Ever heard of "Fast Fashion"?
Not a great deal of people (that I have met/spoken to) have. Perhaps I am keeping the wrong company, but I feel that this is something that a lot of people, particularly women around my age, should know about. (Lord knows that everyone who meets me from this day forth will know!)
Fast fashion is defined as "inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends." Think Primark, Newlook, H&M, etc.
These companies produce clothes like I breathe air. Which means CO2 emissions are through the roof for these companies who are keeping up with demand, but also textile waste is sky high as the next big thing comes along before those clothes are worn out.
Clothes swap events try to break that cycle.
At the clothes swap that I attended in a lush little shop called Ripple in Cardiff, you brought however many clothes you wanted, handed them to the lovely lady on the door, then picked up anything you wanted from the tables. It was like a cornucopia of fashion. Everything was there. All sizes, all styles, all conditions - absolute chaos. KID IN SWEET SHOP CHAOS. I.e, the good kind.
Like this Quiz dress that retails at £22.99 - tags still on:
How gorgeous is this?
All we were asked, was would we like to make a voluntary £1 donation to a local community group that litter pick around the local area.
It was amazing. I went in with 11 items and came out with a full bag for life - Including the dress above, some basically unworn Converse AllStars and a dress to wear to our annual girl's night out that we have in December. (I'm claiming to be organised this year but really, I couldn't pass this up) all for a £1 donation to a local litter reduction group. HOW CAN THIS BE ANYTHING BUT AMAZING?!
Reader, I aim to be as honest as possible. So I feel I must disclose that as my personal finances have never really recovered from a really toxic relationship (I may write about this another time), I have never been able to just go and splurge on new clothes. Therefore I cannot pretend that this has helped me particularly with my actual CO2 emissions and waste impact. Or even financially. I just don't generally buy clothes unless I have to and even then, I would prefer to go to a charity shop first. But I feel that participating in events like this help others do reduce their waste and CO2 impact, and I get to come away with some new threads for basically nothing! WIN.
I will definitely be attending one again and potentially setting one of these up in my more local community for children's clothes.
Have any of you every attended or run a clothes swap? Drop me a message and let me know your thoughts!