Clothes swapping with Hybird

For fashion swapping devotees Hybird is hosting a clothes swap shop afternoon, Feather Duster, at The New Rose, Essex Road, London on Saturday 21st July from 2pm to 6pm. If you fancy popping along you will need to bring with you a minimum of one wearable item to swap. Anything left over at the end of the swap will be donated to the Salvation Army.

The clothes swapping craze appears to be sweeping the nation. Rather than throwing out clothes you no longer wear, it makes sense to swap for them for something you will wear. It's a great way of finding a new home for old items and getting great new garments for free. Whilst New York and Sydney has already fully hopped on the swap scene bandwagon, London's first official clothes exchange shop, Visa Swap, took place between Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th June. Prior to the swap dates shoppers brought in their unwanted items and were awarded points on a 'credit card,' depending on the products they were bearing, which they could then redeem for items at the swap shop on the aforementioned dates. Any leftover items were donated to TRAID (Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development).

Swapping, Myspace swap events, club nights and swishing parties, are cropping up all over the place in an amalgamation of ethical shopping, bargain hunting and socialising. 900,000 clothes and shoes are disposed of every year so it's essential that consumers become more environmentally conscious. Whether many of the attendees to such events are truly interested in planet saving, or just pseudo-ethical-shoppers keen to get some freebies, is another issue altogether, but if it means that fashion is creating less waste, it can only be a good thing.

If leaving the house is all too much for you, you can swap online with websites such as Whatsmineisyours.com or Swapstyle.com. For more information see Hybird.co.uk and Y-shop.co.uk.