Babylune

A Clothing Swap for Mothers

by kate baggott on December 4th, 2007

Can a really mumsy mom pull this dress off?

I have to ask because I really don’t know. I am not a fashion victim as much as a fashion misfit. Although, I doubt I am not the first woman to wonder why all clothes don’t have size adjustability sewn in. The wardrobe changes a woman needs to go through between pre-pregnancy, during pregnancy and after pregnancy can make her head swim and her wallet scream. I still haven’t fully recovered my sense of style identity. I suspect I never really had one, no matter my size, but I do recall something about scarves and high-heeled boots…Chances are, if I bought the dress, I would wear it once and then wonder what I was thinking and regret spending the money.

There isn’t always a reason to regret clothes buying mistakes. When I was in university and right after, a lot of my friends used to go to organized clothing swaps. The problem being that I was never the same size as anyone else. Naturally, EBay, Freecycle and Craig’s List have changed everything for some women, but it’s hard for me to justify subsidizing someone else’s bargain-hunting skill development and it’s often hard to give something you paid for away to strangers just because it doesn’t fit…at the moment. There are, though, places to compromise.

The place I know of, because they introduced themselves, is called Swango.

Their slogan has an environmental resonance that has to be heard: “Swapping as easy as shopping.”

Swango is the internet equivalent of a clothes-swap match-maker. They help you find someone with clothes in your current size and someone who needs your old size, or, in my case, old sizes. The site operates on a points or credits system, so the the old-size, new-size exchange doesn’t have to be between the same two people. You have to register to use the site, but membership is free. Exclusive of shipping costs, the site charges a fee of 99 cents per completed swap.

Have you had any success trading your maternity clothes for clothes that fit postpartum? How did you do it? Over the Internet or in person?

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