Chick Chat: Sustainable Fashion Swaps with Amanda Sweet
Image: Tori Lorraine Photography
Meet Amanda Sweet. Thrift-savvy fashionista. Event coordinator. Community organizer. Creative fairy godmother. Sustainable queen.
Our CNK Chick Chats aim to highlight the women who are doing work in their community. SneakHER culture goes beyond our shared love of footwear; it’s rooted in the journeys of inspirational everyday women who make magic happen, even when the doom and gloom of world tries to bring them down. It’s about women who put words into action. Women who uplift others. Women who make waves and take issues into their own hands.
Enter Amanda Sweet, Filipina Detroit native who created a community clothing swap organization. What originally was a way for Sweet and her girlfriends to expand their wardrobes became an inventive solution to an ever-growing issue in the fashion industry: clothing waste. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 17 million tons of textile waste ended up in landfills in 2018.
Doing our part to combat fast fashion and excessive clothing waste starts in our own neighborhoods. Read on to hear from Amanda Sweet about how secondhand clothes can be key to living a more sustainable- and fabulous- lifestyle.
Image: Tori Lorraine Photography
What’s the 411? Who is Amanda sweet?
My name is Amanda sweet, and I’m the “creative fairy godmother”; I love to help people execute their creative dreams and help coordinate events and spaces for people to do just that.
I just accepted a new position as community manager for a co-working space called Bamboo in Royal Oak. It’s a brand new space and I have a lot of freedom to get super creative with entrepreneurs and creatives. When I was in Texas, I created a community organization called The ReVamp where we hosted quarterly clothing swaps and promoted sustainable fashionable education. The plan is to continue these events in Detroit, where I’m currently living.
So… What is The ReVamp?
The ReVamp is a collective of people who are passionate about fashion, upcycling, and recycling. Quarterly we bring people together in the city we’re hosting to trade their clothes in large scale swaps. People bring in their gently used clothing and then browse all of the clothing other swappers have brought.
On top of that we also donate any excess clothing from the swaps to the communities through nonprofits in the area. We also do quarterly events where we teach people how to make their own patches, sew hems, things like that. We also do marketing where we showcase people in outfits they’ve thrifted and recycled.
One of The ReVamp community swaps in Denton, Texas held in early 2020 pre-pandemic.
Image: Tori Lorraine Photography
sustainability, upcycled fashion.. Why are these important to you?
That's just how I grew up; my parents were hardworking people and we didn't have a lot of excess money. Thrifting was just how we got our clothes. It was the norm, we never really had new, brand name things. When I started to earn my own money, I started to buy my own clothing.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned more about the importance of sustainability in fashion. When I first started swapping with friends, I wasn’t even thinking about sustainability- I was thinking about the clothes we’d get! The ReVamp team and I began educating ourselves about clothing wasted and the positive impact things like swaps can have on the community’s ecosystem.
Fast fashion is getting faster and faster every day, and we as consumers don't see the impact that it makes on the people that are making the clothing. Not only is secondhand fashion super versatile and budget-friendly, but it helps the community, it helps the people that are creating the clothing, and the ripple effect it has is so incredibly impactful.
“Fast fashion is getting faster and faster every day, and we as consumers don’t see the impact that it makes on the people that are making the clothing.”
Amanda Sweet and her boo, Lebree Jones.
Image: Tori Lorraine Photography
What's your favorite thing about swapping?
One of my favorite things about swapping is seeing other people wearing my clothes. I have a bit of an eclectic fashion sense; I don't really have one particular style. It’s so much fun to see the clothing have a second life, to see them use my donated clothes in ways I didn’t use them before.
Another is the excess clothing we donate afterwards. As a person who’s been a victim of domestic violence, it feels good to donate clothing to organizations like Friends of the Family, who support women and families who are displaced due to violence in the home. Doing this just makes my heart explode. There’s no other words and I’m so grateful that we’re able to do that.
When it comes to thrifting, how do you go about finding cool and unique items?
Location. With consignment shops and thrift stores, I'm thinking about the city that I'm going to be thrifting. The city and the style of the people living in that area are going to tell you a lot about what’s going to pop up in the stores themselves. If I want something a little bit more fancy for an evening dinner, I'm going to go to the cities and areas that have upscale restaurants and shopping malls.
If you're like me and you're on the plus side, it helps to locate cities that have more plus-size friendly stores. There’s likely a larger population of plus-sized people there, therefore more plus-sized people donating unwanted clothing to their local thrift shops.
A really good example of this is the Salvation Army in downtown Detroit. All of the church ladies donate their stuff there because there's a bunch of churches in that area of the city. I’ll stop in at that location if I’m looking for a crazy vintage two piece suit.
When I'm in the store, I use my hands when browsing to feel textures. I go for textures first, then patterns. I keep my mind open to the possibilities of what I can put together and what kind of crazy look can be made from what I find.
Image: Tori Lorraine Photography
Is there a certain sneak(HER) you’re in love with right now?
I want to be a sneakHERhead- it’s goals.
When my budget lines up with this new job, I'm definitely going to become one. When I was younger I loved the high top Air Force 1. Those were my jam because they just went with absolutely everything.
Right now I'm kind of drooling over the new Converse styles coming out. The Run Star Motion Converse are so different. They're so energetic, they have a lot of personality, and I've just been eyeing them for a hot minute.
I just really love a sneaker that I can dress up, dress down, and be as flexible and versatile as my own style.
Combining ethical slow fashion with our favorite kicks… now THAT’S sneakHer culture!
Keep up to date on Amanda Sweet and her creative endeavors here.