Stop n’ Swap

Submitted by Meg Franz. Franz is a California native who’s always been thrifty and eco-friendly before being green was trendy. With three kids and one on the way,  it was only natural for her to start something like peace. love. swap which is all about swapping children’s items and helping families in need.

You can barely open up a magazine or read a blog today without finding something about clothing swaps, swap parties, or swap websites. Although clothing swaps have been around for a while, they are becoming increasingly popular due to the green movement and a lagging economy. The idea is the same in most cases: get together (in person or online) and exchange your unwanted stuff for stuff that is new to you. It’s green, because you are reusing instead of buying new, it’s easy on your pocketbook because nothing is for sale — only trade — and a lot of times it’s helping others out because the leftover merchandise go to charities.

I have three kids (ages 15, 5 and 2) and one on the way. I know how expensive it can be to buy new things for my kids all the time. I also know how much waste it creates between the shipping, packaging and getting rid of the old stuff. I had always tried to shop consignment and thrift stores, but after a while, I realized I was taking in a lot of items and barely getting any credit to spend towards “new” things. Many times, consignment stores or sales won’t even take certain pieces, so I ended up donating my stuff to Goodwill or The Salvation Army. I have also done the swap, sell, trade thing online. I just didn’t have time to take pictures of all my things, post them and follow up on all the emails. I had been to a clothing swap before, and felt like it was a concept that needed to be tweaked to accommodate moms and dads who constantly have children’s stuff they want to get rid of.

So, I created peace. love. swap. It’s the only organization that produces and supports Kid’s Clothing and Gear swaps on a regular basis. They aren’t small “swap parties” where you invite some of your friends and exchange stuff. These are large scale events (50-100 moms and dads) that take place regularly at family friendly venues like gymnastics centers and indoor play places. Parents bring in all their unwanted baby, children and maternity items (clothes, toys and gear) and then take whatever they want. Families can bring in as much or as little as they want and take what they need. We only ask that they bring it back for someone else when their kids are done with the items.

Right now we do the swaps in ten cities in California and have more starting up all the time. We have two out of state events coming up in late spring/early summer. Our goal is to help families all over the country start swaps in their own community. We truly believe that these events are beneficial to everyone involved. Peace. love. swap clothing and gear swaps are eco-friendly, recession friendly and, since all of our leftovers go to charity, we are very community friendly too.

If you would like more information about peace. love. swap, please visit our website or email peaceloveswap@gmail.com.