HuffPost Did An Office Clothing Swap. And You Can Too.

This article is part of HuffPosts Reclaim campaign, an ongoing project spotlighting the worlds waste crisis and how we can begin to solve it.

Free stuff! Everyone loves free stuff.

Everyone also has a bag of clothes at home thats full of items he or she hasnt worn in ages. You probably have one, too a bag youve been meaning to donate for months.

A simple solution? Host a free office clothes swap. People get to purge their wardrobe of unwanted items, and find some new treasures in the process.

The Huffington Post hosted a swap for its New York City employees on Tuesday and Wednesday. We collected over 350 pieces of clothes and accessories on the first day. The following day, we let people choose new items from the donated goods. More than half of the donated items were reclaimed the rest we donated to a local Goodwill.

Heres how we did it:

Damon DahlenHuffington Post

Organization is key. Depending on the size of your office, you might want to take one day to accept and sort through donations, and one day to let people browse the donations and "shop." HuffPost has a fairly large staff, so we did our clothes swap over two days.

Damon Dahlen/Huffington Post

On donation day, employees bring in whatever old clothes they don't wear anymore. For each item they bring in, they get one token, redeemable for one article of clothing on swap day. (We cut our tokens out of paper, but you could use anything.)

Damon DahlenHuffington Post

Then comes the hard part: Sorting through everything and separating it by size and gender -- and weeding out the damaged items. It takes a while, but it makes the exchange process so much easier.

Damon DahlenHuffington Post

You might have to do some sprucing up. Pet hair can stick to clothing like sweaters and scarves.

Damon DahlenHuffington Post

The best advice we can offer about organizing your donations: invest in some hangers. Getting clothes up off tables helps you showcase some of the best pieces -- and it's easier to organize. Plus, we found that people were more eager to select items when they were hanging up, instead of sitting folded on a table.

Damon DahlenHuffington Post

The neater things look, the more fun people will have. No one wants to sift through a messy pile. Make it easy for them!

Damon DahlenHuffington Post

Once everything is sorted and arranged nicely, you can start letting people into the swap.

Damon DahlenHuffington Post

People with tokens -- that is, the folks who donated clothing -- should get first dibs. One token per item, just to make it fair!

Damon DahlenHuffington Post

When all the token-holders have had their turn to pick items, you can open the swap up to everyone else.

Damon DahlenHuffington Post

You might be surprised by some of the unique items you find -- like this T-shirt with a built-in fanny pack. Would wear!

Damon DahlenHuffington Post

Be warned, though, you'll have to re-arrange things throughout the day to keep your setup looking tidy.

Damon DahlenHuffington Post

It's worth it!

Damon DahlenHuffington Post

It's good to leave some space for featured items, too. Don't let things get too jumbled.

Damon DahlenHuffington Post

Of the more than 350 pieces that HuffPost employees donated to our event, only 150 were left at the end of the swap.

Damon Dahlen/Huffington Post

Most people found something they love.

Damon DahlenHuffington Post

It was just plain fun.

Damon Dahlen/Huffington Post

When we were done, we packed up the unclaimed items and brought them to a Goodwill near the office. Then we sat back and enjoyed the spoils of the swap.