ThredUP: Think Netflix, but for your closet

Sure, there's peer-to-peer music sharing, peer-to-peer video streaming, and peer-to-peer Internet telephony. But peer-to-peer clothes swapping, online? That's a new one.

The New York Times has an interesting profile on ThredUP, a new online service that lets members give their wardrobes a makeover by trading clothes with each other, with a little help from an automated matchmaking system.

So, here's how it works (and no, I haven't tried it yet): Once you sign up with the (still in private beta) service, you go through your wardrobe, find articles of clothing that you're starting to grow tired of, and add them to your virtual ThredUP "closet." Instead of taking pictures, you just designate a brand, size, and "use" for each item (and for now, ThreadUP is only dealing with shirts and tops).

Once that's done ... you wait, until the ThredUP system finds fellow members who might be a match for the clothes in your "closet." You then "claim" the match, send the items off (in pre-paid envelopes; a three-pack costs $25, according to the Times, otherwise the service is free), and then you become eligible to get matched up with the clothes of other members.

OK, so what will you get in trade for your duds through ThredUP? Not necessarily something better, according to the site's F.A.Q.—just something different. Not happy with what you got? Then just add it back to your ThreadUP closet for another trade. But if you like what you got, you keep it.

Hmmm ... so what if the shirt you get has a big stain on it? According to the ThredUP rules, you're only supposed to trade "new" or "like new" clothes—so yeah, if you've got an old shirt with a spaghetti sauce on it, don't add it to your closed. The site also has a review system so you can rate the clothes you receive and flag members who send soiled (ick) items.

It's an interesting concept, and I guess you really could use it like Netflix (and it just so happens that Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is an advisor to ThredUP, notes the Times) if you wanted; in other words, have a constantly rotating selection of, say, three shirts, so long as you're fine with shelling out the cash for the pre-paid envelopes. Or maybe it's like Pandora: an adventure in clothing discovery.

So, what do you think: Would you be open to swapping clothes online, peer-to-peer style? How does the $25 fee for three pre-paid envelopes strike you?

Related:
Trading In Your Old Threads on the Web [The New York Times]