Swishing: How to organise a swishing party!

What is swishing?

Never heard of it.
Sounds a bit dirty.
Here’s the good old Wikipedia take on it.

Swishing refers to swapping an item or items of clothing or shoes or an accessory with friends or acquaintances.

Parties must willingly give an item to participate in the transaction, once they have given an item they are free to choose something of interest from what others have offered. Value does not come into the equation, swappers do not necessarily get an item of equal value and are free to choose anything that the other person if offering (without having to pay).

Swishing is now being more widely practiced throughout the world, and has evolved to include other items such as books and furniture. Not only do people hold ‘swishing parties‘ either as a charity event or simply for the enjoyment of it (while recycling and saving money at the same time) but, there are several websites that have online swishes taking place

Most of us have too many clothes. Clothes we don’t like. Clothes we don’t wear. Clothes that don’t fit.

When I was in Rwanda in 2012 I learned so many things. One was that people with very little are found okay they may not have tonnes of clothes r but they look after them. It stopped me buying new clothes for a year. Since then I’ve basically only bought a few second hand things and relied on borrowed or swapped items and hand me downs.

Every item of clothing contributes to climate change and uses resources. So I’m very keen to find ways of moving clothes around.

A friend hosted a fantastic clothes swap last year.

So now I’m holding an event.

I thought I’d start by sharing the preparation process.

You need:
🔹people willing to join in
🔹clothes rails
🔹coat hangers
🔹mirrors
🔹carrier bags (recycled)
🔹accessories area
🔹shoes and bags area
🔹refreshments
🔹snacks
🔹space
🔹time to set up in advance

I’m in the process of organising these things.

So far I’ve borrowed some clothes rails and invited lots of people.

I hope they come.

I’ve suggested that they drop their clothes off in advance so I can set them up.
I’m going to use two or three rooms in my house to do the party.

We have a big living dining room which is open plan to the kitchen.

I need to think about where the mirrors in the house are.

Where will I put stuff?
Belts and shoes on the landing?
Where will people change?
What drinks and snacks?
It’s in a couple of weeks.
I’ll have time.

Need to checkout my own wardrobes too….

I’ll keep you posted.