Member since July 2025
Emily Petroff is the founder and CEO of Switch Society, a membership-based circular wardrobe that started in Billings, Montana and is expanding in the Phoenix area through franchising. Members bring what they no longer wear, earn points, and shop everyone's closet. The model has circulated over 500,000 items, including over 74,000 Family Swap pieces given to families free.
Emily is a TEDx speaker ("The Future of Fashion: What If Clothing Were Free," TEDxBillings, December 2024), creator of the Free Fashion Revolution, and holds a master's degree in psychology. She has been speaking for more than a decade and spent more than a decade as a business and authenticity coach.
She is an everyday woman building a real business, not a designer or high-fashion insider. With no technical background, she built Switch Society's software platform and operating systems with AI (vibe coding, tools like Lovable, and AI teammates), and she speaks plainly about what that looks like for founders who do not have a tech team. Her talks center on community, access over ownership, category creation, and franchising a purpose-driven model for women 55 and up.
Emily is passionate about giving women permission to feel good in their clothes and in their businesses without the pressure of more buying, more performance, or more waiting until they feel ready.
Through Switch Society she built a community-powered retail model where access replaces ownership, and where belonging is the product. She cares about circular fashion that ordinary women can actually use, about founders who build with AI without pretending to be engineers, and about opening franchise doors for purpose-driven women 55 and up who want a business rooted in community.
She lights up when someone realizes they do not need a bigger closet, a bigger budget, or a technical degree. They need a better system and the right room.
The first clothing swap was supposed to be a fun weekend. Women showed up with bags of clothes in freezing weather, and something shifted that had nothing to do with trends. One woman said it was the first time she had felt beautiful since her divorce. Another said she could finally shop without shame. Removing money from the equation unlocked dignity, community, and access. That day became Switch Society: a membership-based circular wardrobe that has now circulated over 500,000 items from Billings, Montana, and is expanding in the Phoenix area through franchising.
I did not set out to start a movement. I wanted to host a clothing swap where women could trade what no longer worked and maybe find something they loved. That weekend changed the trajectory of my life.
People poured in with bags of clothing. Women laughed, cried, helped each other, and lit up in the mirror. It was not about the clothes. It was about permission, community, and access. When we removed the barrier of money, something deeper unlocked. We were trading stories, shedding old identities, and reclaiming joy.
So I built a different kind of business: a membership-based circular wardrobe where women shop freely, swap endlessly, and experience style without guilt or waste. What started as one swap in Billings, Montana has circulated over 500,000 items and is expanding in the Phoenix area through franchising, with a path for purpose-driven women 55 and up to own a location.
Along the way I built the software and operating systems myself with AI, with no technical background, because the business needed tools that did not exist off the shelf. That is the story I tell on stages: community first, systems second, and AI as a co-founder for everyday operators.
Event: AI Power Women, Episode 01 (first guest), hosted by Michelle Jones-Walker; Date: July 15, 2026; Location: Virtual (recorded; Emily joined from the Phoenix area); YouTube: https://youtu.be/lzMmOxZK6U4; Episode page: https://aipowerwomen.com/episodes/emily-petroff. A 100-minute video conversation (plus a shorter AI Cut) covering how Switch Society grew from a Facebook clothing swap into a membership-based circular wardrobe, category creation, franchising, and building the company's software and ops systems with AI as a non-technical founder. Emily was the show's first guest. Full episode page and YouTube are public.
Event: Apps in a Day Build-a-Thon (hosted by ABWAI); Date: October 22, 2026; Location: Virtual; Media page: https://www.switchsociety.org/media (Recent Talks); Event site: https://www.appsbuildathon.com/ticket. A partner session for founders in the Buildathon and its certification program. Emily shared how Switch Society went from tools taped together with spreadsheets to custom systems built around real problems, and why non-technical founders should start with the problem, not the product.
Event: TEDxBillings; Date: Talk given October 11, 2024; published December 17, 2024; Location: Billings, Montana; Link: https://youtu.be/ZGhgiAElf-E. Emily's TEDx talk on what happens when we stop buying more and start circulating what we already have. Introduces the membership-based circular wardrobe model and the idea that nothing is wasted when community and access replace ownership.
The first clothing swap was supposed to be a fun weekend. Women showed up with bags of clothes in freezing weather, and something shifted that had nothing to do with trends. One woman said it was the first time she had felt beautiful since her divorce. Another said she could finally shop without shame. Removing money from the equation unlocked dignity, community, and access. That day became Switch Society: a membership-based circular wardrobe that has now circulated over 500,000 items from Billings, Montana, and is expanding in the Phoenix area through franchising.
I did not set out to start a movement. I wanted to host a clothing swap where women could trade what no longer worked and maybe find something they loved. That weekend changed the trajectory of my life.
People poured in with bags of clothing. Women laughed, cried, helped each other, and lit up in the mirror. It was not about the clothes. It was about permission, community, and access. When we removed the barrier of money, something deeper unlocked. We were trading stories, shedding old identities, and reclaiming joy.
So I built a different kind of business: a membership-based circular wardrobe where women shop freely, swap endlessly, and experience style without guilt or waste. What started as one swap in Billings, Montana has circulated over 500,000 items and is expanding in the Phoenix area through franchising, with a path for purpose-driven women 55 and up to own a location.
Along the way I built the software and operating systems myself with AI, with no technical background, because the business needed tools that did not exist off the shelf. That is the story I tell on stages: community first, systems second, and AI as a co-founder for everyday operators.
Event: AI Power Women, Episode 01 (first guest), hosted by Michelle Jones-Walker; Date: July 15, 2026; Location: Virtual (recorded; Emily joined from the Phoenix area); YouTube: https://youtu.be/lzMmOxZK6U4; Episode page: https://aipowerwomen.com/episodes/emily-petroff. A 100-minute video conversation (plus a shorter AI Cut) covering how Switch Society grew from a Facebook clothing swap into a membership-based circular wardrobe, category creation, franchising, and building the company's software and ops systems with AI as a non-technical founder. Emily was the show's first guest. Full episode page and YouTube are public.
Event: Apps in a Day Build-a-Thon (hosted by ABWAI); Date: October 22, 2026; Location: Virtual; Media page: https://www.switchsociety.org/media (Recent Talks); Event site: https://www.appsbuildathon.com/ticket. A partner session for founders in the Buildathon and its certification program. Emily shared how Switch Society went from tools taped together with spreadsheets to custom systems built around real problems, and why non-technical founders should start with the problem, not the product.
Event: TEDxBillings; Date: Talk given October 11, 2024; published December 17, 2024; Location: Billings, Montana; Link: https://youtu.be/ZGhgiAElf-E. Emily's TEDx talk on what happens when we stop buying more and start circulating what we already have. Introduces the membership-based circular wardrobe model and the idea that nothing is wasted when community and access replace ownership.