Conscious Costume

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Chicago, IL
Conscious Costume

Envisioning a world where human art and consumption are in harmony with the other communities and the natural world rather than extractive and exploitative.

08/23/2026

Saturday Night Fever at
Costumes by
Photo by Katie Simmkons-Barth

08/17/2026

Shopping at Thrift Shops is almost always a good choice (environmentally speaking), it helps them cycle through goods more quickly and get more on the floor. I encourage you to shop at independent or not-for-profit thrift shops that support a local cause where possible, rather than large, for-profit, national chain thrift stores.

However, it’s a different story when it comes to where we recommend you recycle your clothing....

https://www.consciouscostume.com/exclusive/pros-and-cons-of-donating-to-thrift-stores

08/11/2026

Always art made by humans, even if it's boring.

08/09/2026

Featuring my favorite dress in our collection!

08/08/2026

Did you know, if you set aside 1 piece every day from now to October 16th, you’ll have 70 pieces out of your costume closet and in the community?

Don’t have the room to hold it until the swap? DM us and we’ll hold it for you

08/02/2026

The greatest needs for our collection:
Well constructed period garments of all eras, particularly Regency Era
Well constructed or in good shape vintage
Plus size costumes of any era
2 and 3 piece matched suits
Matched sets of costumes for any era
Religious garb including nun wimples

At this time, we are only able to accept the gifts of certain items that are most in demand. For other rehoming or recycling needs, we charge a small processing fee. Thanks 💚 DM or comment to get the details!

07/24/2026

Unboxing new pieces! Longtime Circle Member 's monthly box of recycling gifted us some wonderful new pieces for our collection that really bring some summer color.

07/20/2026

When the world is on fire and you just want to make costumes. We get it.

07/17/2026

A little clip from our new video guide for creating a listing! We have both a video and written guide that can be found at https://www.consciouscostume.com/free-articles/creating-a-listing

07/13/2026

How much does sustainability cost?

Well, we made $0.07 in donations per pound of textiles redistributed at our HUGE October swap. But it cost us MUCH more to actually do the event and most of the labor is done by volunteers!

Our Circle members are crucial to that mission, you allow us to live our values and sustain this work year after year. Thank you is not enough for the debt of gratitude that I owe. Please check out our new Supporters page to see all of the individuals and organizations who have made this work possible.

In previous years, we’ve taken textiles to Savers where they paid us $0.23 per pound but likely 80% of that went to landfill.

Instead, we now sort and rehome textiles as close to zero waste as we can manage. We prioritize working with local mutual aid organizations and free closets and invite many charities to the swap to take what they think will be most valuable for their communities.

In addition to making costume art more affordable, accessible, and sustainable, we extend that mission to everyone who wears clothes (which is hopefully everyone). We want to connect costume artists to ways for their materials to have an impact within and beyond the costume community.

Address

1240 N Homan Avenue, Suite 3C-2
Chicago, IL
60651

Opening Hours

Monday

3pm - 6pm

Website

https://www.consciouscostume.com/

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