Swapping & Borrowing Clothes

Mon 06 Apr 2020

So my plan was to fill you all in on the world of swapping and borrowing clothes from peers or your local community, but then I faltered after what’s now turned our world upside down. After several full weeks of social distancing and getting our heads around what life is going to be like for the foreseeable and I’ve realised that we actually need some other things to think about and take our minds off the Coronavirus pandemic. We may not have events to go to in the near future, but hopefully life will resume again soon. When it does, wouldn’t it be great to look at other ways to source your outfits, for events, or even for everyday. Ways that are sustainable and therefore kinder to our very precious environment.

So a few of weeks ago I hosted a Swap, Style and Pamper evening at our local primary school to help raise money for a new all weather running track for the school. We had Hannah Warrender doing hair wand waves, Kim’s Mobile Beauty doing nails and hand massages, Jessica Hunt with the vegan skincare brand Tropic and Elodie Giuge taking amazing head shots. I did a presentation on sustainable fashion and the SS20 trends and then the guests were able to browse the donations of clothes and take home new items to update their wardrobes.

It was so much fun and the feedback from everyone involved has been really positive. Hopefully it will grow in momentum and the next one we do will be bigger and better.

Globally, 150 billion garments are produced every year, which means around 20 items per person. Many of these items are worn a few times and then discarded. Our wardrobes already contain so many items that are perfect for all occasions. The Nuw app is a great way for us to borrow and lend each other’s clothes with the rest of the Nuw community.

‘If the number of times a garment is worn were doubled, the greenhouse gas emissions over it’s lifetime would be 44% lower’

Ellen MacArther Foundation, 2017

I borrowed a gorgeous orange Whistles dress for the weekend of the Swap & Style evening via the Nuw app. By borrowing the dress we saved 11.41kg of CO2 and 16,541 litres of water.

It was very simple, I downloaded the app, uploaded some of my items for others to borrow, browsed the selection and checked the availability. Once I found something that I liked and was available I contacted the owner and arranged collection. Then I wore the dress, took some photos, had lots of lovely compliments and then arranged to return the dress as agreed. Honestly, it was so easy and I will certainly be borrowing via Nuw again.

www.thenuwardrobe.com

There are other swapping websites/apps that are available, so I have listed a few below that you might like to have a look at.

Vinted

www.vinted.com

Vinted is a website with the ability to sell second hand clothing, but also enables people to swap clothes with each other.

Swopped

www.swopped.co.uk

As well as swapping clothes, Swopped even recycle your old ones. There is a monthly subscription fee, based on how many items you will be swapping each month.

Regain_app

www.regain_app.com

Regain is a London based company, which is not directly swapping, but they give your old clothing new life and you get a treat in return. This can be discount codes, prizes or vouchers. Regain collect a minimum of 10 items that you no longer wear and donate these to charity.

Swancyapp

www.swancyapp.com

Swancy is one of Norway’s clothes swapping apps that has launched in the UK. It is an online marketplace for swapping clothes and works in a Tinder-like style, where you swipe left if you want to skip and swipe right for an item that you want to have.