Without access to a car, it can be difficult for students to revamp their wardrobes without resorting to fashion websites, contributing to the cycle of clothing waste and unsustainable consumption. While ordering clothes from a website can be more affordable, Rosario, a psychology major, yearned for a way to buy unique, secondhand clothing that elevated his style.
Kupstas, a youth and social innovation major in the School of Education and Human Development, shared her experience of feeling like she had outgrown her wardrobe, but lacked an affordable and eco-friendly way to refresh her style.
“As a first year, I hated everything in my closet because it was all from high school and didn’t make me feel good anymore,” she said. “Finding an alternative that’s less expensive and more environmentally friendly than constantly buying new stuff from fast-fashion sites was important to me.”
This shared frustration led to the creation of SWAP, a clothing exchange organization that encourages students to recycle their clothing. Much like a thrift shop, students donate their gently used clothes and receive a ticket in return that can be redeemed for a new clothing item.
The vision for SWAP – which stands for “sustainability, wearing confidence, accessibility and promoting community” – was to encourage student expression through clothing that makes them feel confident, whatever that style might be.
The idea behind SWAP escaped their English class and became a reality in the spring semester of their first year when they hosted their first event. SWAP’s earliest event was held outside Observatory Hill Dining Hall and executed by Kupstas and Rosario alone.
“It takes a lot of hands,” said Rosario. “We realized that it was really difficult to put everything together with just the two of us.”
The group began to expand during the fall 2022 semester, recruiting its first executive board and garnering a small membership base of around 20. These new additions helped coordinate SWAP’s second clothing exchange event, held at Hereford Residential College.
Based on the encouraging turnout of their initial SWAP events, Rosario and Kupstas knew they wanted to expand to a bigger audience. In the spring of 2023, SWAP became a University-recognized contracted independent organization, or CIO. CIO status allowed SWAP to reserve University spaces to host larger-scale events and apply for the funding necessary to carry out its vision.
“Doing it all on your own is very difficult, especially with the CIO process,” Kupstas said. “If you have at least one other person who shares the same passion as you, that’s all you really need, because then it snowballs into something like SWAP.”
Over the years, SWAP’s following on Instagram has grown to more than 1,300. The organization has an executive board complete with outreach, fashion and sustainability chairs.
For their first event of the fall semester, SWAP held its first “SWAP Mini,” a smaller clothing exchange event, on Oct. 13. It followed two clothing donation days where students received vouchers that could be redeemed on the day of the event.
The SWAP Mini featured student vendors like Shelby Brachmann, who sold handmade jewelry; Carina Velocci, who marketed art; and Akari Hernandez, who provided on-site clothing alterations.
“[I donated] a lot of items from back home that mean a lot to me that I believe belong in a better home,” second-year student Clay Dickerson said at the SWAP Mini. “They are all items I used to love, but no longer need or want. I’m hoping that someone will love them as much as I used to.”
Outside of the main SWAP events, the group organizes carpools to local thrift shops to help students without transportation purchase secondhand items off Grounds.
What once started as an idea for an English writing course has become a reality, and Rosario and Kupstas hope that the idea lives on after they graduate.
“I’m motivated to help make the club into something that’s easily transferable to our new executive members so SWAP can live on,” Rosario said.
SWAP is gearing up for its “Big SWAP” on Dec. 3 from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Student Activities Building. This event will include food, live music, student vendors and a lot more clothes to sift through. For information on the Big SWAP and its donation days, check out the SWAP Instagram page.
The duo has one piece of advice for students who have an idea to better UVA or the surrounding community: Do not bury it.
“If you come to Grounds and there’s something that you wish was here, you can be that change; you can be the person that adds it,” Rosario said. “There are thousands of people here, and at least a few of them are going to agree with you, and they will reap the benefits with you as well if you make it come to fruition.
“If you have an idea, don’t think it’s unachievable … because anything that you put your mind to, you can do.”