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

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

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!  

Photo by Joseph Pearson on Unsplash

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!

The dangers of wokewashing (in fashion)

I wrote this article originally for the Wellmade Clothes. It was first published on their website in November 2020.

What’s up with wokewashing?

You might be familiar with the notion of greenwashing. It’s where brands use empty buzzwords and pseudo-environmental initiatives to hijack sustainability and environmental issues. Brands use it as a marketing strategy to boost PR and profits. If you’re not vigilant, it’s easy to fall for the social media hashtags, brand policy statements and ‘eco-friendly’ product lines that used to distract from bad business practices. In reality, they do little or nothing to support the social cause they claim. It appears greenwashing tactics are not enough to deceive customers into buying products that could help ‘save the planet’. So, brands have now upped the ante.

Enter wokewashing. In this phase, brands are co-opting social justice issues like anti-racism, feminism, LGBTQ+, inequality and mental health awareness. They align themselves with trending socially conscious and cultural issues. Meanwhile, some of the same (or similar) issues they speak up against are being perpetrated within their own company and their supply chains. Nonetheless, some brands have no scruples about commercialising social justice issues. Such is the dubious art of wokewashing.

Why wokewashing is a thing

Through our purchases, we’re investing in brands. More people are choosing to support brands that do the right thing and give back. And on that note are holding companies to a higher standard of conduct. They’re expected to publicly take a stand on environmental and social issues. Their silence can also be deemed as a negative act. This notion has birthed socially conscious capitalism and brand activism.

How wokewashing can look like

BLM wokewashing

One of the most common areas to spot wokewashing in abundance is the Black Lives Matter movement, particularly when it went global in June this year. Fashion has spanned years of systemic racism, insensitive creative-decision-making and cultural appropriation. But the socials were lit with solidarity for BLM by fashion brands when the issue was trending. From posting black squares to performative allyship to statements of solidarity for racial equality and justice. Meanwhile, some of these brands had workplace cultures that were toxic to black people. After the LA-based sustainable fashion label, Reformation posted a solidarity message, for instance, it was accused of hypocrisy because of a culture of workplace racism by people claiming to be former employees. The brand Anthropologie was accused of racially profiling customers in-store.

Many brands that posted about this movement had seldom or never had Black, Indigenous or People of Colour (BIPOC) as models, nor as top-level decision-makers, executives in senior and even other roles within the company. Luxury French brand, Celine, got called out by Hollywood stylist, Jason Bolden. He claimed the brand lacked diversity and refused to dress black celebrities unless they were working with white stylists.  Adesuwa Aighewi, a high-profile model commented on diversity in fashion modelling saying, “Literally everything that I've done has been as the face of my race and as a diversity token....” #BLM is no longer trending as much as it was back in June and correspondingly, many brands have not followed through with the commitments they made.   

Fast fashion - COVID-19 wokewashing

Primark is a major fast fashion brand worth approximately $1.4 billion. In April this year, they donated 74,000 essential items to the Nightingale Initiative for National Health Service workers in the UK due to COVID. They did something similar in Ireland, Spain, the US and Italy. At the same time, they cancelled orders worth $273 million, from garment workers in Bangladesh according to Remake. Most of these workers were on poverty wages and the actions of brands like Primark sent them further into destitution, which in poorer countries puts them at risk of COVID because conditions for quarantine and safety become less available. 

Fast fashion brand Asos raised funds for the National Health Service in the UK for the pandemic by selling tops with the word ‘Heroes’. They also donated tops to NHS employees. Meanwhile, the Guardian accused Asos of being a ‘cradle of disease’ earlier this year when they had staff working in their warehouses without protective equipment and without social distancing measures. They were also accused of laying off staff without severance or notice.

Boohoo, another fast fashion conglomerate encouraged customers to stay home when the lockdown was imposed in March. Ironically, they forced employees to risk exposing themselves to disease by going to work on product photoshoots without respecting social distancing rules. 

Feminist wokewashing

Wokewashing happens in other sectors too. For instance, the automobile industry. In 2017, Audi garnered approval for an ad supporting equal pay for women. They received backlash when it was revealed that the company had a poor track record for promoting women to leadership positions.

 The dangers of wokewashing

The damage left after brands perform wokewashing can be devastating on the marginalised, disadvantaged and affected individuals and communities they claim to support. In the first place, it makes a mockery of the victims fighting for justice. It diminishes and cheapens their fight for their human rights, and a just and better world by reducing these campaigns to a mere marketing tactic. In my opinion, the lack of empathy in profiting from the pain of people is unfair, inhumane and ruthless. The loud, empty noise made by brands gives the false impression that genuine changes are being made to improve circumstances for the marginalised. In some cases, after the campaign has died down, the outcome is only short-term changes are made, compared to the noise of the campaign. Wokewashing can also scramble the original messaging and miscommunicate who or what the social movement was originally created for.

Secondly, brand loyalty and trust are of the utmost importance in today’s world of customer engagement and brand reputation. Brands have to be rigorously thorough with their ethos, otherwise, it can damage their reputation. For many years, the accessories brand, Matt & Nat claimed to be ethical, sustainable and vegan. In 2019, customers discovered that they were not transparent about their manufacturing and were using PVC material which is bad for the environment. Customers saw this as greenwashing and it affected their customer base.  

Fixing the wokewashing problem

Thanks to super clever marketing, the motives of brands can be hard to decipher. But not impossible.

1. Stay ‘woke’ on common deceptions

Familiarising yourself with some of the common wokewashing and greenwashing techniques can help to screen claims made by brands according to Gordon Renouf, CEO of Good On You. He suggests steering clear of brands that set future targets but fail to act on the issues now. He also recommends looking out for brand announcements with initiatives that have a few easy and insignificant initiatives that they’re working on. Especially the ones that are implemented at their head offices. One common trick is that brands will emphasise an initiative to divert your attention away from their harmful business practices but neglect to address all areas of impact.

2. Let’s check ourselves

As we’re calling out brands, I believe it’s important that we look within ourselves, our communities, networks, schools, communications and connections to be sure we’re not wokewashing in our own lives. Even if we don’t stand to profit, we should also stand by our ethos. Are we truly listening to the marginalised? Are we following through in our commitments long after the social media campaign is done and none of our friends can still be bothered? Are we unlearning some of the bad behaviour we’ve been taught? Are we educating ourselves and connecting with these marginalised groups long-term?

3. The devil is in the details (or fine print)

Be not deceived by brands that make big assertions, general statements and buzzwords without specific, measurable and substantiated claims in the fine print. At the end of the day, the outcome of these changes might be a very small percentage in comparison to the big noise they make. According to Ruth MacGlip and Alice Cruikshank of Common Threads podcast, brands need to show validation from a third party. Check if their claims have a legal and agreed-upon definition, rather than something vague like ‘natural’ and ‘sustainable’.  Also, check if the claim is relevant to the product.

4. Engage

If the claims look shady, ask the questions to the brands. Some brands are well-intentioned, but they might be going about things in the wrong way. Engaging in conversations might help them shape their initiatives in the right ways. And if you come to realise that it’s simply a case of old fashioned wokewashing, then CALL THEM OUT!  

5. Diversity and inclusion in the workplace

A buzz phrase we hear often and it’s incredibly crucial. No matter how genuine it appears, marginalised people can tell straight away when a brand is wokewashing on an issue that affects them. Diversity and inclusion in the workplace can help mitigate these situations by having representation in the room. Cheryl Overton, a veteran diversity and inclusion advisor says, “Brands have to start leaning hard into identifying (diverse) talent….” She insists this should be from corporate headquarters through to retail assistants. Furthermore, the internal culture should allow for them to have the space to create, influence, grow and contribute to the company.

6. Research

If you do your own research on a brand, you might discover whether the brand truly aligns with the values that they publicly claim. It’s important that we use our power to weigh and examine things that are presented to us rather than taking it all in without question. As stated earlier, it can be detrimental to those affected.

♥ Nina Gbor

Insta: @eco.styles

And Just Like That, the patriarchy is still pulling the strings

Credit: Vogue

It's not hyperbole to say SATC series was one of the most culturally influential shows, particularly on women. Even though it ended in 2004, its influence on culture - style, women, fashion, relationships, people, etc is undeniable. For me, it was only about the style. When the reboot, And Just Like That was announced in 2021, it nearly broke the internet. Most of the episodes of the first season have aired and the momentum online hasn’t stopped.  

Credit: Forbes

I won’t bother going over all the controversial hot topics from recent episodes because they’ve been thoroughly covered - from AJLT’s attempt at diversity, cast feuds, inclusion, cultural appropriation, LGBTQI, etc and then there’s ageing. The show has gotten a lot of praise for addressing the issue of women and ageing head-on. It’s rare in Hollywood and mainstream to feature women in their 50s with grey hair and wrinkles as main characters, amp up their style and tell their stories.

Credit: Stuff

 A basic tenet of patriarchy  

Anyone familiar with the whole patriarchal ideals on women knows that for centuries the value of a woman was primarily based on her youth, her beauty or both. These standards still very much exist in modern society but the momentum of movements like feminist, humanitarian and equality have moved the needle a little bit in the last few decades. People are far more aware of these dynamics than ever before.

The double standards, lack of equity, misogyny, oppression of women and so on are seen in every industry. As women get older and therefore no longer fit into the super narrow confines of these shallow standards, their value in society according to the patriarchal system diminishes and they become less visible. As women are commodified in this way and as they age, it gets harder for some women to find employment, get financial opportunities, date, maintain self-esteem or even be treated with basic dignity and respect by society.

Patriarchy influence on media and culture

The tv, film and media often have the power to shape cultural perceptions, shift narratives and attitudes towards gender for better or for worse. Women occupy only 27% of senior executive leadership positions in media and entertainment according to McKinsey Consulting.

It’s not surprising that the perception of women continues to be skewed in the direction of inequality and double standards. Film and television for as long as I can remember has been flooded with patriarchal commodification standards of and towards women. These standards have seeped into our personal and collective subconscious. Even as women or people from marginalised groups, it takes effort to unlearn some of these biases. In some cases, it requires an exorcism. Which is why the patriarchy is still puling the strings by making women dislike parts of themselves.

AJLT is no exception.

Credit: Grazia Magazine

Desperately trying to seem cool (young)

As much as AJLT has appeared to embrace ageing in some contexts, it’s still following the patriarchal playbook. In episode 8, we meet Carrie’s new young neighbour who keeps Carrie awake in the middle of the night with loud noises with her friends. Carrie frantically asks them to stop the noise. Then Carrie is devastated because she’s worried she won’t be seen as cool. Not simply because of a reasonable fear of having bad blood with a new neighbour (which would be totally understandable) but for not no longer being cool.

The connotation was that she wanted to come off as someone in her 20s(ish) who also stays up all night. She even lies to her neighbour the following day insisting that she had been awake writing in the middle of the night and the noise only bothered her cause she was writing. As opposed to the truth that she was trying to sleep because apparently sleeping in the middle of the night (instead of partying / hanging out) implies she’s old. And it’s apparently taboo to be age. Carrie desperately trying to fit into this mould signals other ways that women still need to fit into a standard to feel validated. It might not even be a conscious thing but it’s there. That old patriarchal notion of a woman being validated by her youth definitely played itself out here albeit in a micro way. But the implication is big. 

Credit: Title Press

The implication

Carrie could have fully embraced where she is. There’s nothing wrong with going to bed early and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with going to bed early cause you’re older. That’s life. We go through different stages and should not feel shame for it or any other behaviours that people do as they move through stages of life.

The more we normalise them and not vilify someone for doing what is natural, the sooner we can realise more equality for women and other people. In other words, stop making older women wrong all the time and younger women right all the time. They’re both valid, they’re both equally prone to right and wrong.

I’m sure it wasn’t the intention of the show but it’s just another way of seeing the lingering patriarchal hold on women, how it manifests unconsciously or otherwise and how we perpetuate it.  

Where to go from here

Being the culturally influential show that it is, there’s an opportunity to embrace more than the physical side (grey hair and wrinkles) of ageing. It can go full circle in normalising the psychological attitudes and behaviours of ageing too. It will go a long way in shifting the status quo with women and the people that have criminalised women for ageing.

I’ve been inspired by the style of the series courtesy show stylists, Patricia Field and now Molly Roger. And I don’t want to join the ranks of people criticising the show for sport. I’m not even sure this is a criticism as opposed to an observation that we have to be vigilant with our minds on how streams of patriarchal ideals make us feel about ourselves when we’re not looking. And how we perpetuate them in our lives or the lives of other women. With all the years of service given, experience, wisdom and knowledge accumulated over years, women getting older are to be treated with plenty of RESPECT.

We have to undo these brainwashed ideals in all areas of life and stop making ageing a crime in media, entertainment and everyday life.

 ♥ Nina Gbor

Insta: @eco.styles

Resolving the waste crisis

Image credit: Chantel Bann

I was out on a walk the other day and spotted a ‘FREE’ sign in front of someone’s house above a couple of art frames, a lamp, clothes rack, mirror, a chair and some books. It’s pretty common to see household items on the sidewalk, free for passers-by to take. I’ve come across everything from sofas to tvs, suitcases, washing machines, clothes, printers, desks, electronics and even fresh fruit.

I found out about a community Facebook group called Street Bounty Inner West where locals in a suburb can post reusable items they see in the street for anyone to pick up. The group aims to “promote the recycling and reuse of materials, keeping kerbs cleaner, landfill emptier and wallets fuller.” Movements like this divert so much stuff from going to landfills. However, sometimes these items can get damaged on the sidewalk by exposure to weather conditions: rain, extreme sun and wind. And/or eventually still end up in landfill if nobody takes it.

Images credit top row L to R: Kimberly Scott, Fi Paskulich, Anna Bailey, Obaydah Vetter. Second row L to R: Nicky Lewis, Sarah Bea, Carolyn Veg Ienna and Vanessa Jimenez.

The world’s waste

According to The World Counts, the world dumps 2.12 billion tonnes of waste each year. If it were all put on trucks, it would stretch around the earth 24 times! Part of the reason why this figure is so high is that 99% of the stuff we purchase is trashed within 6 months. According to the World Bank, global waste is expected to grow to 3.40 billion tonnes by 2050. A huge majority of the world’s waste is generated by countries in the global North like Australia, the US, the UK, and Canada.

According to Australia’s National Waste Report 2020, Australians generated around  74.1 million tonnes of waste in 2018-19 (this includes household waste, organics, masonry materials and ash). Community efforts like Street Bounty that salvage household waste from landfills by donating to random strangers are a noble act. Many movements like this are doing fantastic work in tackling the waste problem but they can only capture a tiny fraction of the overall waste that exists.

Planned obsolescence

It’s fair to say that planned obsolescence is probably the biggest factor behind the tremendously high amount of waste. It’s a modern capitalist trend that’s been a massive catalyst for manifesting more waste in the last few decades than humanity has ever witnessed. Planned obsolescence is a strategy during manufacture that ensures products are deliberately designed with an artificially limited useful life or designed to eventually slow down or become obsolete. This guarantees that consumers will regularly want to replace these products in the future. The purpose of this strategy is for corporations to gain stable and increased profits. The outcome is a massive increase in waste to landfills and huge greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change and environmental degradation.  

Image credit: How-To Geek

Common waste streams

E-waste

Electronic waste (e-waste) is the quickest growing domestic waste stream. On a global scale, we generate over 50 million tonnes of e-waste each year. Only 20% of this is formally recycled. That comes to about 7.3 kilograms per person and the equivalent in weight to 350 cruise ships. The e-waste produced annually is worth over $62.5 billion. A lot of e-waste is toxic and gets exported to poorer countries in the global South where they end up polluting the environment in these countries and also in their landfills. 

The average Australian household produces about 73 kg of e-waste a year. With a projection of a global total e-waste increase to 74.7 million tonnes (almost twice the amount of new e-waste in just 16 years). Planned obsolescence is a big feature in the electronics industry.  

In 2018, Italy fined Samsung and Apple for purposely slowing down older models of their phones. Their plan was for people to get annoyed with the slowness of their phones to the point where they were forced to buy the newest and much more expensive models.

Image credit: Carolyn Veg Ienna

Furniture waste

With the popularity of flatpack furniture over the last few decades, there’s been a boom in furniture waste. When people are relocating, it can be more convenient to throw away old or damaged furniture instead of repairing or paying to move them to the new location.

Each year, Americans throw out more than 12 million tons of furniture and furnishings, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Only a small percentage is recycled. And in Australia, households dispose of around 24 kg of wooden furniture each year.

Image credit: Blake Milne

Images credit: Bee Yolanda, Clare Marshall, Jobi-Zane Pixus and Tom.

Waste from fashion & textiles

We’re producing about 150 billion garments a year with only 7.8 billion humans. It’s not surprising that 84% of all new clothing produced ends up in landfills each year. Fast fashion is to blame for these alarming figures.

Fast fashion brands through clever marketing amongst other things manipulate consumers into buying new clothes every few days or every week. These clothes usually get thrown out very quickly as trash and a huge portion is exported to countries in the global South where they eventually pollute those environments. Overconsumption is a modern cultural trend that’s detrimental to people and the planet. Fashion trends are one of the things that fuel fashion waste.

Image credit: CALPIRG

Solving the waste crisis

Australia has a national target of recovering 80% of waste by 2030. To make ambitious goals like this in Australia and other countries a reality, we’ll have to do a lot more than sidewalk donations. It’s so necessary to break the planet-destroying linear cycle of stuff that goes from retail to buyer then landfill in less than a year. In spite of planned obsolescence and our behaviours around consumption, many items are still useful and can be repurposed. A couple of ideas:

1. Make profits for yourself and charities

Reselling has always been a phenomenal way to divert waste from landfills and make a profit. However, CharityBay is next level! On this platform, you can do both of these things and help charities at the same time. People can sell items and donate some or all profits to a chosen charity. Imagine if all the stuff abandoned on the street and the useable stuff sent to landfill were resold for charity.  

2. Rescue, Reuse, Repair, Repurpose

There are many community groups like the Street Bounty Inner West group that support waste reduction. You might find similar groups through a search on social media platforms. If you can’t find one for your local community then create one.

With a little love, imagination and a makeover, many items have the potential for a magical transformation into something ‘new’, useful and maybe even beautiful. Imagine what our societies would be like if repairing and upcycling were as much a cultural habit as overconsumption?

Image credit: Imran Zainal © Imran’s Ark via iProperty

3. Legislation and policy change

Local community action is very powerful but it’s only one piece of the puzzle. We have to have laws in effect that ban planned obsolescence. And

• hold corporations accountable for ensuring durability and lifelong repair guarantee in the products they make

•  limit the number of goods manufactured to a reasonable number in harmony with planetary resources and product demand / usage

•  hold corporations accountable if they do not comply with these laws.

 ♥ Nina Gbor

Insta: @eco.styles

Christmas is the greatest annual environmental disaster

Black Friday (November 26th) marked the annual initiation into this season's global overconsumption ritual. It usually starts with Black Friday, goes into Christmas, gets hotter on Boxing Day, then New Year's and all throughout January. It's a lot! Our modern culture has set up this period as the festival of superfluous consumption. So it’s primed for voracious use of material things far beyond any other time of the year. This is why environmentalists say Christmas is the greatest environmental disaster.

Marked by the biggest displays of excessive advertising, manipulative sales tactics, oversupply and mindless buying with almost no consideration for the environmental cost to the earth, the wellbeing of humans involved in supply chain and raw materials extracted to manufacture the products.

80% of clothes purchased on Black Friday are reportedly thrown away after one wear. Some environmentalists say Christmas is the world's greatest environmental disaster.

To be fair, the underprivileged & marginalised groups, the season is an opportunity to afford little luxuries and needed items beyond regaular price range.

However, there's more than enough resources to cater for everyone's basic needs if we commit to taking care of people and planet. Especially if we embrace systemic global equity, equality and let go of capitalism's principles of placing profiteering well over the wellbeing of humans and the earth.

If we did this, there will be far less poverty, fewer marginalised groups and very likely little need for charity.

Holidays have become far removed from their founding history, origins and cultures. And morphed into meaningless, superficial rites of spending to enrich corporations that often contribute to high emissions and human exploitation.

So, what if we had new ways to celebrate the holidays from now on by completely moving away from the outdated model of buying stuff we don't need for others and ourselves? Like showing our affection for loved ones in ways that go beyond the material e.g. giving our loved ones the gift of our PRESENCE instead of material PRESENTS (unless absolutely necessary)? Presence can mean several things! Like new experiences, listening without judgement, volunteering to help, donating your time to do what the other person wants, making sure someone(s) feels heard, etc.

Alternatively, meaningful secondhand or handmade gifts to support small businesses that have minimal carbon footprint.