New Clothes? I'd Rather Swap Than Shop

I first learned about Silver Spring Swap-o-Rama from my neighborhood listserv.  It was 2 p.m on a Sunday, and I had just seen an email that there was a clothing swap happening downtown from 12 to 3 p.m. that day. I immediately ran out of the apartment with a bag of clothes, and made it just in time.

I’m really glad I did, not only because I got some great clothes, but also because I met Monica Buitrago, the organizer of Silver Spring Swap-o-Rama, who helped me, a year later, to organize a Swap-o-Rama to coincide with the opening of my studio, as well as a Halloween costume swap a month later.

I’d called Monica to see if she wanted to host a swap for my studio opening because clothing swaps are a great way to think outside the store. At a swap, you bring a bag of clothes to donate, and take as many of the donated items as you would like, to wear or alter. Instead of buying new clothes, you revamp your wardrobe with your neighbor’s closet!

Aside from just being cheaper, I think swaps are more fun and interesting than shopping because you never know what you’re going to find. For example, at the first Swap-o-Rama I went to, I got a really awesome embroidered shirt that turned out to be from Ethiopia—it’s been a great conversation starter walking around downtown Silver Spring.

I also think it’s nice to see unwanted clothes put to good use. At the September swap, I was really happy to see one swapper show me the “crazy dress” she was excited to find, that used to be my sister’s! Another swapper, pictured here, found a dress that she thought was the perfect fit. A swapper who came to the Halloween swap, also pictured here, found the purple fabric that we later used in the studio to make a Greek goddess-inspired costume. The leftover clothes from the September event were donated to Shepherd’s Table, a shelter down the street, and leftovers from the Halloween swap went to Forest Knolls Elementary School for use in their “costume shop.”

In addition, I enjoy using clothes that I get from swaps as materials for my clothing art both because recycled materials are more eco-friendly, and because it’s a lot easier to feel good about cutting apart clothes that you got for free! The black and purple dress pictured here, for example, combines elements from two articles of clothing I got at the September swap. (I thought it was pretty cool, although I have since been told that it looks like “a Halloween costume” and “Ravens gear.”)

I think my favorite thing about swaps, though, is feeling that I am part of a community through my clothing. I enjoy knowing that each item I wear has a unique history that I’m sharing by reincarnating it into my own wardrobe. I thought it was super cool, at the opening swap, when I met the person whose Ethiopian shirt I got from my first Swap-o-Rama. We all wear clothes, and I think that sharing our clothes and the stories behind them is a great way to celebrate our common human experience.