When residents of Toronto’s Leaside are itching for a closet clean out or looking to add some new elements to their work wardrobe, they don’t toss a pile of clothes into the donation bin or stop in at Zara — instead, they wait for She Shops Swap.
The regular Toronto clothing swap event launched in 2020 after founder Vicki Hall found herself frustrated by the lack of options for consignment. “There seemed to only be designer consignment, and then donating your clothes. There was nothing in the middle — a lot of women purchase mid-market fashion and fast fashion, which we’re trying to cut down on, but there wasn’t a place to sell those items,” she says.
So she started She Shops Swap with a particular model in mind: “My idea was getting back to how we share clothes among women, and we borrow things from our girlfriends and sisters.”
Most clothing swaps originate as an activity between friends, but Hall went big — her first event was for the entire community, with 75 women attending and over 600 items swapped.
Since then, the event has expanded to include swappers from all over the city, particularly Riverdale and the Beaches, and runs multiple times a year. She Shops Swap also stands out among other Toronto clothing swaps because Hall personally curates the entire collection by hand.
“Over 125 women drop off their items at my house five or six days before the swap, and I take them all in, inspect them and sort them by size and style,” she says.
The result is an event space set up like a store, with a “wall of denim” the swap has become renowned for, some local vendors and, new to the event, “rail sales.”
“I always promote trying to sell your clothing first, because it’s worth trying to make some money. So this time, I’ve rented racks and I’ll allow women to rent those and bring their own items that they want to sell — if they haven’t had luck with Poshmark or Facebook Marketplace, this is an option instead,” she says.
Attendees receive a ticket for every item they drop off for the swap, and the ticket becomes their currency — one ticket for any one item at the swap. “You can bring a Gap shirt and could potentially walk away with a Smythe blazer,” Hall says.
Though she says she doesn’t keep track of brands, the swap attracts a range that includes some Zara and H&M, some Diane Von Fursternberg and plenty of Levi’s. Any items that aren’t picked up in the swap are donated to New Circles. Originally intending to target her own age demographic (“They’re not as prolific with the thrifting as younger women are”), Hall says the event has now spread to include ages 16 to 70.
“Younger women are building work wardrobes, and there are older women my age who are moving out their clothes,” Hall says. “So the younger attendees are more than happy to come in and get 10 pieces for virtually free.”
Attendees pay $25 to enter the swap, though those who are coming just to shop the rails and the vendors don’t have to pay a fee. The next swap is Jan. 28 at The William Lea Room in Leaside.
