TAKE OFF YOUR CLOTHES IN 5 CITIES THIS SPRING!

TAKE OFF YOUR CLOTHES IN 5 CITIES THIS SPRING!

Clothing swaps build community, save money and precious natural resources.

MONTREAL, February 16, 2012 – The SWAP Team

[http://theswapteam.org], a nonprofit social enterprise based in Montreal, Quebec, announced today its spring/summer clothing swap events “Take Off Your Clothes” starting April 21 to July, 2012.

Five Canadian cities will be home to the swap: Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Montreal.
Confirmed spring/summer 2012 dates and venues for Take Off Your Clothes include:

Winnipeg, MB    April 21, 2012       Delta Winnipeg
Ottawa, ON        May 6, 2012         Mambo
Toronto, ON       May 11, 2012        Enoch Turner Schoolhouse
Calgary, AB       June 3, 2012         TBA
Montreal, QC     July 28-29, 2012    Place des Arts

Take Off Your Clothes encourages participants to strip down their wardrobes for an afternoon of clothes sharing and re-use. At Take Off Your Clothes, participants bring “like new” or gently worn, clean clothing, shoes and accessories for men, women and children in good repair. (Underwear, socks, tank tops, pajamas, swimwear, bathrobes, etc. are not accepted.) Every item accepted into the event provides the participant with one exchange coupon , valid for any other item. Fashion stylists are on duty to give free advice, and all remaining clothing is donated to charity partners such as Goodwill/Fripe-Prix Renaissance. In 2011, The SWAP Team donated an estimated 14,000 clothing items to charities thanks to these events.

“Sharing is good! These events are a great way to save money, conserve natural resources and be charitable,” noted Aleece Germano, President and Founder of The SWAP Team. Since its first edition of Take Off Your Clothes in 2007, The SWAP Team has reported more than 30,000 garments swapped, more than 37,000 garments donated to charities and more than $600,000 saved by swapping clothing instead of buying new.

Clothes swapping is part of the Collaborative Consumption movement and the more recent re-commerce trend. “Smart shoppers know that they can get something of value by trading in their clothes,” added Vice President Necole Hines. “Finding something fabulous at a clothing swap can be just as exciting as buying a new item, but at a fraction of the price and a much lesser environmental impact.”

Admission to Take off Your Clothes varies by city from $5 to $15 and is open to the public.

For updates on hours, admission, entertainment, buying tickets online and more, please visit:  [http://theswapteam.org]

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About The SWAP Team

The SWAP Team is a non-profit social enterprise and pioneers of the Collaborative Consumption movement in Canada. It is the creator of “Take Off Your Clothes” – a giant clothing swap for charity. Since its launch in June 2009, The SWAP Team has formed chapters in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Boston, Winnipeg, Quebec City and NYC and is ever-expanding. The organization is run by volunteer effort, has exchanged over 30,000 pieces of clothing to date and donated over 37,000 garments to charities to distribute to individuals and families in need.

For more information, please visit:  [http://www.theswapteam.org]
Twitter:  @swap_team [http://twitter.com/swap_team]
Facebook:  theswapteam [http://facebook.com/theswapteam]

About Goodwill Industries International

Goodwill Industries International is a network of 165 community-based agencies in the United States and Canada with 14 affiliates in 13 other countries. Goodwill is one of North America’s top five most valuable and recognized nonprofit brands as well as a leading social services enterprise (Source: Cone Nonprofit Power Brand 100). Goodwill agencies are innovative and sustainable social enterprises that fund job training programs, employment placement services and other community-based programs by selling donated clothing and household items in more than 2,600 stores and online at shopgoodwill.com. Local Goodwill agencies also build revenue and create jobs by contracting with businesses and government to provide a wide range of commercial services, including packaging and assembly, food service preparation, and document imaging and shredding. In 2011, three million people in the United States and Canada benefited from Goodwill’s career services. Goodwill channels 84 percent of its revenues directly into its programs and services.

To find a Goodwill location near you, use the online locator at

[http://www.goodwill.org], or call (800) GOODWILL.
Twitter:  @GoodwillIntl [http://twitter.com/goodwillintl].
Facebook:  GoodwillIntl [http://facebook.com/goodwillintl].

About the Donate Movement

The Donate Movement is a global movement inspiring consumers and businesses to join Goodwill in promoting the positive impact donating has on people and the planet. For  110 years, Goodwill has been an environmental pioneer and social innovator of the “reduce, reuse, repurpose” practice. Goodwill diverts more than two billion pounds of donated goods from landfills each year, and used the revenues from the collection and sale of these donated goods to fund job training programs in the communities where they were received. An industry-first, Goodwill’s patent-pending Donation Impact Calculator converts donations into their social impact. To learn more about the Donate Movement or to calculate your impact, visit [http://donate.goodwill.org].

Goodwill Industries of Alberta

In Alberta, the SWAP team supports Goodwill Industries of Albert. A not for profit agency whose mission is to change the lives of people with disabilities and other barriers to employment by turning household donations and other resources into training and jobs. For 61 years, we have helped these individuals gain employment, taught them the skills they need to successfully keep that employment, and helped them be active members of the community.

About Fripe-Prix Renaissance

Founded in 1994, Renaissance is a non-profit organization whose mission is to facilitate the social and professional reintegration of people having difficulty entering the workforce while enlisting a commitment to take concrete steps towards protecting the environment.

Renaissance has 10 Fripe-Prix stores, 1 outlet store, 10 donation centres and 110 donation bins located in the Greater Montreal area. Since 1994, it has helped 2,223 people return to work or school. It has also diverted 4,200 tons of clothing and household goods from landfill sites every year.

For more information, please visit:

[http://www.renaissancequebec.ca]

Take Off Your Clothes is a registered trademark of The SWAP Team.
© 2007-2012 All rights reserved.