Swap it!

Don’t shop for it, swap for it!

Swap events can be a fun way to find something different to wear, a new book or something for the house, that doesn't involve spending money and reduces waste.

Swap with friends or family, or you could organise a bigger event involving your local community. Here are some ideas on how you could do it.

The Friends and Family Swap Event

This option would work best for a small group of 5 - 10 family and friends.

You could set up an online group, for example via WhatsApp or a closed Facebook group, or just agree an evening for an online video call.

Agree beforehand on a set number of items for each person to swap; we suggest no more than 4 per person. If you’re swapping clothes, mix it up with accessories such as handbags or scarves to ensure that everyone has something they can swap even if there are a range of sizes in the group.

If you’ve set up a group, ask each person to post photos of each of the items they are wanting to swap beforehand, along with the size and condition.

Set some Ground Rules, for example that everyone is allowed to take up to the same number of items they nominate for swapping. If more than one person wants the same item, then the person who doesn’t get it will have first preference on the next item they want.

Suggest making it a social occasion with your own drinks and nibbles and invite your guests to bring along a container for any leftover food at the end of the night.

On the night…

Take turns with each person showing the items they want to swap. They could talk about where, when and why they bought it and why they want to swap it.

Encourage people to take notes as they go through so they remember which items they’d like.

Once everyone has been through their items, open the swap!

If you end up with any unwanted clothes at the end of the swap, consider donating to local charity shops or list them online to share with others.

The Online Swap

Top Swap Tip: This would work best in a limited geographical area such as a road, village, school or university.

Share details on social media with the date and start time for when swapping can take place.

Advertise the event on local social media or through leaflets/posters if appropriate.

Leading up to the start of the swap, invite people to post photos of the items they want to swap, along with their size and condition on your chosen platform.

To limit the amount of items and potential postage costs it’s suggested that each participant posts up to 5 items.

On the day of the swap, participants can start messaging each other if they want an item and suggest it operates on a first come first served basis!

End the swap by putting a message on your chosen platform to thank people for getting involved and noting how many people joined in.

Once the swap is over, there are a few options for obtaining the items swapped. These could include:

• Participants hand delivering the items to each other’s homes
• Meeting in a public place to hand items over
• Posting the items and arranging for the postage to be refunded. This should be done privately by the individuals concerned to avoid any issues with data protection.

Community events

Before the event

Start collecting

It is a good idea to collect some items to swap before the event. Ask if friends or family have anything they no longer want, and make sure you have a dry place to store it.

Find a venue

This could be a community centre, a local café or perhaps your local library. Think about places that will help you get a high footfall, and which day of the week would be best for attracting visitors.

Find volunteers

Depending on the size of your event, you may need to ask volunteers to help you set up. Even better if they are insured to drive and can help you transport the clothing or other items to and from the venue. You’ll probably also need at least one volunteer to welcome people and explain how the swap will work as well as a few others to check items and display them.

Safety

Find out whether your event is already covered by the venue’s insurance. You may need to take out suitable cover – public liability, employees (your volunteers) and product liability insurance. You will also need undertake a risk assessment for the event to ensure that your insurance is valid.

Promote your event

There are many ways you can promote your event. You could post on social media, make posters, put an advertisement in local news and also ask the venue for assistance. It’s a good idea to add some information about the type of items that will be swapped on the day and to specify that people should only bring clean, whole items with no rips or tears or pieces missing. Tell people whether there’s a limit to the number of items they can bring or swap as well, so you’re not overwhelmed on the day.

At the event

Display

If possible, display clothes on rails so people can easily see what they’re looking at. Grouping similar items together can help people find a swap they want as well.

Toys, games, books and other items are best laid out on tables – check if your venue has tables they can lend, or bring trestle tables of your own.

How to swap

There are different ways this can work. Some ideas include:

• An informal approach where visitors bring items to swap and then take other items they want with no limit.
• Tokens – use a welcome desk to accept items to swap, then exchange them for tokens to against other items. If people would like to take more items than they brought, then they could ‘purchase’ more tokens for a suggested donation. You could even use a ranking system for the value of the items (e.g. a coat is 2 tokens, a t shirt is 1 token).
• Kilo sale. This is where you would ‘buy’ items for a fixed fee per weight and ‘sell’ them for a little more to help cover costs.

Make sure you make it clear to visitors what kind of swap you’re doing – you could write this out on a board or poster, or have a volunteer welcome visitors and explain the process.

With all swaps, you could consider asking for donations to help cover costs of the venue, refreshments, printing costs etc.

Signage

Make sure people know where you are! Make sure you have enough signs and way markers to get people from the entrance or car park to where your swap event is happening.

Refreshments

Providing refreshments can be a good way to attract visitors and encourage people to take a look. Use reusable cups and plates, and try to offer water refills so you don’t end up making excess waste. This can also be a great way to raise money to fund the event, or a charity. If you are planning a series of events, consider buying foods with a long shelf life so that, if unused, could be saved for a future event.

Keep track

Not essential, but it can be a good idea to make plans to record how much you’ve swapped through the event. You could weigh the items before they go in and after they go out, or count them.

After the event

There may be items left over from the swap – having a plan for what to do afterwards will save a lot of time and effort. Do you want to save them for your next event? If so, make sure you have somewhere dry to store them until then.

If the event is more of a one-off, consider donating to local charity shops. If you end up with large volumes of material, please contact charity shops before donating to ensure they have capacity.

Alternatively, you could list the items for free online on Freegle, Freecycle, Olio or social media.

Share your successes! How many clothes did you swap? Did anyone find anything they particularly loved? Share on your social media accounts and tag us @smartliving.hcc on Instagram or Smart Living - Hampshire on Facebook.

Online Swapping Sites

If you don’t want to organise a swap event, don’t worry! There are lots of smaller swap groups on social media or bigger sites where you can swap clothes or other items. Take a look our Sustainable Fashion or Reuse pages to find out more.