For a day last winter, University of West London turned into a great place for thrift and vintage lovers, with rows of clothes for everyone to freely swap at Freddie’s! The special part? All these clothes were given by people from The University of West London UWL and didn’t cost anything.
The Volunteering Team, along with Yash (Vice President of Activities at the Student Union), turned this concept into a reality to increase sustainability and increase the life of our clothes, by creating the Clothes Swap initiative. This innovative project drew in participants from different parts of the university, involving both students and staff.
With over one hundred people taking part, and led to a significant 215.5 pounds of clothes gaining new owners. By providing these clothes with a renewed purpose, the university managed to save around 43.49 kilograms of CO2e, by not sending these garments to landfill and keeping them in circulation.
“It was great to collaborate with the Voluntary Team & have all their help on this event. I’m so happy everyone enjoyed it & I know they’ll look stylish in their new clothes.” Yash Arora, VP of Activities at UWL Student Union.
One of the volunteers said:
“There are so many reasons I wanted to volunteer at the clothes swap. Firstly events like this contribute to reducing textile waste by encouraging people to reuse and recycle clothing. It supports the community and for some people, volunteering at a clothes swap event allows them to indulge in their passion for fashion and style, they can help organize and curate the event, creating an enjoyable experience for participants. Volunteering provides an opportunity to meet like-minded individuals who share an interest in sustainable fashion, plus it offers valuable experience and skills that can be added to a resume or used in future endeavours.” Jemish Rameshbhai Viradiya, Student Volunteer.
UWL will run more of these events supporting sustainability.
Repair what you wear
Some clothes need the occasional mend and we have the brilliant Ealing Repair Cafe that teaches and encourages the mending of clothes and textiles. To create a circular economy for clothes and a move away from fast disposable fashion, the Repair Cafe, run monthly gatherings around Ealing, giving suggestions and showing samples of repairs done by our community.
At the sessions the Ealing Repair volunteers help by providing sewing equipment, threads, fabric for patches and offering advice on how to mend by sewing, embroidery, visible mending, patching, boro and sashiko stitching.
Visit them at https://ealingrepaircafe.org/ and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ealingrepaircafe/
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