Did you KNow that?
We have enough clothing on Earth to sustain the next 6 generations of humans.
Join us in reversing this daily compounding effect
SWAP CIRCLE is a community-driven initiative that promotes mindful consumption through curated clothing swaps and resource-sharing events. An exciting new project of Circle Ahead, it invites participants to circulate pre-loved garments, mend and repurpose fashion, and connect through sustainability and creativity. At its core, SWAP CIRCLE is about reducing waste, celebrating personal style, and building community through conscious exchange.
Our founders
Like you, we’re committed to mindful consumption
Wati Grossman is a former Australian lawyer. She is a 35-year design veteran in the American fashion industry. Her decades of experience encompass every stage of the design and manufacturing process, but her true expertise is as a technical designer and patternmaker in men’s, women's and children’s wear. For more than a decade she ran her own popular eponymous label Wati Design specializing in children's wear.
She edits and is the publisher of the fashion sustainability magazine Circle Ahead which encourages mindful consumption and promotes the appreciation of well-loved, passed-on, vintage and second-hand garments and accessories. Together with Mary Lynn Fitton, Wati started Swap Circle as a new initiative of Circle Ahead that aims to build community, and add to the growing movement worldwide to reduce, reuse and repurpose.
Mary Lynn Fitton, RN, MS, FNP founded The Art of Yoga Project (AYP) in 2005, a non-profit bringing trauma-informed yoga and creative arts to system-involved youth. She is a nurse practitioner (UC-San Francisco) with specialties in neuroscience, women’s and adolescent health.
A certified yoga teacher since 1998 and international speaker, her work has been featured in the Washington Post, NPR, Yoga Journal, The San Francisco Examiner, The Mercury News, the International Journal of Yoga Therapy, and The Huffington Post. Currently, Mary Lynn works with local artists to create the art curricula at AYP for 30 sites in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has been doing clothing swaps her entire adult life and feels grateful to have joined with Wati to create Swap Circle.
Vision
To advance the movement to reduce, reuse, repurpose and recycle. We change the way people consume. Our participants value mindful consumption and practice discernment, primarily sourcing from their own communities versus shopping regular retail. SWAP CIRCLE says “Let’s avoid conformity, embrace individuality, and become better stewards of our planet in the process.”
Mission
To model sustainable alternatives to traditional sourcing of clothing. We inspire replication of this mindful approach to consumption, offering celebrations of style, activism and community.
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Community
We offer connection through clothing. Each garment carries a history and we share stories with each other at Swap Circles, adding meaning and depth to your experience of reuse.
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Reuse, Repurpose
SWAP CIRCLE assists participants in seeing their clothing in new and mindful ways: Can you pair it with something you hadn’t thought of before to give it new life? Can you mend it or redesign it in some way? Or is it time to pass it on to another SWAP CIRCLE friend?
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Unique, meaningful experience
As a SWAP CIRCLE participant, you will be welcomed into an upbeat, nurturing environment. The space will be clean, aesthetic and creatively inspiring. Our hope is that you will feel seen and that you matter. Someone will be available to greet you and offer optional style advice and apparel suggestions.
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Freedom of Expression
We encourage our participants to not follow trends and fashion “do’s and don’ts.” We foster and applaud your individual creativity and personal style.
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Integrity, Generosity, Honesty
SWAP CIRCLE participants will be treated fairly. We value a spirit of positivity, goodwill and shared abundance. SWAP CIRCLE events are not for those who are looking to resell the clothing they obtain; the hope is that our participants will enjoy their items themselves until it’s time to pass on to the next person.
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Quality
We strive to offer medium to luxury designer and vintage clothing. That said, we prefer to accept and exchange your fast-fashion items as an alternative to having them contribute to land-fill and its negative consequences on our planet.
Let’s connect
You’re a part of our community.