A free spree!

(Credit: Rick Hartford / Hartford Courant)

You promised yourself you would cut down on spending this year, but you've got closets full of clothes and nothing to wear. Winter clearance sales are calling your name.

You need a clothing-swap party, and quick.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, clothing swaps are like shopping, except that you leave your wallet home. The idea is simple—groups of friends or neighbors get together to trade clothing and accessories they no longer want or need. (That unfortunate green sweater purchase that makes you look like you have the flu, or the orange hand-knitted scarf that was a gift from your ex's mother, for starters.)

Someone hosts the party and provides drinks and munchies. Items get organized by category; folks browse the goods, try things on and take home what they want.

Anything left over goes to Goodwill or the Salvation Army.

Naomi Rafalowicz has been a fan of swap parties for years. The West Hartford resident gathers regularly with a group of colleagues and friends to socialize, drink wine and exchange fashions and accessories.

"Everyone has stuff they don't use," says Rafalowicz, who hosted a clothing swap in November. "Things you've received as gifts, things you outgrew five pounds ago, impulse buys that didn't work. Even though you don't want them anymore, someone else may love them."

Lynn Rosenblatt, a retired second-grade teacher, attended Rafalowicz's November swap.

"This was my second swap, and I had a ball," she says. "I got the earrings I'm wearing. I found new things that I can use as gifts. My sister's herringbone coat went to a friend who was delighted to get it. It's the new wave. Clean out your closet; cut down on clutter. Don't throw things out; pass them on."

Starre Vartan, founder and editor of www.eco-chick.com, an environmental website geared toward hip, environmentally savvy women, agrees.

"A few years ago, there was a stigma attached to re-using and re-gifting. Now swap parties are really trendy, especially with twenty- and thirtysomethings in big cities like Manhattan and Boston," says Vartan, a South Norwalk resident and author of "Eco Chick Guide to Life: How To Be Fabulously Green."

"It's amazing what you can find. Cashmere sweaters, leather jackets. I got my favorite pair of boots at a swap party."

Vartan suggests a few guidelines: Invite a minimum of eight participants to ensure enough inventory; try to include guests in a variety of sizes, and request that attendees bring only current season clothing in wearable condition—no holes, no stains. Put up a few mirrors so folks can check out how they look in their new fashions.

"There's a rising consciousness around reducing waste and recycling," says Vartan. "Events like these are fun, and they make sense. There's no reason people couldn't expand to swapping household goods and gift items as well."

Green Is Chic
Suzanne Agasi's trendy Swap In the City, California-based events, have drawn thousands of participants and have been featured on NPR, the "Today" show and the Huffington Post web site.

Wendy Tremayne, a former Manhattanite now living in New Mexico, added a couture twist to the concept with her Swap-O-Rama-Rama community swap parties featuring artists, designers and DIY workshops.

After choosing clothing from communal piles, participants embroider, bead and otherwise re-purpose used duds, then model their creations in a swap-party fashion show.

In the past four years, the events, which draw hundreds of swappers, have taken place in dozens of cities as well as in Canada, South America and Turkey.

"Swap-O-Rama-Rama explores creative reuse through the recycling of used clothing," writes Tremayne on her site, Swaporamarama.org. "Swap-O-Rama-Rama not only reuses would-be trash but sets in motion a way of living that reduces textile waste."

Imani, owner of the Green Vibration and Alchemy Café in Hartford, has seen interest in these eco-friendly (and budget-friendly) efforts grow as people have become more aware of their impact on the environment.

"It's not just the crunchy granola types who are into this," says Imani, who hosts monthly community clothing swaps at the café. "People regardless of circumstance or income, are trying to cut down on the amount of goods they consume."

Clothing swaps, she says, are especially appealing to mothers of growing children.

"A lot of us have kids," says Imani. "They outgrow clothes so quickly that often the clothing hardly gets used. It just makes sense to pass items on to others rather then buying new stuff. Teens really like the idea, too."

Erika Davis Pitre, a West Hartford resident who volunteers to help with the community clothing exchanges, describes herself as a "grand-swapper."

"I was introduced to the concept when I lived in Seattle," says Davis Pitre. "We would do community swaps four times a year and people would bring everything from clothing to sporting equipment to baby equipment to toys. Events like this keep things out of landfills and raise awareness that items can have a second life."

Clothing swaps have even spread to the Internet. Whatsmineisyours.com offers "guilt-free shopping for the cost of postage."

"We all have a little guilt about the amount stuff we have," says Vartan. "Swap parties are a great way to alleviate it."