Would you join a kids clothing swap club?

[JaneenM2]

Hi,

I'm a University of Edinburgh business student looking into starting my first business and need feedback.

I'm trying to get a better sense for whether or not I should pursue this, so please let me know what you think.

If you like it, let me know so I can build it. If not, also let me know, so I can move on. Would also be glad to hear any concerns.

My idea is for a clothes swapping club where members swap bundles of 10 items - starting with Winter clothes (ex: bundle of 10 winter clothes for a boy age 4).

Further details are in my survey: www.surveymonkey.com/r/SBFVPPN

Many thanks!

I personally wouldn't swap for the reason that people's perception of Excellent condition is so different.

I have purchased items / bundles on EBay described as excelkent condition / good condition and when it arrived I binned it due to being bobbly / worn etc.

Whereas I would only ever sell things that were pristine.

So I guess it would be too hard to meet swappers expectations

Thanks for the feedback! That's a good concern. Any ideas on how to help everyone realize the clothes need to be in the kind of excellent condition you would dress your kids in? Do pictures help?

Yes I think photos would help , especially of collars/ cuffs/ neck areas as these frequently get most worn.

I buy a lot of second hand clothing for myself and my kids so I totally get the wanting to re-use by swapping .

Perhaps having scales like
1- Brand new with. tags
2- New without tags
3- Excellent / hardly worn
4- Well worn - lots of life left

So if there was a service like yours I would only ever swap signing categories 1-3 and would expect to get that same category back

I personally wouldn't want well worn but perhaps some parents would for nursery / garden clothes and would just swap as their kids grew?

• within categories 1-3 .. Sorry , feeding a toddler at the moment !

I agree with what other have said. I like the idea of it though as children's clothes, especially baby clothes are grown out of before they have had much wear and it would save money to swap them for whatever you need next. I also commend this as an ethical practice - recycling and avoiding waste.
I think I'd like to know a bit about what was in the bundle I was getting e.g. summer or winter clothes, colour etc.
It would also be useful to have things like coats, waterproofs, swimwear etc separate.

I suppose the other thing is the postage.
I think you would have to recommend that everybody posted their "swaps" recorded delivery so that in the instance of a parcel going missing , they can then claim postage costs back from Royal Mail.

I am a seasoned Ebayer and the big companies can cover losses by refunding through Paypal etc, but a small business like this , you would be relying on good faith to actually get the parcel.

Sorry , not being negative just working my way through the ' what ifs' for you

There's no way I would want a surprise bundle - what if it was full of 'mummy's little princess' t-shirts?

I wouldn't want to swap for the same size, surely people would want the next size up?

Also, a bundle of age 4 with 10 items from different shops could have massively varying sizes, meaning that half the items don't fit. eg Next kids' clothes are generally bigger than Gap's range.

My reservations would also be the condition of the clothing and people's varying attitudes and opinions re this.

I think also that this would be a more useful service for younger children. I have a 9yo ds and nothing of his bottoms (school grey trousers, tracksuit bottoms, jeans) is ever able to go anywhere other than clothes recycling as it will be completely worn out. Today, I've sent him to school in a pair of trousers with a small hole in the knee that I noticed last night!

Yes , totally agree with the older children's things getting more worn.

My 4 year olds clothing also gets very worn out through being at nursery and I usually put these items in a ' rag bag' in charity collection pints.

Smaller baby items before they start crawling etc usually stay in the best condition.

I have newborn/ 3-6 month items that I have happily packed away again to re use for any future children .

Hardly anything to pass down from 2-3 onwards ...

Maybe you would find this with swaps too

Thanks everyone! Those are some great suggestions!

We can add categories to help with the condition of the clothes, space to describe the items, and make suggestions for postage.

Don't worry, it's not negative. I appreciate the help working through the 'what ifs' -- all good things to consider!

hmm that is another good question - are the majority of clothes for 2 - 3 year olds and onwards not in good enough condition to swap?

I think you would just have less in the older categories

So whereas say 90% of my baby / toddler items were still excellent condition , perhaps less than 50% were suitable to pass on to a sibling or swap .

I wouldn't do it.
Firstly, there's tge "perception of condition" thing.
Then the massive variation in size between manufacturers/genders.
Also, above about 3 or 4, my DC have worn out their clothes rather than grown out of them.
I also think that taste in clothing is very personal, doubly so when you have a very particular child to please too! A spin off to this is that - and this may be slightly unusual - my daughter has no interest in dresses and skirts, or fairy logos or glitter. so I'd be unlikely to be interested in a "girls bundle". Equally, she doesn't want camoflage or aeroplanes, so I'd be unlikely to be interested in a typical boy's bundle.

Thanks again for the input . Helps alot!

Sounds like it would make sense to focus on baby/toddler - at least to get started.

Differences in manufactures and taste are tough ones to get around.I'm hoping maybe asking members to list the brand may help a bit with the differences across manufacturers, so at least mums have a better idea of what's in that bundle.