to shopping for fashion- ->

DIY: Be fashainable.