You can now send and return items for no cost with our new FREEPOST address – see sending guide.
In addition we are also offering all members a FREE pre-addressed bag to send your unwanted clothes to us. To claim please email your name and address to info@swishing.co.uk or contact us.
Never one to be overshadowed by financial doom and gloom, fashion trends do however, absorb wider social and economic influences. Therefore, 2009/2010 fashion trends were never going to be ostentations, what is emerging though, is a general trend towards certain looks and fabrics, such as single shouldered tops, or sheer fabrics. An ever present hint of eighties revival means torn jeans, and boyfriend jeans are here to stay. Gwyneth`s penchant for shoes means they are still firmly afoot, and when it comes to hair, blondes have definitely been credit crunched!
So, how can you keep fashion affordable? When belts are tightening (whilst still being broad and `statement like` in the fashion world…) and thoughts turn to holidays, how can you find a budget for fashion? One of the latest growing trends, when it comes to keeping fashion affordable, is on-line clothes swapping.
On-line clothing swapping is growing in popularity in tandem with off-line (RL) swishing parties. (whereby you invite your friends around for a glass of vino and offer up the best of your wardrobe that you do not wear any more). There are even companies that organise huge events whereby thousands of women bring clothing to swap (see www.swishingparties.com for more details). However, since sadly, everyday cannot be a party day, on-line clothes swapping offers a more convenient way to swap.
There are many websites which offer on-line clothes swapping facilities. Whereby, once you sign up, you can upload pictures of the clothing you wish to swap (or in some cases sell) and then peruse the website for clothing you would wish to obtain.
These websites are great because you can have, in some cases, access to literally thousands and thousands of other women`s wardrobes!
Each website has different ways of rating each member, and you may find that you have to pay for postage and packaging, or that there may be a sign up fee to join. However, the pro`s normally outweigh the cons, and even if you find yourself having to wait a few days for your chosen item to come in the post, knowing that you got it for a fraction of what you would have had to pay in a shop should give you the patience of a saint! Of course, there maybe the inevitable disappointment if you see your ideal skirt or top, and sadly it is two sizes too big or small for you, but with a little ingenuity with a needle (or a few weeks eating only carrot sticks!) perhaps it could fit you!
Fancy a Louis Vuitton handbag, or even some les nereides bijoux jewellery, well the other great thing about on-line swapping, is that items available for swapping are not limited to female clothing. You can also find mens, clothing, children`s clothing, and even shoes, handbags and jewellery. So get raiding that wardrobe!
For those of you in a hurry or put off by our upload form, we’ve introduced quick swap.
We’ll write descriptions, take photos and upload your items to the site.
All you need to do is let us know how many items you wish to swap and send us them!
To use our quick swap facility go to www.swishing.co.uk/quick-swap.php
Clothes swapping is set to be one of the biggest trends of the 2009 fashion world, shaping the way we shop forever.
With Celebrities like Lindsay Lohan giving there full backing it’s attracting world wide attention. Lohan recently remarked “The concept of swapping clothes, getting something for nothing and refreshing your wardrobe appeals to everyone.” Over the last six months swishing has doubled it’s followers and helped recycle tons of garments effectively.
Swishing.co.uk is attracting lots of like minded fashionistas’ and is quickly proving that virtual swapping beats splurging out on expensive newbie’s!
Galaxy, the UK’s radio network for people who love music, is launching a national ‘swishing’ campaign called ‘Do the Swish’. Galaxy will be encouraging listeners across the UK to embark on the latest fashion trend and create their own ‘swishing’ parties on 30th April.
Galaxy’s dedicated online portal will send a ‘Do the Swish’ pack to those registering, which will include ‘How to Swish’ guides, downloadable invites, downloadable ‘swishing’ tokens and ‘Do the Swish’ cocktail recipe cards.
In addition people holding their own swishing parties, Galaxy will also be holding their own events around the country on 30th April in Birmingham, Manchester, North East, Scotland, South Coast and Yorkshire.
For information on how to hold a ‘swishing’ event and to apply for a ‘swishing’ pack, in addition to details on the ‘Do the Swish’ event in your own area, please visit: www.galaxylife.co.uk/swish and follow your local link.
Hello fellow swishers, I was shocked to learn that 900,000 tons of clothing and shoes are thrown away each year in the UK with only 200,000 tons of this recycled. The rest, according to traid.co.uk, is dumped in landfill sites.
I, like every woman I know, suffer from occasional severe episodes of ‘clothes guilt’. That slightly sick feeling you get when you open your wardrobe and there’s more in there than you can possibly wear. When you know you have become a materialistic girl! How did we become so fixated on buying and storing and never wearing?!
In current hard times, we have a bigger motivation than ever to swap our clothes for wardrobe newbies, instead of splurging out on items we’ll probably never wear just to get that notorious retail buzz! Let us down our plastic carrier bags and head to our wardrobe empowered by the fact that we will build a fully functional wardrobe and help to cut down on harmful textile waste.
Ever since Twiggy`s recent TV series, Frock Swap, swishing has taken the nation by storm. Basically, swishing involves a group of people who come together with unwanted clothes in order to swap them for items that they prefer. It is exactly what fashion conscious people need during this economic downturn, particularly as we are beginning to reduce our spending on non-essentials such as clothing. Swishing is a great way of adding to your wardrobe without actually spending money, while at the same time finding a new home for that unworn dress that has lurked at the back of the cupboard for months. Nearly all of us have made an impulse buy at some point and lived to regret it or purchased a pair of jeans or shoes that are that teensy bit too small, but held on to them in the hope that one day they may miraculously fit. You need to be tough with yourself, collect them up and march them straight down to your local swishing party. It is a liberating experience and you can not help but gain from it. Most swishing parties have a required number of items that you must bring along with you, that you can exchange for the same number of items. So, for example, if you bring 4 unwanted fashion items, you can swap them for 4 other fashion items. You may have to pay an entrance fee or the swishing party may be free. Some swishing parties are small affairs, with just close friends and held in someone`s living room. Others may be big organised events for upwards of 100 people, and held in a larger space such as a church hall, hotel conference room or shop.
Organising a swishing party is simple. The best way to start out is to arrange a small party in your home and invite around 10 of your closest friends. Ask them to bring a certain number of unwanted items with them, which are clean, ironed and in good condition. The more clothes each person brings, the greater selection of clothes there are to swap. Perhaps 5 items each is a reasonable starting point, providing 50 fashion items to chose from. Specify what type of clothes to bring – shoes, belts, hats, jewellery, fashion clothing. When organising a large swishing party you will need to charge an entrance fee if you have hired a hall in which to hold the event. Hand out a number of vouchers according to the number of items brought, and remember to provide changing room space. A simple washing line secured at around 6 foot height with large blankets or old curtains slung over it makes a good impromptu changing space. Sell hot drinks and cakes at a swishing party to cover your costs.
You can even organise a clothes swap event as a fund raiser for your chosen charity or to raise money for your local hospital or school. Remember to publicise the event as much as possible. Email all your friends and ask them to pass it on. Print leaflets and put them in local libraries, shop windows and through nearby house letterboxes. Advertise in local free papers. And don’t forget to list your event on SwishingParties.com!
Swishing not only appeals to us the mere fashion crazy and self titled ‘shopaholics’, seeking to get our fashion fix for free, but is also hitting the celeb world hard too. And they’re not keeping it quiet either.
Gwyneth Paltrow, Sienna Miller, Mischa Barton and Lindsay Lohan are among a stampede of celebrities who are already confirmed fans of the craze. The celeb following have even been seen wearing dresses on the red carpet that they got at swishing parties and have become regular customers at designer swap shops. It seems that the very fact they bagged the item in a successful swap makes the garment that bit cooler and bags big points with the local green team too.
Swishing comes to us as a way to beat the dreaded credit crunch whilst helping to recycle perfectly fine, gorgeous pieces and update our wardrobes in the process. It feels good to get something for nothing and not having the guilt of splashing that hard earned cash. But, it seems that even if you have the pay package of a Hollywood actress swishing still has something to offer.
Swishing helps to save the environment. Swapping wearable clothes for a new outfit rather than chucking them away extends their lifetime and saves energy, reducing carbon emissions.
It saves energy. The Government’s waste strategy report for 2007 says that re-use of textiles gives environmental benefits, partly due to the high resource requirements of primary material production such as energy and water use.
Textiles are now the fastest growing sector of household waste, swishing will help to tackle this head on. Sales of new clothing in the UK have increased by 60 per cent in 10 years. According to the charity Traid, which specialises in recycling textiles, about 900,000 tons of clothing and shoes are thrown away in the UK each year; around three quarters of this ends up in landfill. See traid.org.uk.
Recently launched www.swishing.co.uk promises to give us our next fashion fix for free. In these financially hard times it’s an idea that comes to us from that tiny pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
The idea of swishing is a new one and is one that is quickly proving popular with fashion’s most elite. Swishing parties are gracing the coolest of venues all over the UK and are here to stay. Championed by Twiggy, on her BBC programme ‘the frock exchange’, the phenomenon is making waves and offers a new shopping style for the new millennium.
The clever thing about www.swishing.co.uk is that everyone can join in the fun from the comfort of their own home. It takes the innate brilliance of swishing, inviting us all to swap items that we no longer want for items that we will love and cherish, whilst making the whole process easier, hassle free and enjoyable. The site also opens up a mass of possible items to swap, every single item on the site can be yours, as appose to swapping from just one other person. It’s really a beautiful equation in today’s world of heavy consumerism. The hope is that this eco-friendly way to get ourselves a garment we really want, to replace one we’ve never worn or have grown out of, will take off.
So, head to www.swishing.co.uk and register today. The site makes swishing really easy, a process that we’ll no doubt quickly become addicted to. Simply add the items you want to swap, send them along to swishing.co.uk, earn points and then choose the items you’d like instead.
The site has a real good feel good factor, to know that you’re doing your bit and in return getting something you truly want. You’ll quickly turn your wardrobe into a place you wouldn’t mind setting up camp in. There’s a whole host of vintage finds, on-trend gems and designer gowns waiting to be swished away today.
P.S.
Check out regular updates to the only blog dedicated to swishing, clothes swapping and fashion.
