Need to make rent? Skip online shopping and head to this Phoenix clothing swap

Many renters don’t have money lying around for new outfits. Community Closet clothing swaps help people find pieces that make them feel good without worrying about their budget. 

This story first appeared in Rent Check PHX, a biweekly newsletter made for Phoenix renters, written by someone who’s lived it. Sign up for it here.

When  Jacqueline Braden moved from Arizona to Denver in 2020, she realized her wardrobe wasn’t quite prepared for the cold weather. 

“ I had like one good jacket and maybe like two pairs of pants,” she said. 

But a friend stepped in with a solution: a clothing swap she was hosting at her home. This is as simple as it sounds—participants bring in clothes they are ready to part with, and take home items that other people contributed. 

It makes for an easy, and cheap, way for people to build up or slim down their closets while preventing items from ending up in a landfill. 

Braden had such a good experience with this swap that when she moved back to Arizona, she wanted to get a version of it going here. 

“ I definitely was at a season where probably I had acquired a lot of things,” Braden said. “I thought, oh, yard sale sounds not as fun, but let me get all my friends together. And we did the first several out of my backyard.”

Braden worked with some friends to hold more public events, branding themselves as Community Closet. They set a goal of holding a swap every season and have now held around 15. 

Saving money and cutting stigma

As of April 11, the average rent in Phoenix was $1,830 a month—meaning many renters don’t have money lying around to spend on new outfits. Community Closet makes it possible for people to find clothes that make them feel good without worrying about their budget. 

“For every person who really needs something, there’s gonna be somebody else who is feeling like they have too much and is really looking to offload a lot of things,” Braden said. “So the algorithm of the swap usually always comes out positive.”

(Photo courtesy of Community Closet)

Swappers are welcome to bring clothes to donate, but it’s not required. Community Closet asks attendees for a $10 donation that goes toward future events, but Braden said they’re flexible and understand if people aren’t in a position to contribute.

“People should have a right to wear clothes that they feel good in or stylish in, or to feel like they can be flexible in their style, even if their job changes or if their body changes,” she said. 

What a clothing swap looks like

Braden says clothing swap attendees can expect an environment that feels like a thrift store. 

“ I usually say it’s like the best fitting room you’ve ever been in,” she said. 

Typically, the events bring in 50-75 swappers, which means there are plenty of clothes in a range of sizes to explore. 

Braden and other organizers sort donations by size and style, while anything new coming in goes into the “fresh finds” kiddie pool. “That’s where anything like crazy, sexy, cool is gonna be—anything funky that just got dropped off,” she said. 

Braden also brings items leftover from previous swaps that she thinks deserve another look before being donated. 

Connecting people to more than clothes

Braden said that the environmental benefits of the swaps are a big motivating factor for her in organizing them.

However, she stresses that the events are also meaningful because they make people feel closer to community. 

She said that the first swap she held in 2021 “was likely a response to the pandemic and feeling like it was hard to connect with people.” She works a “quiet laptop job” in tech, and the swaps serve as a way for her to connect with friends and swappers’ positive energy. 

“I think it’s been really nice to be reminded of people’s generosity,” she said. “People don’t have to give us, you know, department store brands with tags on them for free, but they do.”

Braden said something she loves is that clothing swaps “aren’t proprietary”—meaning anyone can hold their own. They can also vary widely in scope. 

“I would take it back to basics. I’d be like food, invite some friends over, throw a little veggie and cheese plate out, throw some blankets over the couch and just start piling clothes on,” she said. “It really doesn’t have to be that organized.”

Community Closet’s next clothing swap will be on April 19 in partnership with FABRIC, a Tempe-based nonprofit fashion incubator. To celebrate Earth Week, the groups are accepting two bags of donations per person, and anything left over at the end of the swap will be donated.

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