In place of amps and guitars, the stage at Chronic Town last Saturday was filled with paisley prints, retro jackets, leather bags, strappy heels and beaded necklaces.

The stage was set up for a community clothing exchange, but unlike other vintage sales, no money exchanged hands. Instead, the clothes were the currency.

"It's about redispersing goods in the community without money," said Cecilia Ebitz, an organizer of the inaugural exchange.

Three State College inhabitants -- Cecilia Ebitz, Jasmine Corey and John Stitzer -- started the exchange, which Corey said will be taking place monthly. Future dates have yet to be set.

"It started with all the rejected and forgotten clothing we had," Corey said.

She described the community clothing exchange as an opportunity for people to bring in unwanted clothing items and exchange them for the clothing that was left from previous swaps. For every item someone brings to exchange, they receive a ticket that can be redeemed for another piece of clothing. If there's nothing they like there, they can save the ticket and redeem it at the next clothing swap.

"I tried holding a yard sale before, but didn't get much out of it. You get a few bucks, but this is more fun," Corey said.

Many came to the exchange prepared and brought old clothes or accessories to exchange for items on the racks.

Cali Buckley, a Penn State staff member, brought in a whole bag of clothes to trade.

"I hate buying new clothes and what I do get I end up trading with friends anyway, so I think this was a really fantastic idea," she said.

However, some just took off the clothes they were wearing to exchange for new finds.

"It can be a very spontaneous experience," Ebitz said.

During the transactions, there is no hierarchy for ranking clothing.

"You can come in with a scarf and come out with a leather jacket. It's less materialistic," Ebitz said.

The exchange also donates unwanted clothes to local organizations.

"We pick out the gems from the last exchange to use for the next one and the other clothes we give to various charities and thrift stores," Stitzer said.

The group thought the swap was a success.

"There's been a really good turnout, a lot better than we expected," he said.

The exchange is also a way of preventing wastefulness, he added.

"It's a pretty good idea, " said Cassie Rothrock (senior-art).

"It's better than giving my stuff to the dumpsters."