Website Allows Parents To Swap Children's Clothes

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Do you have boxes of clothes your kids have outgrown and they're just taking up space?

Now, there's a new option for parents to swap those clothes with others from around the country, instead of having to buy all new clothes.

The company's called "Thred Up", and Mt. Lebanon mom, Stephanie Belcher, loves it. With three boys -- Finn who's 4, Toby who's 3 and Oliver who's 1, Stephanie has a lot of boys clothes.

Now that her youngest and last child, Oliver, is outgrowing the clothes, she didn't know what to do with them until she tried "Thred Up."

"The youngest one is going through clothes really quickly," Stephanie said, "so I didn't want to just throw them away or donate them. I'd rather swap them and get my money's worth."

To start swapping, you sign up online for free.

"What you do is you go on there and you become a member, and then you start packing boxes," Stephanie tells KDKA. "They ship you boxes right away and they'll ship you ten priority mail boxes, and you go through your clothes and find some of the same -- you want to keep them in the same size."

When someone selects it, "Thred Up" sends her the shipping label so she'll just leave it on her front porch for pick-up.

For each box she ships, she picks a box of clothes, grouped by size, sex and season. She chooses from a list of boxes based on a written description of what's inside no pictures.

Once someone selects her box, she mails it directly to the parent.

The only cost to Stephanie is a five dollar fee, plus $10.70 for shipping -- so about $15 per swap.

Each box contains about ten to fifteen clothing items, so it comes to about a dollar an item.

Stephanie just got a box of clothes size 18 to 24 months with several pair of pants from the Gap, among other items. She estimates each pair of those pants would cost $15 new in the store.

The only hitch is that you usually don't see photos of the clothes before you get them, and there's no intermediary for quality control.

Co-founder and CEO James Reinhart says they've had very few complaints. "Part of it is a very trusting group of users. Moms are generally a trusting type," Reinhart says.

Most people send clothes in good condition that match the description.

But Stephanie says it can be a bit of a surprise. "There was one time where there were a couple t-shirts that I thought were blah, but they're good for play or sleeping or something like that, but everything else I've really liked."

She says even if a few things aren't perfect, it's still a great value. "Over the entire amount that I've totally saved, minus the shipping charges, I would say about $300."

Stephanie recommends paying $30 for the pro-membership on Thred Up. It allows you to get more detailed descriptions of the clothes and she says you can see photos of some of the clothes on Facebook pages.

For more information, visit ThredUp.com.