Saturday 27 April 2013

Swapsies in Patagonia

Laura and I tagging up clothes as people came through the door


This Tuesday evening's swish went swimmingly well as hoards of people turned up to central Sydney to swap their fashion items, accessories and outdoor wear.

A fashionable way to save landfill space, clothes swapping events are also incredibly sociable. Over a glass of wine, people shared their clothing stories, which they wrote on tags attached to each item. Here are some interesting ones:

“This knows a lot of the bars and nightclubs of France”
A pre-loved Patagonia hat: "summited Denali in Alaska May 24 2011"
"Winter bag for the impending colder days"
 “This went to Colombia!”
“Too little for me L enjoy J !”
“Skirt from Boston”
“Bought and worn once. Deserves a better home x”
“From the Big Apple”
“Handmade dress found in the treasure troves of Sydney”
 “This has raced up Austrian mountains”

There was a gilet labelled as someone’s granpa’s favourite old top, a pair of trousers that had been up Everest and a cardigan labelled as “I met my husband wearing this!” These beautiful and inspiring stories added to the feeling that clothes are things that should be built to last and should be treasured. Of course, should you ever get bored of them, they can be swapped! 

 Making more tags for the incoming items: cream (fashion items), red (designer or new with tags), blue (outdoor wear)
Helen Spoor and Tom (Patagonia) spreading the good word of clothes swapping

Thank you to Patagonia for providing a great venue for the clothes swap. It was very handy to have an existing shop environment, rails, shelves and changing rooms to showcase the items! Thank you to Helen Spoor- the main organiser- and to my fellow ‘helper outers’ for doing a spiffing job.

There are a few more great images of the night out there on Becky’sblog and Bethan’s instagram.

Having a mingle and a browse

I came away with a lovely new (to me) skirt, which I can wear to work and which is also both smart and cool enough to wear to a jazz club this evening- perfect!

2 comments:

  1. I love the little snippets of the stories or previous outings behind some of the clothes being swapped. Nice to think too that these garments are off on new adventures,spinning new tales.

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  2. Exactly- like they are living their own lives and we should treasure the stories that they do tell.Love your blog Rosalind! Thanks for the comment.

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