War on Fashion Waste

How to host different types of clothes swaps for friends and communities by Nina Gbor

war on waste nina gbor clothes swap clothing exchange sustainable fashion 1

In this very strange era where clothes are cheaper than chips and perceived as disposable, it’s a real shame that so many amazing, reusable items end up in landfill. Globally, a little under a hundred billion garments end up in landfill each year. In Australia alone, that figure is over 200,000,000 kg a year.

If you’re someone who loves good style but hates fashion waste, clothes swapping might be the answer to ending this conveyor belt of waste to landfill.

 At a clothes swap, attendees bring their quality unwanted garments and accessories to swap with other people’s valued, quality items.

Why swaps are so much fun? Whether you’re swapping with a few friends at home, or with a big group of strangers bonding over your mutual love for style and waste reduction, you’ll likely walk away with a big smile on your face. Here’s why:

  • you meet lots of cool, like-minded people  

  • swaps reduce clothing waste to landfill by keeping clothes in circularity for longer

  • swaps reduce carbon emissions, energy and virgin resource use

  • they’re a free (or low cost) way to give your wardrobe a refresh and new look

  • an easy way for your community, organisation, friends or neighbourhood to fight waste.

 Need an additional reason? How about using the swap idea as an excuse for a party?!

 Here are ideas to help you get your swap game going:

Have a film screening

clothes swap food snacks refreshments 1

ABC TV’s environmental tv series War On Waste is an entertaining and informative docuseries that complements a swap perfectly. Have a few friends over at your place for a screening night with a clothes swap on the side. You can also screen other documentaries and films that fuel your passion for sustainable action. A clothes rack or table where people can hang or place their swap items is sufficient. Bonus points if there's drinks and food!  

Neighbourhood & community swap party

Now this is a real party. Organise a clothes swap in your neighbourhood with neighbours or community with members. It can literally be on the street (with required permits), in front of several houses or even a community hall. At these community swaps, new friendships are formed, communities are built and grow stronger. It brings people together and inspires conversations on ways that people in the local community can collectively take action such as swapping other household items to reduce waste, community gardening and composting for instance.

Food always makes events more exciting so you can also make it a barbeque or food potluck clothes swap! Some music and entertainment are options that work beautifully in these scenarios. If you need guidance on hosting a swap, you can find resources here to support you through the process.

All-day drop in clothes swap

These swaps are so convenient for people to drop in when it suits them. The swap can run for several hours or all day. It’s necessary to have some swap clothes ready ahead of time so that the first groups of swappers to arrive have more options of clothing to swap. You can put a call out for clothing donations beforehand that you’ll use on the day to get your swap started.

Be a swap supplier (for councils, organisations, schools and businesses)

The idea here is to be an organisation that enables your community in the war on fashion waste and supports a circular economy. If you’re a council, organisation or even a business with a hall, room or space, perhaps you can let individuals and community groups use the space for free for swap events. You can also provide clothes racks, hangers and mirrors to encourage and make it easier for people to run swap events on a regular basis, all year round perhaps.

General clothes swap event

This is where you host a general clothes swap that’s not designed for a specific community, group or neighbourhood so that anyone, from anywhere can join in the fun. You might promote and advertise your swap online and through other channels so that people can find out about it. This is a great way to convene with sustainability-loving fashionistas. It’s the kind of swap that can attract a few more trendy fashion pieces than your average swap. Here’s a free ‘how to host a clothes swap’ resources toolkit to make it easier to host your swaps.  

Themed swaps

Holiday events and occasions are often celebrated with disposable material stuff, food waste or excessive plastic that quickly becomes waste. In some cases, all of the above. It's time we shifted this environmentally-damaging waste culture by celebrating our occasions in more sustainable ways like swapping.

You can theme your swaps as birthday swaps, picnic swaps, Mother’s Day swaps, Earth Day swaps, Valentine’s Day swaps, swaps for larger sizes only, International Women’s Day swaps, swaps for clothing designed for men, swaps for bridal hens’ nights, swaps for formal wear, etc. Theme ideas are endless!

* If you’re hosting a non-commercial swap in Australia in August or September 2023, register your swap here. It will be uploaded to the ABC War On Fashion Waste page for people to know your swap is happening. If your swap is small, you can still register it because it will inspire others to join the swap revolution!

Restyling for the war on fashion waste by Nina Gbor

You’ve probably heard by now that extending the life of a garment by nine extra months reduces its carbon, water and waste footprint by 20 – 30% each.

So many of us are used to buying new outfits when we have an event or whenever we’re bored with our wardrobes. Some of us just have a habit of retail therapy on autopilot. The result of this vast mindless overconsumption? A world where fashion & textiles is one of the most polluting industries in the world.

Around 100 – 150 billion garments are manufactured each year in a world of roughly 8 billion people. It’s not surprising that 87% of that ends up in landfill or incinerated each year.

The great Vivienne Westwood once said we need to buy less, choose well and make our stuff last longer. One of the easiest, simplest things anyone at any age or size can do to reduce waste in their wardrobe (and save some money in the process) is to reuse and restyle the pieces in your wardrobe, instead of buying brand new clothes.

Fluoro pink 1980s retro Japanese kimono I styled in in 6 ways.

Restyling means wearing 1 garment in multiple ways, for multiple types of occasions. It’s the antithesis to buying lots of brand new clothes or fast fashion on a regular basis. A little creativity, layering and accessorising in fun ways can be magical. New outfit combinations you never dreamed of are formed when you bring out the clothes and accessories in your wardrobe for a session of playing dress up. Mix and match different pieces that you’ve never worn together before to form new looks.

For inspiration, I’ve put 4 wardrobe restyles in this article: my pink Japanese kimono, a model I styled in a plain black dress, my white vintage 1970s taffeta dress and a bronze dress. The cool thing is that from one look to the next, you forget that it’s the same garment worn slightly differently. And each look works for a different type of occasion.

The colour, pattern and style combinations we can make in our wardrobes are endless. I hope you try it with your clothes. You can turn a dress into a top by wearing a skirt over the bottom half or even only use the bottom half as a skirt by wearing a top over the top half. This is what I did in some of these images. You can mix something that’s formal with a piece that’s more casual so that you get to wear the formal garment a little more often. The possibilities are limitless!

You can find restyle ideas and inspiration from:

  1. Insta or Tiktok style challenges

  2. by putting all your clothes and accessories on your bed, mix them up, then you’ll start to notice new pairs and combo possibilities emerge as you stare at the pile.

  3. outside perspectives. Invite a few friends over for a style party and let them restyle the pieces in your wardrobe. Take photos of each look every time you restyle so that you remember the combinations. This can be done using accessories like bags, shoes, scarves, jewellery.

The benefits of restyling? Restyling your wardrobe can make your wardrobe feel new to you because you’re wearing existing and old pieces in brand new ways. This eliminates the need to buy new clothes because you’re bored or have an event coming up. If everyone does this regularly, it’ll definitely reduce clothing waste significantly.

From a personal style perspective, it can take your wardrobe to new heights!

You can save lots of money while still looking very stylish, from NOT buying new things.

Per year, the industry contributes 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, if the fashion industry continues on its current trajectory, it could use more than 26% of the world’s carbon budget by 2050. We need to embrace simple actions like restyling. It can make a huge difference in the war on fashion waste.


♥ Nina Gbor

@eco.styles