Swap Omaha promotes fashion sustainability by ‘shop’ for ‘swap’

Three local fashion innovators have joined arms to fight the overconsumption of fashion. Their organization, Swap Omaha, uses an environmentally friendly circular model designed to give back to the community.

Over the past year, Sammy Hartong has sought to find other fashionable women who align with her sustainability mission. Through the arts advocacy group BFF Omaha, she met Kelly Valentine-Newell, owner of Scout Dry-Goods, who came up with the idea of ​​an Earth Day clothing swap.

Scout was working with Earth Day Omaha for an exchange a year ago. However, those plans have been canceled due to Covid-19, Valentine-Newell said. Not long after, sustainability activist Lauren Bates joined the ranks, wanting to get the Green Omaha Coalition involved.

“One by one, we all met each other for Earth Day. We wanted to use the switch format as it has been successful in other major cities,” said Hartong.

Their first swap event at Elmwood Park was part of Omaha’s annual Earth Day celebration.

“We were hoping for maybe 20 people to show up, and it ended up being over 100,” Valentine-Newell said. “The lines were on the sidewalk and on the lawn to other vendors’ locations.”

They turned a one-time event into a recurring model, with contestants and curious onlookers asking when the next swap would be.

“The backbone of Swap Omaha is keeping clothing out of landfills and creating a circular economy through clothing and promoting accessibility,” he said.

In the year In 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency reported less than 2 million tons of textile waste. In the year In 2018, this number reached 11 million tons.

“Reducing textile waste starts with reducing the consumption of fast fashion. To do that, we need to educate and formalize alternative ways of buying, selling and exchanging, Valentine-Newell said.

Each event begins with a clothing drop, those who donate will receive a first db and are entitled to one garment for each item of clothing donated.

After donating in exchange for new pieces, unclaimed piles are open to the public for $1 each. A portion of the proceeds go to local non-profit organizations.

Plus, all unaltered clothes go to charities like Open Door Mission, Heart Care Center, and others with “no-kill” policies, meaning all donations are re-homed and don’t end up in landfills.

“We do not believe in humiliating people. Instead, we believe in supporting, educating and giving people the tools to shop ethically and sustainably. “That starts with finding sustainable alternatives.”

With organizations like Swap Omaha, one can revamp their closet for free and give unwanted clothes new life.

“We want people to get into the mindset that ‘just because an item doesn’t work for me, it might work for someone else,'” says Hartong.

The success of the past year has increased their motivation and confidence to refine and grow their company.

“2023 will be the official restart,” Hartong said. “We want to be a non-profit and impact the community more.”

Their next exchange will be different from what they have done before. Swap Omaha is partnering with local non-profit Film Streams and the Omaha Fashion Guild to present “Made in Bangladesh” on March 14 at 6 p.m. The event will have a costume swap and a forum to discuss the message of the film.

“The film is based on the true story of a garment worker and her daily struggles in Dhaka, Bangladesh,” said Bates. “Dhaka is where the failure of Rana Plaza was. The accident and the death toll among garment workers was eye-opening.

In the year On April 24, 2013, a factory building collapsed, killing more than 1,000 garment workers in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The disaster, known as the “Rana Plaza disaster”, was attributed to substandard safety standards and disregard for building codes in the fast fashion industry.