Top tips for the perfect swish

Global Action Plan's top tips for swishing

Swishing is a great way to have fun, save money and help the environment. A swish involves swapping clothes, shoes, and accessories. Engage your colleagues or community in a swishing event and save carbon, have fun and bag a bargain.

Global Action Plan's Katy Winkworth shares some top tips for running a smooth swap.

If you want to know more about how to hold the perfect swish then read on...

1. A room with a view

A seascape to die for is not totally necessary, but it helps if there’s enough room in your venue for your swappers to view the delectable treasures in comfort. Consider how much stuff you might receive for your swish and how many people might come when you’re choosing your venue.

2. Friends, colleagues, countrymen

Your swish could be small and sweet for close friends or colleagues, or larger than life and open to all. In our experience the more the merrier! Decide who to invite and make sure they have enough time to sort through their wardrobe. Tweeting, facebook, posters and leaflets plus dedicated swishing websites can all be great ways to advertise your swish.

3. Holey crap!

Holey socks, ripped t-shirts could be carefully crafted fashion or unwearable write-offs, so remember a swish is not an alternative to a rags donation. Ask your lovely swappers to donate good quality items. Apparently we don’t wear 20% of the clothes we buy.

4. Collect and display

If possible collect contributions to the swish before the event and display the items beautifully around your venue before your guests arrive. Ask swishers to bring items to a collection point, and then offer your guests somewhere they can sit with refreshments while the room is arranged. You may need tables, clothes rails and chairs to drape items over.

It's also a good idea to hand out tokens so people can fight over say three items each for the first round, then it's a free for all in the second!

5. The morning after

After your swish you may find you have some leftovers so plan ahead and identify a local charity shop that would appreciate a donation. This way you can guarantee all the items will go to a good home. Two million tonnes of textiles go to landfill every year, so just think of all those items you’ve revived and rescued!

6. Swish upon a star

Swishing is not only a great way to revamp your wardrobe and have a ball. It is also a super environmental thing to do. You’re diverting clothes from landfill, cutting carbon emissions, opting for fashion without exploitation (unless you forgot to offer your helpers biscuits) and you’re moving on from “shop till you drop” and bringing a new culture of “drop then shop” to the masses.

7. Everything but the kitchen sink

Your swish can be more than fashion focused. Encourage people to bring books, binoculars, badminton rackets, your brother's Bing Crosby records. Everything that needs a loving new home can be brought and sought by another so tell your swappers to rethink what can be reused.