I’m not a packrat and I’m only as sentimental as the next mom. I mean, I saved a few crates of my kids’ baby clothes. Normal, right? My grandkids will look adorable in my kids’ old clothing.
Now, ten years later, I look at these bins and imagine my kids’ spouses saying, “Your mom is crazy.”
At this point, only part of the reason I keep them is sentimental. The other larger part is that unloading them would be a total pain. Listing the hoard on eBay would take the greater part of a month and rack up, say, $35.65 if I’m lucky. Goodwill is out because it’s too impersonal. I can’t give them away because I don’t know anyone with babies any more.
Which bites, because while I’m busy dismissing options for these togs, the fashion industry continues to pump out damaging dyes and chemicals to keep up with the demand for kids’ clothing.
It’s this conundrum that stylist, costume-designer, and mother of two-year old twins Haley Lieberman is tackling with Shop Tomorrows (which she refers to as “Tomorrows”). With Tomorrows, Haley envisions an “online hand-me-down network for parents to give and get kids' stuff without ever exchanging cash. Like Instagram meets Ebay, members shop from their friends, neighborhoods, and beyond, keeping kids’ stuff in our families and out of landfills.”
Plus, you know the tulip-print dress your daughter wore for her first birthday is going to someone who loves it and may even live near you so you can, like, visit it once in a while but not in a creepy way.
Users transact in points, effectively creating a barter exchange. The site will include recommended point “prices” based on item, brand, and condition. When you sell an item, you collect points which you can use to acquire other items.
Further, Haley says, “We are building a giant community so that you can connect to thousands of parents with clothes in the right size, season and style.” And if you know someone on the site with great taste you can click on their offerings and sift through all the cool stuff their kids wore.
As Tomorrows grows, Haley hopes to add adult clothing and household items to the network. She adds, “As we scale, we aim to offer the user the ability to trade their points for goods and services from our partner affiliates, or the points can be donated to a family in need through one of our partner organizations.”
For more information, visit ShopTomorrows.com.
So how does it work?
Snap photos of your items and post them to ShopTomorrows.com. Wait for someone to fall in love with your offerings and purchase any number of them from you.
Buyer pays a low transaction fee for the entire purchase, regardless of how many items are included.
You may mail your item(s) to the buyer or drop them off at a convenient Tomorrows-designated pick-up point, “like local boutiques and gyms,” to avoid packaging and travel pollutants.
Buyer rates and reviews your transaction and product, then waltzes off into the sunset, happy with their new stuff and in knowing they’re helping to make the earth a little bit greener.
