Clothing Trade Money 12/23/14 Photo Credit: Cynthia Bond

Every year my fiancée holds an event called The Clothing Trade. It mirrors other similar events found throughout the world, some of them are held on a major scale, and include thousands of vendors. The thing that interests me most about the clothing trade, other than that I get a shot at getting some new books and men’s clothing, is the microcosmic aspect of the event itself, and the ways in which behavior within this micro-economy are affected by circumstances, and above all etiquette.

What is The Clothing Trade?

The clothing trade is an exchange of clothing, books, housewares and other items, primarily between longtime friends and their husbands or significant others. Each group sets up a store in one of the rooms of the house, and then there are three rounds of displaying and purchasing items followed by an auction. It’s somewhat like a silent benefit auction, where everyone is displaying auction items, and nothing is brand new (for the most part).

Fake Money, Real Stuff

One of the things about this holiday event that is particularly interesting is the use of fake, monopoly-type money. Everyone agrees that it has value, and everyone agrees that it can be used to purchase things from people’s stores. Books are available, expensive jewelry, shirts, art, and some stuff that can be worth well over $100. Everyone agrees to bring worthwhile items to the clothing trade, and as a result they are able to “buy” worthwhile items in exchange. Everybody Wins.

The Auction

The auction is one of the most fascinating aspects of the clothing trade, everything that has caught the interest of two or more people is sent to the auction at the end of the clothing trade. Then bids come in extremely quick and items are sorted out according to the highest bid, sometimes people will become intense and bid outrageous amounts of fake money. No one really has more than $200 in the fake money at any given time, but if someone wants something really badly, they’ll bid everything they have and there is potential for feelings to get hurt.

Clothing Trade People 12/23/14 Photo Credit: Cynthia Bond

Etiquette for the Win

The thing that holds the whole event together is a sense of etiquette for purchasing items. This year one of the couples had a lot of house ware items that they were getting rid of, because they had recently gotten wedding presents and had three versions of many things. They would sell entire lots of items for one clothing trade dollar. Another shop was trying to give people money to take some of the items they had, because they ended up with what seemed like too many clothing trade dollars. When the auction finally came around, there were some items that were of particular interest, and when it became clear that one person really wanted an item desperately, the other person would step down and stop bidding, essentially losing the bid on purpose.

What Does This Mean for Our Economy

There is an interesting parallel in our economy in that we all agree that money has value, when in reality it has zero intrinsic value. Businesses are built upon an agreement that everyone finds value in a note, dollar, or certain value stored in a bank’s electronic system. This agreement keeps the fabric of society together in some ways, and provides motivation. An unspoken rule that is present in The Clothing Trade that seems absent in the actual economy is a sense of etiquette. For the most part, if there was a job that two people really wanted, one wouldn’t defer because the other person wanted or even needed the job more. That might happen, but the likelihood is low. Additionally if there are limited resources it seems that people would rather fight to preserve their ownership of them rather than share them equitably. The Clothing Trade is in many ways a holiday time example of what an economy is, and an example of what an economy could be if we all took the effort to be more giving.