A perfect storm (as George Clooney fans will remember) is a situation where, by the confluence of specific factors, what might have been a minor issue ends up being magnified out of all proportion. Fashion forecasters are predicting that just such a phenomenon is about to hit consumer Britain. It brings together ethical shopping with bargain hunting, and fast fashion with vintage clothing, with a dash of MySpace-generation online networking added to whip up the waves a little more.
Fashion forecasters are predicting that just such a phenomenon is about to hit consumer Britain. It brings together ethical shopping with bargain hunting, and fast fashion with vintage clothing, with a dash of MySpace-generation online networking added to whip up the waves a little more.
Welcome to 2007's hottest fashion trend: swapping instead of shopping. Clothes swapping parties, which have been bubbling under for several years, are set to leap on to the radar with next month's launch of the first large-scale, user-friendly swapshop, Visa Swap. The credit card company Visa and TRAID (Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development) have honed the woolly notion of swapping clothes with friends into a high-fashion swapping event. The idea works like this: from May 31, swappers will be able to drop off clothes at a central-London location, where they will be assessed for value and the swapper given points on a "credit card" in return. Two weeks later, the doors to the swapshop will open, and swappers can return to spend their points on each other's clothes.
"There is a real feelgood factor to swapping" says Poppy Clark, 27, a fashion student and swap devotee, who has been holding swaps with her friends and sisters for five years. "When you're a poor student and you go shopping, even in Primark, there's always the guilt that you shouldn't be spending on clothes you don't really need and which won't last. Not to mention thinking about the conditions the clothes were made in. With swapping, you're free from all of that."
"Swishing" - the more aspirational name given to swap parties organised by Futerra. Futerra, says Shea, is full of women in their 20s and 30s who "are passionately committed to saving the planet, but don't want to do it in bad clothes".
The swapping craze has been gathering momentum in America for some time. Swapping is also burgeoning online. Fashion stylist Judy Berger founded the clothes swap and re-sale website WhatsMineIsYours.com in 2004; within three weeks it had 2,000 members.
Visa Swap aims to overturn the image of swapping as one step up from jumble sales. Celebrities such as Mischa Barton, Naomi Campbell, Peaches Geldof, Sadie Frost, Lily Cole and Kelly Osborne are donating clothes; style advisors will be on hand to help with alterations and customisation.
From Friday May 18, 2007, The Guardian
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