Want to host a swap party? Here's how...

There are many reasons to swap your clothes instead of buying new ones. Refreshing your wardrobe with preloved items reduces the demand for new resources as well as the pollution generated by the production of new clothes. Swapping involves no inhumane working conditions and can also save a great deal of textiles from becoming waste. When you are tired of something, it can be loved by someone new. I also think a swap party is a lovely way to spend an afternoon with old friends and new.

After hosting a massive three swap parties, I feel like a veteran of the sport who is now qualified to hand out advices to rookies! If you’re planning to host a swap, I suggest that you send out invites a few weeks before the swap, so people have time to sort out their items for swapping. I also recommend that you give people some clear guidelines so you don’t end up with bags and bags of clothes that no one wants. 

1. What should they bring?
   Be clear about exactly what items are allowed. Underwear/sleepwear typically not interesting. Do you want to only swap clothes or are shoes, accessories, cosmetics maybe also interesting?

2. And in what condition?
   Specify the quality of clothes (e.g. clean, no stains, holes or bobbles, bring the quality you would hope to find). And perhaps encourage people to bring clothes appropriate to the season. If it will be open to the public, you might want to do a quality check on items as they arrive (allow some time for this). If it’s your friends coming, this hopefully won’t be necessary.

3. How much should they bring?
   I always set a limit on how many items people should bring. I think this encourages them to bring quality items. It also reduces the chance of you being left with tons of clothes to take care of afterwards.

4. What can they take away?
   Specify the swap rules. Can people take as many items as they want or only as many as they brought? If the latter, you may need to give them some sort of ticket that shows how many items they brought. (A coloured post it and biro should do well enough.) In my experience, people want to take home less than they brought with them but if your swap is open to the public, this might not be the case.

5. What will happen afterwards?
   Decide what will happen to any clothes that are left over at the end of the swap. You could ask your friends to take home their unwanted swaps. This might not work so well if you are opening to the public. I usually bag up the leftovers and send them to a second hand website. Any profits contribute to the prosecco fund for the next swap!

If everyone follows these rules, you should have a successful swap. Other tips include setting up some kind of fitting room (this might just be a corner of a room with a good mirror) where people can try on clothes to make sure they fit/suit them. I also like to serve some drinks and snacks so that people stay a while and enjoy themselves. I hope they feel that the swap party is not only a better environmental choice than shopping but also that it’s much nicer than traipsing around the shops. 

Let me know how you get on!

Cover image: @priscilladupreez via unsplash