Supporting local charities and communities
About Us
The Clothes Swap Swindon Mission
Clothes Swap Swindon supports local charities and communities by creating fundraising events to raise money for those in need, and provide clothing and support for local Swindon people.
Helping to save the planet, animals and nature is hugely important to us. That's why we advocate so much for recycling, reusing items, reducing waste and helping the environment at our events. We want to support you all to recycle as much as possible, and to all do our bit in helping save our world as much as we can.
Below we have listed our three key values on why we run our events, and what is important to us.
Ultimately, we want to help those in need, and that means nature, animals and people. We hope you will help us help others.
Why Do We Do Clothes Swaps?
For the Environment
Did you know one of that clothing is one of the biggest polluters right now, just behind the oil industry? Every year around 336,000 tonnes is clothing is sent to landfill - that means out of every 30kg of clothing disposed of, only 4.5kg is recycled.
Fast fashion is a huge culprit for the immense waste that is clogging up our landfill - clothing is bought, worn once and then disposed of - and considering so much of those fabrics are plastic derivatives, that means it can take hundreds of years to biodegrade! Even natural fabrics can release harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere if sent to landfill, because there is no oxygen for the fabrics to decompose.
The production of these fabrics also causes problems - textile production causes water pollution, which affects the environmental and wildlife, not to mention the cruel practises that these fast fashion brands adopt to get leather, fur and other animal products (even when they lie and say its faux - which happens a lot!)
So what's the answer?
Recycling!
If we stop constantly purchasing fast fashion, we can reduce the significant harm caused by the fast fashion industry such as pollution, reduce our carbon, water and waste footprint, and stop the huge amount of waste created.
Recycling clothing gives it a new life, where it can be used by someone again and again, and saves it from going to landfill to cause so many problems.
But what about when clothing can't be worn anymore? What if its unwearable?
No problem! There are places that you can take clothing that can no longer be worn, which can then be recycled and made into something new - such as padding, cleaning cloths and industrial blankets. You can even recycle clothing and textiles from home! Click the button below to find your local textile recycling and how to recycle at home!
Clothes Swap Swindon do all we can to reduce our waste at events - we reuse as much as we can, such as signs, rails, hangers, boxes etc. Where we cannot reuse, such as with waste bags or cleaning wipes, we ensure we use recyclable or biodegradable items. We will always support you in helping to recycle as much as possible, so keep an eye out for our recycling drives!
Recycling and helping our planet is one of our key goals at Clothes Swap Swindon. We want to do everything we can to help the environment and help you recycle too!
Why Do We Do Clothes Swaps?
For the People
Clothes Swap Swindon has been an invaluable resource for people in Swindon who are going through difficult times. We provide a place where people from lower incomes can find clothing that they may not have been able to afford to buy, a place where people can get a variety of clothing when they may not have any due to personal circumstances or pickup valuable items that can help them in their lives, such as suits or shirts for interviews.
We provide a helpful place for parents to pickup childrens clothing, which can be expensive, especially if they need to buy new clothing in high frequency.
We also help people who may be suffering with body dysmorphia or eating disorders who find it difficult to go to stores to purchase clothing.
Clothes Swap Swindon is also a trans friendly place where we can help people get new clothing whilst they are transitioning, without having to go to shops and changing rooms, and with no judgement.
We are also a wonderful place to meet new people, catch up with friends, and for people to find new clothes that they can love and take home. Its always great to find a new top you love and makes you feel good, so our events always have a happy and communal feeling to them.
Clothes Swap Swindon is a community, and people are one of our key elements. We want to be a key part of the Swindon community and help bring people together.
Why Do We Do Clothes Swaps?
For the Charities
Supporting local charities and fundraising for those in need is incredibly important to us here at Clothes Swap Swindon.
We have supported a number of charities over the years, such as;
Brighter Futures -
Helping Great Western Hospital to buy and build much needed equipment
New Start Cat Rescue -
Helping to fund much needed medical care and shelter for strays and abused cats
IPSUM -
Supporting local mental health work to support local Swindon people in need
We also support Wiltshire Air Ambulance at all our events by donating the remaining clothing to them to help raise much needed funds for their work.
Fundraising is so important to these small charities; many of them do not receive a lot of funding as they are small and don't have the level of exposure as other, bigger charities. Nor do they have the shops to create revenue like other charities, so they rely on the kind donations of local people. By fundraising for local charities, we can make a big difference to what they can do and how much they can help those who desperately need and rely on their help.
That is why we ask for our small entry fee - this is a donation which goes directly to the charity we have selected for that event. Clothes Swap Swindon takes no income from the events, all the money raised goes to the selected charity to help support them and their crucial work.
We always try to make sure to choose a variety of charities, so we can help as many as we can and spread the much needed funds into a number of different places.
We will always do these events to support local charities, and ultimately help local people, local animals and local communities. Supporting those in need is a key goal for us at Clothes Swap Swindon, and we will always do our best to support our community and those in need.