Swap 'Til Ya Drop

Thanks to PDXSwap, women in Portland can fill their closets without spending a dime.

It all began about 2 years ago, when a woman named Kim started PDX Petite, a monthly clothing exchange for women sizes 0 to 5.

Last year, the Willamette Week wrote a story about it: here

Now there are clothing swaps for small, medium, large, x-large and plus sizes.

The PDXSwap website has all the information you need to get a good picture of what these swaps are about. In general, each person (sometimes 20+ people) brings wearable clothes that they don’t like anymore. The clothes get tossed into a big pile, and then everyone just starts picking out, trying on and packing up things they want to take home.

Lynn, organizer of the medium swap, gives a good summary in her monthly emails:

Since clothing swaps go by size instead of by age, it’s fun to be able to see such a variety of wearable clean clothes – and know that you can take as much or as little as you want for free! Some people bring bags and bags of stuff because they are cleaning out
their closets and need to get rid of stuff they don’t love. Some bring one or two items because they did their major cleaning at a previous swap. Our goal is to keep usable clothes out of landfills, and to have the pleasure of being in the presence of like-minded
stylish thrifty women who care about our planet.  So feel free to bring what you don’t need anymore, and take what you love home – no matter how little or how much. The fun is in the hunt:)

Only people on the mailing list can participate, so join the mailing list for your size here:

http://www.pdxswap.com/contact/index.htm

I’ve been to a few swaps in the past. The reality for me is that sometimes I find something I love (in fact, I’m wearing a swap item right now), and sometimes I leave empty handed. It just depends on what people bring that day. I have 3 pieces of advice for a fun swap:

• Go in happy that you are getting rid of clothes that are just clutter.
• Hope to find something to take home, but don’t expect it.
• Bring a friend. It means you have twice as many eyes and twice as many hands to spot and grab the good stuff!

Happy hunting!

(Photo is from PDXSwap website)

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