Clothes Swap Events

Poster designs © by Emma O’Toole and Ramune Kuzminiene

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Celebrating 2 Years of Sustainable Swapping with Swords Tidy Towns!

Can you believe it? Another year of our monthly clothes swaps has flown by! It’s hard to imagine it’s already been two whole years since we started this fantastic journey of sustainable fashion in Swords.

Over the past year, we’ve had so much fun with themed events that made swapping even more exciting. From sports gear and clothes swaps to getting into the festive spirit with Christmas jumpers and festive wear swaps, and even helping you get ready for spooky season with Halloween costumes – there’s always been something new to discover.

Major Upgrades Thanks to Funding!

We’re thrilled to share that our swap shops and their setup have seen some major improvements, all thanks to successful funding applications! We secured support from both the Community Climate Action Fund and the Anti-Litter, Anti-Graffiti Funding. This has allowed us to invest in some fantastic new equipment, making the whole swapping experience smoother and more professional for everyone.

Our new gear includes:

Heavy-duty rails
A hanger stacker
Trouser hangers
Durable indoor and outdoor banners
Stackable storage boxes
A handy hand truck
A professional clothes steamer

These upgrades have made a real difference in how we present and manage our swaps, ensuring a better experience for our community.

Learning New Skills: Repair & Mending Workshops

Beyond the swaps themselves, we’ve also been able to expand our offerings by hiring a skilled Facilitator to deliver six repair and mending workshops. Three of these have already been a huge success, with three more scheduled for the autumn! These workshops are all about extending the life of your clothes and getting creative:

January: Creative stitches for repair
February: Creative patchwork for your clothing
March: Embroidery skills
September: Sewing on pockets (perfect for back-to-school items!)
October: Scrap Halloween decorations
November: Scrap Christmas decorations

It’s been amazing to see so many people embrace the spirit of repair and re-use.

A Huge Thank You!

We’re incredibly grateful to our current and new ‘customers’ for continuously coming to swap, for choosing not to buy new items, and for spreading the word about our events. Your commitment is what makes these swaps a success!

A massive thank you also goes out to Rivervalley Community Centre for their ongoing support with space, storage, and invaluable help with our setup each month. And to SuperValu Pavilions, thank you for your generous donations of delicious treats to help us celebrate our 2nd Birthday!

It’s fantastic to see the ripple effect our swaps are having, with so many schools and sports clubs now organising their own events, including Christmas jumpers, community dresses/costumes, Halloween costumes, uniform swaps, and sports gear exchanges. This collective effort truly makes a difference!

Get Involved!

If you’re interested in volunteering with us, please get in touch through any of our social media channels. We’re always happy to assist and offer advice to any other community groups thinking of setting up their own events.

Here’s to many more years of sustainable swapping in Swords!

Celebrating One Year of Sustainable Swapping with Swords Tidy Towns

The global fast fashion industry is a significant contributor to climate change (Arthurs 2023). Half a tonne of clothing is dumped into a landfill in Ireland every minute (Clancy 2019), and just 1 % of global textiles are recycled into new textiles (Government of Ireland, 2020, p. 42). Ireland has signed up to the National Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy 2020-2025 (Government of Ireland 2020, p.6), yet circular fashion has not been implemented on national scale. Circular fashion is seen as a necessary transition due to the current linear business model exposing climatic effects during every phase of the fashion industry process (O’Leary et al. 2021, p. 9).

In May 2023, Swords Tidy Towns launched its first clothes swap event, inviting residents to exchange garments to promote sustainability and reduce textile waste. What began as a simple idea evolved into a thriving monthly tradition, thanks to the incredible support of local residents. These gatherings not only provided an eco-friendly way for residents to update their wardrobes but also fostered camaraderie and shared environmental responsibility.

The initiative, aimed at promoting eco-conscious/slow fashion and reducing textile waste, quickly gained popularity, culminating in Swords Tidy Towns being awarded the EPA Circular Economy Award in the national SuperValu Tidy Towns Competition last year. This recognition not only celebrates the efforts of our community but also emphasises the importance of embracing eco-friendly practices in our daily lives.

As our Clothes Swap Shop celebrates its first birthday milestone, Swords Tidy Towns extends heartfelt gratitude to the Rivervalley Community Centre for their unwavering support and ongoing collaboration, recognising it as a cornerstone of the Clothes Swap’s success. We also give our thanks to SuperValu Pavilions Swords for their donation of cakes and treats to help us celebrate our first birthday. We also thank Councillor Joe Newman and Darragh O’Brien TD for their show of support.

At this special event, we also had a young local entrepreneur Naima introducing her special event dress rental business @shopfluently14 to the community. We hope this will become a new collaboration that will benefit the entire community.

Looking ahead, we’re excited to share our plans for the upcoming year. In addition to our regular swap shops, we’re eager to introduce clothes repair and repurposing workshops, further expanding the scope of our events. It’s an opportunity not only to exchange garments but also to learn valuable skills and foster creativity.

However, none of this would be possible without the dedication of our volunteers. As we continue to grow and evolve, we’re always on the lookout for passionate individuals willing to lend a helping hand. If you share our commitment to sustainability and community engagement, we encourage you to reach out and get involved.

Together, we can make a difference – one swap at a time.

References:

Arthurs, R. (2023) The Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook: Shifting the narrative: A guide to aligning fashion communication to the 1.5-degree climate target and wider sustainability goals. UNEP and UNFCC.

Clancy, B. (2019) ‘New Shocking Facts about the Impact of Fast Fashion on Our Climate’, Oxfam Ireland, 2 September. Available at: https://www.oxfamireland.org/policy/new-shocking-facts-about-the-impact-of-fast-fashion-on-our-climate [Accessed 22December 2023].

Government of Ireland (2020) A Waste Action plan for A Circular Economy: Ireland’s National Waste Policy 2020-2025. Ireland: Government of Ireland.

O’Leary, E., Tobin, K., Downey, C., Hanlon, Elaine., and Miller, S. (2021) Nature and Extent of Post-Consumer textiles in Ireland: Study Report, Ireland: The Environmental Protection Agency.

Christmas Jumpers Swap Shop

Our 8th clothes swap shop took place at the very beginning of December, and was, of course, Christmas themed. We had a great selection of Christmas jumpers (some vintage) and dresses for both adults and children. We had some great fun as always!

Halloween Costumes Swap Shop

Research by Hubbub, a UK-based environmental charity, found that a shocking 83% of Halloween costumes used non-recyclable oil-based plastics which meant they were destined to end up in landfill. “To put that into context, that’s around 2000 tones of plastic waste or a horrifying 83 million plastic bottles caused by the Halloween festivities. Even more disturbing is the fact that the plastic polymer used in over 63% of these costumes, polyester, can take anywhere between 20-200 years to decompose.” (https://www.wastemanaged.co.uk/halloween-waste/)

This even was a great success and it was enjoyed by all.

Swords Tidy Towns First Clothes Swap Event

For some years STT member Ramune had been aware of clothes swapping events and their positive role in the circular economy. She had attended one of these events pre-Covid, and appreciated their benefits. Rather than throwing away perfectly serviceable clothes and buying new ones, people could update their wardrobe or change their style in a more economical way, and could reduce their environmental footprint in the process. This is an alternative to fast fashion, which is wasteful of raw materials, water and energy, and contributes to harmful gas emissions.

Ramune with the help of local resident Emma O’Toole, who is also President of the Environmental Society at Maynooth University organised STT’s first Clothes Swap event. They were supported by the management of the River Valley Community Centre, who allowed us to operate in the carpark outside their premises. The organisers are also very grateful to local residents for donating clothes rails and hangers for the event.

Emma designed the eye-catching poster, which clearly set out the rules for the day. Only a maximum of 5 items was allowed. Items had to be clean, and must not include underwear, swimming togs or sleepwear.

Being a clothes swap, if you brought e.g 3 items then you would have to take 3 items.

On the morning of May 6, 2023 hangers, tables, mirrors and some basic stock were in place in our large marquee. The first eager customers, both young and old, had already arrived before the 10 am start.

Ramune and Emma were ably assisted by a couple of STT members. Ramune’s young daughters, Rusne and Ula, really enjoyed being assistants for the day too.