Posh Swaps Blog

Spring is on its way and I can’t wait, longer days, warmer weather and a whole new wardrobe. Well actually, just because we are about to move in to a new season, it doesn’t mean that you need to buy a whole wardrobe of new clothes. It is likely that you will already have many items in your wardrobe that fit in with the seasons new trends or some really classic items that never go out of fashion. If you really don’t have anything or are in desperate need of an updated look why not try swapping some of your old clothes or buying some second hand clothes? Not only is it environmentally friendly, but you are likely to get more style for your money and will be able to afford better quality that will last for seasons to come. Here are my tp 5 items to swap or but second hand this spring.

Tailored Jackets - for a really up to date look, try wearing a tailored jacket with jeans or a t shirt and pencil skirt. Tailored jackets are a great secondhand buy as they have usually only had light wear. They are also usually quite flattering. I love this black and white tweed jacket which would look great over a really bright pink t shirt.

Trench Coat - this is one of those pieces of clothing that just keeps coming back into fashion time and time again. In fact, I am not really sure if it ever really goes out of fashion. It is classic, versatile and practical. I love this purple mac, it will work equally well for daytime or evening.

Unusual Jewellery - an unusual piece of jewellery is a great way to update and finish an outfit, add interest and stand out from the crowd. By wearing something unusual, you will not need to worry about following trends, you will be unique. I love these sweet earrings, they would look great with a bright green, pink or blue top or dress.

Leather Handbag - a good leather handbag will become better with age. A designer bag is always a good investment buy whether it is new or secondhand. This brown Mulberry messenger bag is the perfect colour and style to go with almost any casual spring outfit.

Designer Dress - the great thing about a second hand designer dress is that it is a fraction of its price new but is likely to have been well looked after and in good condition. This Notte by Marchesa Gown will really turn heads at parties, weddings and other events over the summer.

An interesting report entitled Well Dressed? and published by the University of Cambridge, Department for Manufacturing in 2006 explores the present and future sustainability of textiles in the United Kingdom. Most of us are probably aware that there are many issues surrounding the sustainability of the textiles industry in the UK but the report gives a really in depth and neutral look at the problems and identify the potential for significant and lasting change.

The report is highly relevant for consumers, media, business, education, government and campaigners and provides balanced evidence based information. Some of the key findings of the report in relation to the recycling of clothes are summarised below:

• The UK’s current behaviour in disposing of used clothing and textiles to landfill is not sustainable as volumes are growing.
• The second hand sector is growing and there is further demand so improved collection and sorting procedures will be beneficial in reducing waste and providing usable clothes to developing countries.
• Recycling is siginificant for materials with high impacts in the production phase.

According to the analysis in order to create change a consumer would:

• Buy second hand clothing and textiles where possible.
• Buy fewer more durable garments and textile products.
• When buying new products, choose those made with least energy and least toxic emmissions, made by workers paid a credible living wage with reasonable employment rights and conditions.
• Lease clothes that would otherwise not be worn to the end of their natural life.
• Extend the life of clothing and textile products through repair.
• Dispose of using clothing and textiles through recycling businesses who would return them for secondhand sale where ever possible but otherwise extract and recycle the yarns or fibres. 

Swapping, buying and selling second hand clothes is a great way of recycling and improving the sustainability of textiles. You can swap, buy and sell your second hand clothes for free on www.posh-swaps.com.

We are delighted to welcome some fashion bloggers to our online swap party in celebration of International Day of Swishing tomorrow. below are just some of the gorgeous items that have been listed so far. To see the full list of clothes to swap go to http://www.posh-swaps.com/swap.php?type=S

From Sherin of Hi Fashion

Pink plaid skirt

Pink Heart Necklace

Grey Denim Skirt

From Illustrator Claire

Wine Ruffled Jacket

From the Style Eyes Fashion Blog

Pink Jaeger Jacket

Cream studded leather handbag

Vintage style green beaded choker

A big thank you to all those fashion bloggers participating in tomorrows online swap party. For those who would like to join in, all you need to do is register with www.posh-swaps.com and add your clothes, shoes, handbags and accessories.

We would also like to thank the following fashion bloggers for their supports and mentions:

 Mizzj of Being High Maintenance Not Bitchy

Stephanie Grace Blog

Intrinsically Florrie

Posh-swaps.com will celebrate International Day of Swishing on 9th January 2009 with a free online swishing party. The party is open to anyone and everyone with the opportunity to list and swap as many clothes as they like for free. The phenomena of swishing or clothes swap parties have become hugely popular as they are fun, frugal and environmentally friendly. Online swapping is the perfect alternative to swishing for those who prefer to swap from the comfort of their own home.

9th January 2009 has been declared International Day of Swishing by Futerra Sustainability Communications and Lucy Shea founder of Swishing. The flagship event will be held at the Andaz Liverpool Street Hotel in London but for swappers all over the world who want to take part, there will also be an online swishing party at Posh-swaps.com on 9th December 2009.

Swappers can join the online party by registering with posh-swaps.com, before listing as many items of clothing as they like by uploading a photo, description and details. They can then browse swap items listed by others before proposing as many swaps as they like. The website is completely free to use including registering, listing, swapping buying and selling second hand clothes. Fashion Bloggers from all over the world will also be invited to attend and help promote sustainable style by listing their clothes.

International Day of Swishing is such a great opportunity to get people from all over the world online at once to swap clothes, have fun and promote sustainable style. It is also a great way to refresh your wardrobe for the New Year without spending money and swap any unwanted Christmas presents.

Attend the posh-swaps.com online swap by visiting www.posh-swaps.com to register and list your items of clothing on or before 9th January 2010.

A very happy New Year from Posh-swaps.com. We hope that you had a great 2009 and also look forward to lots if swapping in 2010. Here at Posh-swaps.com, we  have made a few changes to the way that you list items to make it even easier for you. You can now upload any size photograph and it will be resized to the required dimensions. Other plans for 2010 include more promotion of the site to increase out user base and the choice of clothes for swappers. We hope to promote eco fashion and sustainable style even more, keeping you up to date with the ultimate in guilt free style. We also hope to organise lots more fun clothes swap parties. Finally, we have no plans to introduce any fees throughout 2010 and beyond. Posh-swaps.com is still completely free to register, list, swap, buy and sell second hand clothes. Please let us know if you have any other ideas or feedback about the site.

The new year is a great time to swap clothes. Why not have a clear out of your wardrobe and swap anything that you no longer wear. If you have not worn something for over a year, then you will probably not wear it again.

If you have received clothes from well meaning friends and family that you just know you won’t wear, instead of leaving it hanging in your cupboard, why not swap it for something you will wear.

If your new years resolution is to lose weight, treat yourself to some new clothes in your new size by swapping your old clothes. A great new wardrobe to suit your figure for free.

Happy New Year and Happy Swapping!

9th January is the  first ever International Day of Swishing as announced by Futerra Communications, a UK sustainability communications agency on swishing.org. ‘Swishing’ is the term coined by Futerra Communications to describe clothes swap parties a phenomena that has become hugely popular all over the world. The dictionary definition of swishing is ‘to rustle as silk’ but the futerra definition is ‘to rustle clothes from friends’.

2010 looks likely to be a year where swishing will increase in popularity. It is a greay way to refresh your wardrobe without racking up debt on your credit card. It is also a great sustainable alternative to shopping, reducing the textile waste in landfill and the environmental impact of clothing manufacture.

To celebrate they will be throwing an eco-fabulous ‘Red Carpet Swish’ at London’s Swanky Andaz Hotel in Liverpool Street, London. At Posh Swaps, we will be celebrating the International Day of Swishing by hosting our own online swap party or swish. There is no exclusive guest list everyone is welcome to list and swap as many clothes as they like for free. We will also be inviting our favourite Fashion Bloggers to come along and join in the swap.

Grab your warm winter coat or cape and check out these events.

New Years Swish

02 Jan 2010 12:00

Venue: 42-44 Clarville Rd, London SW7 5AW

Greetings all

We are holding a swishing event on Saturday 2 January 2010, at 42-44 Clarville St, SW7 5AW…not far from the Gloucester Road tube stop.

We are right next door to the Hereford Arms on the corner of Gloucester Rd and Clarville St.

12 midday - doors open to drop items off
1pm - doors open for browse
2pm - swishing begins!

Bring along a preloved item of clothing or accessory that you would be proud to swish with other fashionistas.

Its only £10 to get in and all proceeds go to the Ka Pai Karl Education Fund. Cash only

Even better, if you show your swish ticket the staff at the Hereford Arms, you will get 50% off your food.

We already have a stylish stock of mens and womens clothes for swish, including Helen Cherry, SNOB, River Island….

For more information, or to see pics of some of the garments already donated, contact kapaikarl@gmail.com.
Email: kapaikarl@gmail.com

Charity Clothes Swap

06 Jan 2010 19:30

Venue: Espionage Nightclub Edinburgh, 4 India Buildings, Victoria Street, Edinburgh

Charity Clothes Swap
Declutter your closet and upgrade your wardrobe on a budget!

Come along to our charity clothes swap in aid of Scottish social care charity Quarriers.

Wednesday 6th January 2009
From 7.30pm @ Espionage Nightclub Edinburgh, 4 India Buildings, Victoria Street, Edinburgh, EH1 2EX

How does it work?…
Come along to Espionage between 7.30pm and 8pm.
Bring along items from your wardrobe you no longer need. These must be clean and in good condition (please no dirty or damaged clothes)
Hand over each item to the registration team on arrival in return for a swap token.
Pay your entry fee of £5 (This allows you from 1 up to 5 swap items – any additional items are charged a £1 per item swap fee)
You will then be able to get a drink at the bar until 8.30pm when you will be given half an hour to browse items.
At 9pm the swap begins and you can take any items back to the registration team and exchange them for your tokens.
Items must be exchanged for tokens.
Items are exchanged on a first come first serve basis.
Once you have finished swapping you and your friends are free to relax in the bar.

Hope to see you there! Email me for any further info.

Email: lynas21@hotmail.com

International Day of Swishing’s Flagship Event

09 Jan 2010 15:00

Venue: Andaz Liverpool Street Hotel, London

International Day of Swishing’s flagship event.

We at Futerra are overjoyed at how fabulous all of your swishes are looking. We are also excited to announce that January 9th 2010 is officially the first ever International Day of Swishing.

There are now Swishers all over the world from South Africa to Belgium and New Zealand to Japan.

To celebrate we are throwing an eco-fabulous ‘Red Carpet Swish’ at London’s Swanky Andaz Hotel in Liverpool Street.

There will be music, alcohol, fabulous people and fabulous clothes. As well as being able to upgrade your wardrobe without risking the chaos of January sales, you will also be able to relax and enjoy one of London’s most exclusive venues.

The event is free of charge.

Doors will open at 3.00pm and Swishers will have an hour and a half to drop off clothes and relax with a cocktail.

The first Swish will run from 4.30 until 5.30 and then another cocktail break will be followed by more Swishing and you guessed it, more cocktails.

We will be following a points system. Designer items will be given 15 points, vintage 10 points and other items 5 points. Swishers can then take away items equivalent to the value of the items they came with. Items will be assigned points at the door by our fashionista Swishing attendees.

We will have style advisors in the form of London’s next big designers. Students from London’s top fashion courses will be on hand to offer style advice and basic amendments.
Numbers are limited so arrive early to avoid disappointment.

Email: LucyWarin@Futerra.co.uk

Dolly Mixtures

14 Jan 2010 17:00

Venue: Electric Circus, 36-39 Market Street, Edinburgh

DOLLY MIXTURES (weekly from 14th January, except 28th)
doors 5pm, £3 in advance, £6 on the door for the whole evening – call 0131 226 4224 for group bookings
Beat those January blues with high tea, cocktails, swishing/clothes swapping, tribute acts and party tunes till the wee hours.
Bring the girls along for some high tea nibbles, teapot cocktails or a nice bottle of wine and have a rummage through our stalls of vintage clothes, hand made jewellery and cute crafts. Bring along a quality unwanted item from your wardrobe and when the bell rings swish away!
Then settle in for a top night of entertainment! A sensational sing-along with a top tribute act every week, then kick off your shoes and have a dance with our party tunes dolly mixture djs till it’s time for bed. This is set to be the finest ladies night in town!
Live sets – 14/01 – Madonna, 21/01 – Robbie Williams, 4/02 – Abba, 11/02 – Kylie
Drinks from £1.50

Email: solen@theelectriccircus.biz

New Year Swish Party

16 Jan 2010 18:30

Venue: withheld…

An excuse for a New Year clean out and a fresh wardrobe for 2010!
Bring along at least one, and no more than 10 items (clothes,bags,belts,accessories,jewellery, scarves etc) for the swap.
Nibbles and some soft and alcoholic drinks provided.
Arrive by 18.30 - the swish can only start once everyone is there!

Email: zogmeister75@hotmail.com

Swish For Victory

17 Jan 2010 13:00

Venue: Jacobs Well, Trinity Lane off Micklegate, York

Got some gifts for Christmas you didn’t really want? Swish them in York to raise money for the WI and York’s local women’s refuge!

Email: newyorksisterhood@googlemail.com

Winter Clothes Swap Southampton

20 Jan 2010 18:30

Venue: The Art House, 178 Above Bar Street, Southampton

Come along with women’s, men’s and children’s clothes as well as accessories to our seasonal clothes swap at The Art House.

Entry is by Magic Hat (donate what you can towards the running costs of The Art House).

Email: info@thearthousesouthampton.co.uk

Dolly Mixtures

21 Jan 2010 17:00

Venue: Electric Circus, 36-39 Market Street, Edinburgh.

DOLLY MIXTURES (weekly from 14th January, except 28th)
doors 5pm, £3 in advance, £6 on the door for the whole evening – call 0131 226 4224 for group bookings
Beat those January blues with high tea, cocktails, swishing/clothes swapping, tribute acts and party tunes till the wee hours.
Bring the girls along for some high tea nibbles, teapot cocktails or a nice bottle of wine and have a rummage through our stalls of vintage clothes, hand made jewellery and cute crafts. Bring along a quality unwanted item from your wardrobe and when the bell rings swish away!
Then settle in for a top night of entertainment! A sensational sing-along with a top tribute act every week, then kick off your shoes and have a dance with our party tunes dolly mixture djs till it’s time for bed. This is set to be the finest ladies night in town!
Live sets – 14/01 – Madonna, 21/01 – Robbie Williams, 4/02 – Abba, 11/02 – Kylie
Drinks from £1.50

Email: solen@theelectriccircus.biz

Cambridge Design Collective and Cambridge School of Art Clothing Exchange

23 Jan 2010 11:00

Venue: The Shop 18 Jesus Lane Cambridge

The clothes exchange returns to The Shop for a second time!
• Clear out your wardrobes
• Spring clean your closets
• Exchange unwanted Christmas clothing and accessories!

In addition to the exchange, a range of exclusive accessories made by ARU BA fashion students will be on sale and a team of stylists and customisers will be on hand to help you fit and transform your swaps.

The details…

Delivery of clothes – from 11 – 12 pm on Saturday 23th January at The Shop.

Clothes exchange from 12.30 – 2pm

Selling off unswapped clothing from 2 – 2.15pm

Admission £2 per person, £1.50 CDC / Shop members

Further details vist www.cambridgedesigncollective.org

Email: enquiries@cambridgedesigncollective.org

Dress ‘n Gown

29 Jan 2010 19:30

Venue: The Georgian Hotel, Coatbridge

Deafblind Scotland is a small national charity that works with adults in the community who have lost, or are losing, both their sight and hearing. We are the only Scottish charity dedicated to enabling deafblind adults to regain a place in their communities. Deafblind people often become very isolated due to their problems with communication, information and mobility – and we work tirelessly to change this.

We would like to invite you to attend our Dress ‘n Gown Party on the 29th January 2010. We will be inviting ladies to join us for a night of fun, fashion and clothes-swishing! It is a fun and novel way to get a new wardrobe without using your credit card.

We ask ladies to bring 3 quality items of clothing or accessories to swap!

Email: events@deafblindscotland.org.uk

Eco fashion is a bit of a trendy buzz word at the moment with so many clothing companies describing their clothing as Eco fashion. Some companies promote themselves as selling only Eco fashion whilst others have a small range of Eco fashion clothing. I would consider Eco fashion to be clothing that in someone has less environmental impact that the equivalent piece of conventional clothing. Obviously the lesser the impact the better. So how as a consumer can you decide what is important in terms of Eco fashion. Here are just a few considerations that may help.

Sustainability - this describes the use and renewal of resources. Is the clothing using resources that can not be easily replaced. This would include many synthetic fabrics which are made using oil a resource that will eventually run out. Sustainability considerations also include the use of landfill to dispose of waste. Clothes that have a longer life cycle are generally more sustainable.

Pollution- the release of chemicals both as gas, solids or liquids into the environment can be damaging to flora, fauna, Eco systems and the people living nearby. Pollution can be caused by effluent from factories where clothes are manufactured, pesticides used to cultivate cotton and dyes, chemicals washed from textiles that have been disposed of in landfill sites.

Carbon emmissions - global warming is though to be caused by the build up of green house gases. This includes both carbon dioxide produced when fossil fuels are burnt and methane released when natural textiles break down in landfill. It is important to consider how much energy has been used to manufacture a piece of clothing (its carbon footprint) this will include the energy used in transportation and again it life span. If clothes last longer, less clothes need to be made and less end up in landfill.

The environmental impact of a piece of clothing does not end with just these factors though. Through out its life a piece of clothing will probably be washed, cleaned, dried and ironed numerous times. In order to really minimise the environmental impact of a piece of clothing, you should also consider how these processes will affect the environment. For example, dry cleaning a piece of clothing will have quite a big environmental impact. A piece of clothing that dries naturally easily and doesn’t need ironing will be a good Eco friendly choice especially if washed at a low temperature.

Clothes swapping, buying and selling second hand clothes is a great option for those looking to help the environment. It increases the life cycle of each item of clothing, reduces landfill and reduces the amount of new clothes being bought therefore reducing all of those other impacts. For those living on a budget it also offers a low cost alternative to fast fashion (which is usually bad for the environment due to the way it is made and its short life cycle), that allows them to regularly update and refresh their wardrobe.

Last night was another fun clothes swap party for Posh Swaps. This time at the Guildhall in Bath. The swappers had a relaxed evening, enjoying a glass of wine and browsing the clothes and stalls. That was until the swap began at about 8pm, when the room turned into a frenzy of swapping with everyone grabbing for the items that they really wanted.

Once again I was gutted to be working as I would have loved to participate in the swap. I saw so many gorgeous clothes and couldn’t believe that these were actually clothes that people no longer wanted. Some great labels like Monsoon and Nougat, some gorgeous evening wear and lots of colourful and sparkly clothes and accessories  and even some brand new clothes with the tags still on.

We were delighted to welcome Emma McDonnell, Personal Stylist of Style to Wear along to the swap. Emma styled one lucky swapper and also showed her collection of gorgeous leather and suede corset/ obi belts are the perfect finishing touch for so many outfits.

Clothes swap parties are now really popular but have you ever though about arranging a clothes swap for children’s clothes. A school or nursery would be the ideal place to hold one. You could even charge a small entrance fee and have a few child related stalls to raise some funds for the school.

It makes sense as children grow out of their clothes so quickly, often before they have had the chance to wear their clothes very much. It is also a great way of saving money and also reducing waste and the amount of textile waste that goes into landfill. You could even combine it with a toy or book swap and second hand sale for nursery items.

If you prefer, you can sell or swap childrens clothes online at www.posh-swaps.com.