Get Your SWISH On!

The average UK household owns around £4,000 worth of clothes – and around 30% of clothing in wardrobes has not been worn for at least a year.
Extending the average life of clothes by just three months of active use would lead to a 5-10% reduction in each of the carbon, water and waste footprints; and an estimated £100 million worth (based on 2015 prices) or around 350,000 tonnes of used clothing goes to landfill in the UK every year.

In April members of the division attended the Rutherford Swish on campus. In doing so we helped raise £64 and over 10 bin bags of clothes were donated to two fantastic local charities; Wood Street Mission and Cornerstone.

To date, the Rutherford Swish has raised almost £600 for these two charities, and nearly 100 bags of donations! We spoke to Emma Lewis, the brains behind the successful Rutherford swish to ask her for her top tips for organising a successful swish….

Rutherford Top Tips for organising a Successful Swap

Think about the space you have and your layout – how will you display the clothes and items?
Recruit some volunteers to help set up
Think about what you will do with left over clothes and items
Keep a “float” of clothes for the next event you hold
Put signs out – Trousers, Tops etc.
Attendees can put their own clothes out on arrival
Start a mailing list that people can sign up to at the event
Advertise through staff net and push through your internal networks

Are you overdue a clear out? Fancy a spring clean?

You might want to think about organising your own swish. If you think you might want to do this – get in touch with a member of the DDAR Green Impact Team! Here’s what some of the clothes swappers said about swishing:

Best things about Swishing:

Picking up an item that you’re not sure about, taking it home and thinking “yeah”
It forces you to have a clear out at home
You try things you wouldn’t normally buy
It’s so satisfying to clear out your drawers
A less stressful way to get new cloths, well… “new to you”
Great for the environment – less clothes going to landfill
Supporting communities through local charities
Great way to meet new colleagues
It’s a good way to spend your lunch break!

Handy Links to help you run your own SWISH: