Posh Swaps Blog

If you haven’t yet joined in with the frugal, environmentally friendly and highly addictive (in a good way) trend for clothes swapping. What is to stop you? With parties for those who like social shopping and clothes swap websites for those who prefer to browse online, there is something for everyone. Here are 10 great reason to get swapping:

1. You can ensure that you have a balanced wardrobe with the right amount of different types of clothes to suit your lifestyle.

2. You can ensure that you have a wardrobe full of clothes that you really love.

3. You never need to get bored with your clothes, you can swap them as often as you like.

4. You can try out new looks that you never would have tried before.

5. You can help to reduce the amount of clothes and textiles going into landfill each year by recycling or swapping your clothes.

6. You can reduce environmental impact associated with the manufacture of new clothes by swapping instead of buying new clothes.

7. What better excuse for a spot of socialising than a clothes swap or swishing party.

8. You can save yourself lots if money by swapping instead of buying new.

9. You can feel happy that the expensive suit you bought last year for a wedding will get loved by someone as much as you loved it.

10.  You can avoid getting a cluttered and over crowded wardrobe by always removing an item before replacing with something new.

Whilst buying, selling and swapping second hand clothes is probbaly the ultimate in eco fashion with the least effect on the environment, there some items of clothing that even the most dedicated eco fashionista and recycling fanatic will want to buy new.

Pants and underwear are not the most popular second hand and swap items for obvious reasons. But you can still make sure that the underwear that you buy is produced in an environmentally friendly and ethical way. One way to fo this is to opt for an organic fibre like cotton or bamboo. By also opting for Fairtrade, you can be sure that the farmers growing the raw materials are receiving a fair price for their crop, helping to erradicate poverty. This pants to poverty underwear is a great way to support a good cause and minimise the negative impact that your underwear has on the environment.

Neon Floral Pattern Mini Skirt - Want to Swap?

If you haven’t had a chance to make your first clothes swap on posh-swaps.com, why not give it a try? I guarentee that you will be addicted. The thrill of recieving your first swap is just as exciting as that feeling that you get from going on a shopping spree. Actually it is a lot better as you don’t have a great big credit card bill to pay off at the end of it. It is also a great way to refresh your wardrobe so that it does not get too over crowded.

It is quick and easy to list your items on posh-swaps.com. All you need to do is set up an account (if you don’t already have one), take a photo or three of your item. Then log into your account, go to the add a new item, select ’swap it’ and complete as many details as you can before submitting. Don’t forget that the more information that you give about the item that you are hoping to recieve in return, the more chance you have of getting what you really want. If you are not really sure what you want, give a few clues like size,  casual clothes etc and state that you are happy to consider any proposals.

If you have a blog or participate in any social networks like Twitter or Facebook, you can also link to your item page to help promote it.

This week from June 22nd to 28th is Recycle Week. This is an event organised by Recycle Now each annually and is now in it’s fifth year. The theme this year is to waste less and the Recycle  Now website encourages individuals to pledge their commitment to recycling more and saving less. Amongst the suggested ways to reduce waste are reducing textile waste, recycling bottles and cans whilst out and about, home composting kitchen and garden waste, reusing carrier bags and using leftovers for lunch the next day.

We can’t think of any better way of recycling clothes than by selling them or swapping them on posh-swaps.com. It is an easy to use website, free to use and best of all you either get some money or some swapped clothes as a reward for your efforts. You can also recycle your clothes by donating to charity shops and taking to clothing banks. Another great way to recycle clothes is by making them into something new. You can turn old jeans into shorts, shorten a dress or embellish a jacket.

Clothes swapping is becoming very popular. We at Posh-swaps.com love Twitter, there seems to be plenty of tweeting going on about clothes swapping at the moment.

If you would like to receive regular updates about all of the latest clothes swaps and second hand clothes listed on posh-swaps.com, the just follow poshswaps on Twitter. You will also recieve updates on recycling, eco fashion, sustainable living and looking stylish on a budget.

We are really pleased to have a mention in the June edition of The Ecologist. The article which is part of a series entitles 101 ways forward:resources for a better world, discusses the issue of consumerism as well as 7 other topics of huge importance to the environment including waste, climate change and energy, food and farming. It outlines how we can take simple steps to reduce our consumerism and live a more sustainable life.

Swapping is of course one way to buy less new stuff and recycle old stuff and the article gives some great ideas for swapping, other than clothes. It also talks about ethical shopping and fairtrade, all great ways to live more sustainably.

Overall the article urges us to try and point where happiness comes from how little we own, not how much and changing the word ‘more’ for ‘enough’.

picture from the Ecologist

Whilst most people understand the importance of recycling and how it helps the environment, some people need just a little bit more of an incentive than helping the environment to get them recycling. There are so many ways that you can recycle now but did you know that you can actually make money by recycling?

Here are our top ways of making money by recycling:

1. Mobile phones - www.mobilephonerecycling.co.uk allows you to compare prices and get the most for your phone. Mobile phones should not be thrown away in your bin as the batteries contain hazardous substances.  

2. Computers and laptops - find out how much money you can get for your old computer on www.wastecare.co.uk

3. Clothes  - you can sell your old clothes on www.posh-swaps.com

4. Refashion clothes - you can refashion second hand clothes into something new and sell it for a higher value on www.posh-swaps.com

5. Make Jewellery - you can turn waste into beautiful and unusual jewellery to sell at craft fairs or on posh-swaps.com. Old watches and jewellery are a great place to start but there are so many other things you could use. Think creatively.

6. Turn your kitchen waste into compost, bag it up and sell it to your neighbours. Find out how on http://www.composting101.com/

7. Sell just about anything that you don’t want or need any more at a car boot sale, through newspaper ads or online

You just need to think a bit creatively. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure so before you throw something away, think about whether it might be of value to someone else.

Yet more evidence that recycling in the fashion industry is starting to take off. Graduate fashion week is a great indicator of the future of fashion almost certainly some of this years graduates will be the next rising stars of the fashion industry.

I loved Lucie Vincini’s collection of menswear. It had some eclectic and innovative designs but was mor than just a eco fashion novelty. It stood on it’s own merits in terms of wearable clothes and a very cohesive collection. The collection was made of a wide range of recycled materials and included a jacket made from Royal Mail bags and trousers made from plastic bags.

I hope this will inspire people and designers to have a go at making more outfits from recycled materials and second hand clothes is a great place to start. Don’t forget you can sell your outfits from second hand clothes and recycled materials for free on www.posh-swaps.com.

There are so many creative ways that recycled items can be made into jewellery, here are some of our favourites:

Who would have thought of using old bicycle inner tyres to create beautiful and unique jewellery? Sasja Saptenno a designer from Holland did. She makes a range of delicate and intricate jewellery from bicycle inner tyres aswell as 3d shawls from recycled materials.

For fun colourful and stylish jewellery, I love Recycled Newspaper Jewellery. It is made from Bracelets, Brooches, Earrings and Cufflinks  made of  Recyclable Paper Materials including Newspaper, Sweetener Packets and Loser Lottery Tickets.

This gorgeous vintage looking bracelet made from recycled floral biscuit tins is just one of the beautiful pieces of jewellery made from recycled materials on www.the-green-apple.co.uk.

They say that diamonds are a girls best friend but for a recycled alternative to diamonds these sparkly necklaces by Kumvana Govmani are  a great choice. They are made from recycled PET plastic.

If you love vintage jewellery then why not try something new made from vintage. This vintage clasp and recycled chain necklace is just one of a range of one of a kind jewellery on http://uncommonlybeautifulrecycledaccessories.bigcartel.com that is made from recycled and reclaimed materials including scrap leather, clock parts and suitcases.

I hope that you had a very lovely wedding day and have lots of lovely wedding photos to remember it by. Many people decide to keep their wedding dress for sentimental reasons but if you are not that sentimental about a piece of clothing or you don’t have space to store it, then selling a second hand wedding dress is a great way to ensure that someone else gets as much benefit from it as you have done. You also will get some money back and I am sure that most newly weds could do with that.

If you leave your wedding dress boxed up in your loft, there is a chance that it will get moth eaten or ruined. Are you ever going to use it again? I am thinking probably and hopefully not (not as a wedding dress anyway). So why not sell your wedding dress. It is very simple, first of all take three picture of the dress including one full length, plus two more of either the back view or close ups of the detail. Then set up and an account with www.posh-swaps.com and list the dress. Give as much information about the dress as you can.

You will also need to decide on a price . This will depend on how much  it cost new as well as it’s condition. As a general rule, if it is in excellent condition, it would be reasonable to charge about 50% of it’s new price, but it is really up to you.

Don’t forget to link to your listing from any blogs, social networks or fashion forum to give it maximum exposure on the search engines.