Clothing Swap
at the 2025 Rust Belt Fibershed Symposium
This year the symposium clothing swap will be run by our partner, Circular Thrift, LLC. They’ll help us collect data on clothes that are swapped in and out!
Here is how to participate!
Register for the main event on the 25th at 78th street studios!
Choose 1-5 well-loved items, clean and in quality condition (t-shirts, pants, sweatshirts, blouses, jackets, shoes, purses, belts, etc.) to bring to the symposium.
Upon arriving around 8:30 am, turn in each item to the clothing swap station for a ticket. 1 item = 1 ticket.
During the speaker series, our volunteers will organize the clothing to be ready for you after the speaker series, around 1pm.
After the speaker series, head up to the clothing swap and cash in your tickets for any item of your choosing.
Any unclaimed items will be free to the public after 2pm (without needing tickets).
Any unclaimed items after the event will try to be placed with a new loving owner, upcycled, or donated.
After the fashion show, we’ll open the swap for morning symposium-goers!
Optional Step but very helpful for our data collection purposes:
Circular Thrift has offered to crunch some data for us! So, if you happen to have your clothes set aside already, use this link to submit what items you will be bringing to the swap ahead of time (they are looking for specifics in order to calculate the environmental benefits of obtaining clothes through a clothing swap). As you leave the swap, Circular Thrift will also ask you to scan a QR code and share what you are taking home with you, and after the event, they will calculate and share the impact of the whole event in terms of landfill diversion, carbon emissions offset, and reduced water and energy. Woohoo!
From Circular Thrift’s Website: “The world produces 92 million tons of textile waste every year. And every year, the global apparel manufacturing process creates 8% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. The majority of the 92 million tons of annual clothing waste is made of materials created with fossil fuels, which means our addiction to fast fashion is adding more microplastics to our oceans, waterways and bodies.
To address the textile waste crisis we need to make big changes in our consumption habits. At Circular Thrift, our goal is to help guide that evolution, one neighborhood at a time, by offering tools, resources, connections and education to empower champions of sustainability to shift habits and mindsets at a hyperlocal level. We’re growing our community of sustainability experts and community champions to spark the cultural shift needed to meaningfully address the waste crisis. Join the community, and let’s make change together.”
