Posted: 12 Apr 2010 06:35 AM PDT

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 12 /PRNewswire/ -- thredUP, the premier peer-to-peer online clothing exchange, today announced the launch of its much-anticipated service for kids clothing. thredUP kids is the place for America's busiest families to conveniently exchange kids clothing online.

The service aims to bring a new level of affordability, convenience and eco-consciousness to a highly fragmented, billion-dollar market for second-hand children's clothing. thredUP kids is designed to help parents easily swap clothes their kids have outgrown for great new items that fit. thredUP's best-in-class interface allows parents to exchange with their closest friends or with a national network of parents -- all from the convenience of home.

thredUP kids combines the best features of some of the most popular sites on the web: Like Netflix, parents can queue up a box of gently used clothes to receive. Then, similar to eBay, members build virtual boxes of clothing to exchange. Finally, like StubHub, thredUP enables, coordinates and manages the exchanges. The marketplace facilitates exact matches, ensures quality and remedies the lack of coordination that plagues offline clothing swaps. The service is a complete end-to-end solution for busy parents.

"Children grow out of clothes every 3-6 months, having worn outfits only a couple of times," said James Reinhart, Chief Knitwit of thredUP. "Currently parents are spending upwards of $20,000 on kids clothing by the time their child is 17. And they're retiring some 1,400 items! We've found that many 'swap, buy, sell' sites are not that enticing to busy parents. They are just too much work. thredUP is all about convenience."

The kids service launches on the heels of the popular men's and women's shirt-swapping site, which went live in October 2009. While this service already has 10,000 members, the team anticipates that thredUP kids will be an even bigger hit in the hand-me-down market.

"The initial feedback has been tremendous," said Oliver Lubin, Chief Design Knitwit. "In the first two weeks of a private beta launch we have over 1,500 excited parents signed-up to start swapping. Members seem to love the intuitive interface and overall thredUP experience."

The service launches invite-only today. For more information about thredUP kids visit: thredup.com

About the company

thredUP.com is the brainchild of co-founders James Reinhart, Oliver Lubin, and Chris Homer. Both Reinhart and Homer are recent graduates of the Harvard Business School and all three developed the idea in the Spring of 2009. The company is based in Cambridge, MA and is advised by current Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.

SOURCE thredUP

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HOPE yard sale, kids and canines ice cream social - Tucson Citizen

Posted: 12 Apr 2010 10:31 AM PDT

Saywer Says: Check out these upcoming fundraisers to help our local animal shelters.

Dogs with shovel tongues have distinct ice cream lapping advantage/Ryn Gargulinski

What: HOPE Animal Shelter Yard Sale
When: Saturday, April 17, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: HOPE Animal Shelter, 2011 E. 12th St.

Get ready for all the glee of a yard sale with the added benefit of helping homeless animals. HOPE Animal Shelter, Tucson's only no-kill shelter for dogs and cats, is holding one this weekend.

The shelter needs volunteers to help with the sale and donations.

Volunteers are especially needed with setup and breakdown before and after the event at 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., respectively.

Donations can include anything that's not broken or filthy, but the shelter does not accept clothing. Drop off donations at the shelter Tuesday, April 13 through Thursday, April 15 between noon and 4 p.m.

For more info or to volunteer, e-mail Marsha Wronski at mlwronski@yahoo.com

Humane Society of Southern Arizona Kids and Canines Ice Cream Social
When: Saturday, May 8, from 2 to 4 p.m.
Where: Companions for Life Center, 3465 E. Kleindale Road
How much: $7 per person, dogs enter free – kids without dogs also welcome
Register in advance at www.hssaz.org, call 321-3704 ext. 142, or e-mail ikoopmanleyva@hssaz.org

Kids, canines and ice cream are the name of the game for Humane Society of Southern Arizona's fundraising ice cream social. Kids grab your hounds and get ready for an all-you-can-eat ice cream buffet.

Kids get regular ice cream while canines get a special mixture made specifically for pooches topped with kibble, veggies or crushed dog bone.

"The 'dog ice cream' is a nutritious mix of bananas and yogurt and has very little lactose, a substance that is plentiful in regular ice cream and is hard for dogs to digest," the HSSAZ news release said.

"Door prizes, contests and other ice cream social activities – like musical chairs where the DOG has to SIT when the music stops – are just part of the festivities."

Sawyer Says: Count me in for both, as long as I get some new dog stuff and the sale and the ice cream doesn't have lots of lactose in it – cheese, especially, disrupts my belly.
Phoebe Says: Bark bark.
Ryn Says: Can adults come to the ice cream social, too?

What do you think?