Clothing Swaps

Everyone loves a clothing swap! It’s a fantastic way to replenish your wardrobe on the cheap. You can easily hold one at your high school and raise some extra cash towards your course fee. Charge $5 for admission. (Make sure to start advertising about a month in advance so that everyone has a chance to clean out their closets!) Participants receive one ticket for every item that they bring to the swap and can purchase additional tickets for $1, so that they can grab even more items!

You’re going to need some friends to volunteer for the event, specifically:
- A volunteer who checks the clothes to make sure that they’re clean and presentable (washed and ironed)
- A volunteer who counts the acceptable clothing items and distributes tickets
- A volunteer who hangs up or displays the acceptable clothing items
- A volunteer who supervises the changing areas

Ask everyone to bring their clothes on hangers and then borrow clothing racks from the theatre department. You can also use tables for displaying items (like accessories) and designate specific bathrooms as changing areas. While you’ll probably make a good chunk of change from the admission fees alone, you’re can raise a ton of additional income from vendors. Make sure to mention on your clothing swap flyer that there are going to be local vendors and refreshments available for purchase, so students know to bring some extra cash with them as well!

Third-Party Dealers. Every community has a ton of third-party dealers that specialize in stuff girls want (ex. LuLaRoe, Stella and Dot, Lia Sophia, Thirty-One, Avon, Mary Kay, Arbonne, LipSense, Scentsy, PartyLite, Jamberry, Younique, etc.). Email your local saleswomen and offer them $35 tables at your clothing swap where they can sell their goods. Vendors who are willing to act as pro-bono "personal stylists" stand to earn much more by pairing items that students pick up from the clothing swap with new items available for purchase, so that students can "complete their look."

Stylists. You can invite local hair stylists, make-up artists, and manicurists to rent chairs for $35 and sell their services or one-on-one mini-lessons (ex. how to get the perfect smoky eye look). If prom and graduation are coming up, this would also be a great opportunity for them to book appointments at their salons. Make-up saleswomen (Avon and Mary Kay) might also be willing to offer free makeovers with all of the products available for purchase.

Photographers. Invite senior portrait photographers to rent $35 tables and showcase their packages. They could also bring a portable backdrop and offer mini photo sessions for girls who want to capture the moment on-the-cheap. (There’s something about having your hair and make-up done that makes you want to have your photo taken immediately afterwards!) It's also a good chance for students to "test-drive" photographers that they might be interested in booking portrait sessions with down the road.

Refreshments. Get your friends to whip up some baked goods and sell them for $1-2 each at the refreshment stand. There’s no better reward at the end of a hard day of shopping than a cupcake. Alternatively, you can contact local food vendors and ask if they’d like to rent a $35 table to sell their refreshments. (Baked goods are usually best for this kind of event because they’re so portable, so call up the local cupcake and/or cookie company!)

Raffles. Check if your vendors would like to donate goods and services for a raffle basket. (These could include leftover merchandise, gift certificates, discount cards, etc.) You can also go around to local businesses and see what they might be willing to donate. If it’s prom season, for instance, you should definitely check in with local hair salons, make-up artists, limo services, florists, and tuxedo rental shops. It’s worth mentioning that gift certificates can be an incentive for students to buy. For example, if a limo company pitches in a $50 gift certificate (for a $150 limo ride), then they’re probably going to get some business that they wouldn’t have otherwise.

Parents. You might want to consider setting up a separate clothing swap just for parents in another section of the school. You could double your profits, plus having the parents in the school guarantees that students will have access to spending money for extra tickets, refreshments, and raffles.

IMPORTANT: This is a fundraiser that can really benefit from tie-in events. Is summer vacation coming up? Make this a summer-themed clothing swap so that students can reboot their wardrobes before going on vacation or away to camp. Tons of special events like prom and graduation coming up? Might be a good time for a formalwear swap that includes dresses, suits, shoes, accessories, and more! (What senior doesn’t have her junior prom dress stuffed somewhere in the back of her closet?) After your swap has wrapped up, take all of the remaining items, pack them up in a pre-paid postage bag, and send them to thredUP. They'll sell them online and send you part of the profit.