» Swap till you drop
A party that comes with free clothes? Not surprisingly, clothes swapping is Jo-ann’s new favourite thing
According to DEFRA, the UK generates approximately 1.5 to 2 million tonnes of clothing waste every year, with 63 per cent of this entering the household waste stream and ending up in landfill.
This makes me sad. Not just because of the obvious environmental effects of dumping man-made textiles, but because clothes are nice and deserve to be given a second lease of life.
Photo by flickr.com/gottsher
“She even managed to persuade her fiancé that having a load of women in his flat, high on the love of clothes, wasn’t such a bad thing”
After hearing about the success and excitement created by a local clothes swapping event, based on the American concept Swap-O-Rama-Rama, I suggested to a friend that we hold our own. When I said ‘we’, I meant her. My contribution was to invite one person and turn up at her flat with wine, a bin bag full of clothes and an appetite for free, pretty things.
As a host she did a good job, providing crisps, chips and wine – she even managed to persuade her fiancé that having a load of women in his flat, high on the love of clothes, wasn’t such a bad thing – he soon perked up after popping his head round the door to find his front room transformed into a ladies’ changing area.
Indeed, I think the title ‘clothes swapping’ suggests something a little more saucy than the reality turned out to be, but still, what’s wrong with making your evening’s entertainment sound a lot more exciting than the usual “just gonna get a film or something”?
Now, it seemed those attending and contributing to the party had read ‘clothes’ as ‘any old stuff you want out of your house ASAP’. Among the more exceptional items to pepper the swap pile were books of erotic fiction, confusing, unworn bedroom attire and some things that just shouldn’t have been there, unused or not.
There was also the usual charity shop fayre: candle holders, Body Shop kits that always do the rounds at Christmas and had gathered dust since the last festivities. And many pretty dangley things that caught the eye like a magpie’s loot until – when no one could work out what they were – the conclusion was reached that there’d be no justification for cluttering up shared houses with such shiny nonsense.
But to be fair, many unlikely rejects found new homes. And as well as a dress, three jumpers, a summer top, a pair of shoes, a cuddly toy – okay, not really – and a skirt, I picked up a complete bed set including sheet, duvet cover and pillow cases. They’re brown and orange, they’re nice, really, very Seventies.
Obviously there were a few bits of clothing people were desperate to get rid of for good reason – usually because they couldn’t remember why on earth they’d bought such a hideous item. One or two choice pieces had shrunk to a size zero in the wash, and some were definitely pregnancywear. But one woman’s trash is another’s treasure, so all leftovers were bagged up to be taken to a charity shop.
Also, a number of my questionably patterned tops – I like the Sixties and Seventies, alright? – were snapped up by one of the more creative guests, who had plans to turn them into pants and sell them on.
In an apparently burgeoning new scene, the community-based swapshops popping up around Brighton often seem a little more adventurous and glam than our throw-a-pile-of-clothes-in-themiddle-of-the-sitting-room shindig. The bigger events have on offer newly designed, recycled goods and sewing machines are on-site and at the ready, so adopted clothes can be taken in and adjusted there and then. Clothes swapping between friends and acquaintances also holds the added bonus of weirding out the men in your life. “Isn’t that… No… Your top, that’s… Hmm”. Then again, I guess it’s probably not the best idea to swap clothes with your ex’s new girlfriend.
