Clothing swap brings crowds

Helen Ho was no doubt the envy of every woman when she recently got home with a bagful of free new clothes.
Ho, 29 got her items at an event for swapping clothes held in Astoria on Saturday, November 22.
Almost 120 people, mostly women from the neighborhood, showed up for the initiative, which took place at the Astoria Residents Restoring Our World Community Center, at 35th Street and 35th Avenue.
As the participants arrived, event co-organizer Robyn Sklar explained how it worked. “You bring clothes, other people bring clothes … and then you swap. It’s a great way to clear out your closets and get free new-to-you clothes.”
It is also a great way to help the environment and save money, Sklar added.
“It was really fun to swap things with people,” explained Ho. “I’m actually wearing one of the sweaters that I got,” she said about her white embroidered wool sweater.
Ho also got a few shirts and something quite unexpected - a long black-and-white bridesmaid dress that a woman made for herself but never wore.
“It has a princess cut to it. It’s something you would never go out to purchase per se,” she said, explaining that she’s excited to wear the dress for occasions such as Halloween.
And of course a big part of the fun for Ho was cleaning her own closet at her small Astoria apartment. She brought three bags of sweaters and dresses and a bag of miscellaneous items such as jewelry. “It was gratifying to see most of my things that have been sitting around my house, collecting dust, get taken by other people.”
The clothes which the swappers brought formed colorful heaps of on top of tables. After searching through these heaps, participants tried on items and sought opinions from other swappers, turning the event into an impromptu fashion show.
“Everyone really understood how swapping clothing is a free and easy way to live green, by promoting reuse,” said Lynne Serpe, co-organizer of the swapping.
“We were thrilled at the turnout,” Serpe added, explaining that she only expected about 50 people at the event, which started at 11 a.m. “By 10:40, there was a line.”
The leftover items were donated to the Astoria Park Alliance and to Hour Children Thrift Shop, also in Astoria, Serpe said.
She and her friend Sklar decided to host the swapping because they wanted to repeat a similar private event that they held for friends at their Astoria apartment earlier this year.
The two women organize other green events in Astoria and Long Island City as part of their project called Triple R Events: reduce, reuse, recycle.
The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation helped with the swapping initiative.