Remember when I used to tout the merits of the clothing swapping site ThredUp? Then their customer service went down the drain and they suddenly switched from trading clothing to an online consignment store. Most of the customers were quite upset and stopped using their service altogether.
I'm happy to report that I found a new clothing swapping site! Double Dutchery is a new swapping site that swaps children's/teens clothing and shoes.
You list a box of your own child's outgrown clothing or shoes and earn a "point". You can then use that point to pick a box that you would like to order, and pay shipping costs along with a $5 fee. So, basically, you are swapping a box of your child's clothing and paying around $16.95 in order to get a full box of clothing in return.
I'm lucky that we have a good selection of consignment, thrift stores, and garage sales in the area. Yet, even with all that, sometimes it is hard to find exactly what my kids need, especially in larger boy sizes. I ordered a boys box of 6/7 clothing for $16.95. It included nine pieces of clothing which equals out to about $1.88 per item. You can't beat that - these were all great brand names shipped to our house. I didn't have to drive around using up gas, or wrangle children while trying to search for the correct items.
Joe was thrilled with his new duds, and though I ordered them to put away for next year he immediately wanted to try them on. :)
When I asked Wendy, the founder of Double Dutchery why they started this site her answer was:
"We started Double Dutchery because, first and foremost, we’re parents. And like
countless other parents with young kids, we were struggling through the worst
recession of our lifetime, coupled with the fact that it’s only getting more
expensive to raise kids these days. We’ve been huge fans of (in-person)
community clothing swaps for quite some time, and we were surprised to learn as
we were building our site that the biggest online community, ThredUp, had
recently switched its model -- presumably because they couldn’t make enough
money for its investors -- and left many people a bit upset. Reading some of
the old message boards about ThredUp was pretty eye-opening. Lots of passion
around a great service that ultimately chose a more traditional model over
direct sharing. Living in the Bay Area ourselves, we were somewhat familiar with
the way Silicon Valley had taken “the sharing economy” and tried to productize
and profit from it with varying results. We wanted to avoid all
that.
Given the fact that my husband Robbie is a website developer, we were able to quickly
prototype the platform without external funding or investment. It may not be the
prettiest software, but it’s getting better with every update!
A community powered by parents, that’s been our goal. And it really starts with
people, like you. People who perhaps see the value of trading with other
parents, and that the vast amounts of textile waste going to landfills should be
lessened, especially when so many people could put it to good use."
Their goals for the future:
"Our immediate goal for Double Dutchery is to get as many members as possible signing
up and listing boxes to swap. We envision Double Dutchery being a community
clothing swap on a nationwide level so everyone who comes to our site finds what
they need when they need it. Through our very grassroots efforts we hope to
build that community of like-minded parents who believe there’s a better way to
combat the rising cost of children's clothing while simultaneously minimizing
unnecessary waste."
I am in no way affiliated with Double Dutchery, nor is this an endorsed review. I just know a good thing when I see it and want to spread the word for other mamas who are trying to clothe their children on a budget.
