Sure, you could spend time arranging and taking pictures of your pre-loved fashion duds to auction them off on e-Bay — or get a few dollars by taking the pieces to Crossroads. But if you want fashion swapping to be almost as easy as Netflixing a DVD, here’s the latest idea green fashion mavens have dreamed up: thredUP.

Don’t wear most of your closet — but don’t want to spend money on a new closet? Think of thredUP as a Netflix-like fashion service, except instead of a library of DVDs, we have a fashion library created by thredUP members — which adds in an element of eco-fashionable surprise.

How does it work? You list on the thredUP library the fashions you no longer want — and mail them to eco-fashionistas who need those pieces. In exchange you get back new-to-you pieces from eco-fashionistas who wear your same size and share your sense of style.

No, you don’t have to painstakingly take photos of every item you want to trade; you simply name some basic wants, and expect to get something within that category. That’s where the element of surprise comes in!

What does the service cost? Basically, you get 3 fashion exchanges for $25. Pay that fee, and you’ll get 3 envelopes — and addresses of the like-minded fashionistas to whom you should mail your pre-loved clothes. Mail those off and wait for 3 new-to-you pieces to arrive.

Says James Reinhart, Chief Knitwit at thredUP: “Depending on the items you have, turnaround times can be less than a week to longer for more obscure things…. You only exchange items within the same tier (based on retail prices; so no Ann Taylor for Old Navy).”

Of course, you should only thredUP clothes in good shape. The Golden thredUP Rule, according to the website, this this: “Send only what you’d be willing to receive.” If other fashionistas break this rule and leave you victim, never fear. “Every item is review by the member who receives it,” says James, “so if you get an item that doesn’t meet our strict quality standards, we basically remove the bad apple who sent that from the system and we credit you for another swap.”

Ready to thredUP? You can first calculate how much your closet’s worth via a 60-second calculator on thredUP’s site. Then sign up! The site’s currently in Beta — but green LA girl readers can sign up now by using the code “greenLAgirl” minus the quotes — that code will also give you your first 3 exchanges for $12.50, half price. I’ve just signed up — and I’m waiting for more people to sign up so I can start swapping!

Update, 4/13/10: My eco-fashion adventures thredUp — plus thredUp Kids launches

Update: For those coming to this post now, thredUp has closed down its fashion swap site to focus just on thredUp Kids.

Images via thredUP

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