Stock image from Pixabay.
A Maidenhead swap shop is marking one year of ‘swapping, saving and styling’ as it hosts a birthday extravaganza in the town centre this Saturday.
Visitors are invited to bring along their clothes, shoes or accessories to Saf's Swap Shop and enjoy an afternoon of swapping and celebration at the Eco Action Hub in the Nicholsons Centre.
The shop was founded by sustainable fashion enthusiast Safiya Allaf in 2024, and began as small gatherings among friends in Maidenhead.
Since then, the swap shop has grown into a bi-monthly community event, helping people to combat textile waste and the ‘nothing to wear’ issue while ‘keeping fashion fun, affordable and circular’.
Since launching, the swap shop has kept more than 870 clothing items ‘in circulation and out of landfills’, hosted six community swap events and a mid-year sale, and built a ‘loyal swapping community’, with 20 per cent of visitors ‘returning time and again’.
The milestone swap will take place from 1pm to 3pm, as part of Sustainable Fashion Week’s Community Fringe events.
Swappers can bring along up to 10 items of clothing, shoes or accessories and exchange them for pre-loved items, working out at less than £1 per items.
Visitors will be treated to games, cake, goodie bags, and the celebrations will be attended by VIP guests, including sustainable fashion advocates Claire Langley of Claire’s Repairs and Jessica Fauchoix, founder of UpUp-K.
Claire will host a Mending Corner, where she will share simple repair techniques such as Shashiko and darning, to help swappers extend the life of their clothing items and embrace the mantra ‘stitch it, don’t ditch it’.
Jessica, who creates handmade accessories from re-purposed fabrics at UpUp-K, will be showcasing her upcycled creations and demonstrating Furoshiki fabric wrapping, which is a sustainable way to reimagine gift-wrapping.
Safiya Allaf said: “I can’t believe Saf’s Swap Shop has been going a whole year.
“What started as a fun thing with friends has grown into a community-wide shared wardrobe.
“Of course, I couldn’t do it without an enormous amount of help from my partner, family and friends - plus every single person who’s come along.
“It’s been amazing to see people embracing swapping.
"Here’s to another year of keeping clothes in circulation, sustainable style and swapping, not shopping.”
Clothing items need to be clean and in good condition, and can be dropped off between 11am and noon on the day of the celebration.
A tiered token system of bronze, silver and gold will be in place to ensure fairness, with tokens awarded based on condition, brand and type of item.
Tickets for the event cost £8 plus a booking fee, with 20 per cent donated to the Eco Action Hub.
Bookings can be made via: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/september-clothes-swap-and-our-1st-birthday-bash-tickets-1449051143979?aff=oddtdtcreator
Most read
Cressida Comyn died in the grounds of the Cardinal Clinic in Oakley Green (archive image).
Top Articles
Timothy Seale, left; Natasha Carroll, right.
A Maidenhead couple who went on a nine-day crime spree – robbing from multiple shops while armed with weapons – have been given prison sentences of eight and five years each.
Cressida Comyn died in the grounds of the Cardinal Clinic in Oakley Green (archive image).
The body of a vulnerable patient was found in the grounds of a private mental health clinic around an hour after she went missing, an inquest has heard.
Two-thirds of the Royal Borough’s bin collecting workforce look set to take strike action at the end of this month amid a dispute over pay.
© Copyright 2024 Baylis Community Media CIC All right reserved
