On the 5th December, we held the first Swap Shop of the year -a clothes swapping event for students and staff on campus. This followed the success of the first ever Swap Shop event which took place in March 2013.
People dropped off their unwanted (or perhaps more appealing put “pre-loved”) clothes, shoes and accessories in the morning, receiving tokens for their donated items. They returned in the afternoon to exchange those tokens for new (to them) items. We received 140 kg of donated clothes, shoes and accessories, with 130 people taking part in the swapping/shopping in the afternoon.
Not wanting to exclude those without items to donate, people could buy items at bargain prices (£1.00 for clothes and shoes; £0.50 for accessories). Fundraising isn’t the main aim of the event, but we still managed to raise over £50 for SUSU RAG.
This event is organised in partnership by the Sustainability Action Programme, SUSU Ethical & Environmental Committee, University Parents and Carers Network and the SUSU Fashion and Style Society. We were able to bring Swap Shop to you without spending a single penny. This was only possible through the generosity of:
- The team of volunteers – students and staff who gave up their time to sort clothes, decorate the Cube and ensure that the event ran smoothly and successfully.
- SUSU for providing the space and the equipment to have clothes beautifully displayed on rails and tables, and use of the Performing Arts mirrors for people to assess their potential swaps.
Thank you to everyone who helped to make this event such a success!
We created Swap Shop because it is a great opportunity to empty your wardrobe of unwanted clothes and get free clothes to refresh it. More importantly though, it’s about considering some of the major issues in the fashion industry:
- Clothing manufacture is plagued with issues including unsafe working conditions, meagre wages and illegal overtime in the face of unachievable targets.
- The average UK household owns £4,000 worth of clothes, or which around 30% haven’t been worn for at least a year.
- An estimated ÂŁ140 million worth (around 350k tonnes) of used clothing goes to landfill in the UK every year.
By providing an opportunity for reuse instead of a “buy new then throw away” culture, Swap Shop is working to bring free and sustainable fashion to you. Look out for the next one in 2014!