Hey you – yes you! Would you like to come along to my clothes swap? I can’t believe I’m finally saying those words… I’ve been SO excited about this sustainable fashion event for SO long, I can’t even believe it’s almost here!
The Haulternative Closet is London’s luxury clothes swap, an event I’ve curated with my dear friends Ella, Megha, and Rosie, over the last six months. We dreamt up the idea together as we love swapping our clothes, and after a few practice events, our big one is finally here.
Instead of focusing on the ethics or sustainability of fashion, our aim is to make fashion fun again. Forget fast fashion – it’s all about swapping our clothes and making the most of the perfect, well-made pieces we already own (but might not wear enough)…
London’s Luxury Clothes Swap
If you’re based in or around London, come along to our first Haulternative Closet clothes swap event on Thursday 17th October 2019, between 5pm – 9pm, at the beautiful 42 Acres building near Old Street station. You can book your tickets here.
Date and Time
Date: Thursday, 17th October 2019
Time: 17:00 – 21:00
Location
42 Acres Shoreditch, 66 Leonard Street, London, EC2A 4LW
What to prepare
Bring 3-5 good quality, well-made items, as well as a bag to take your swaps home in.
Tickets
Get your tickets exclusively on Eventbrite →
The story behind the Haulternative Closet
In the run up to the swap, I also wanted to share with you the journey that Ella, Megha, Rosie and I have all taken that has led us to creating the event!
We all met at individual sustainable fashion events in London over the last year and a half. In fact, Ella and I first met over Instagram, and then met up in real life – proving that relationships on the internet can work in real life!
Ella writes The Fashion Common Room, Megha and Rosie run luxury sustainable fashion platform Uhuru – and despite our different areas of work, we all had one thing in common: we love sustainable fashion!
However, we found that a lot of sustainable fashion is either too plain, too serious, or simply too far out of our price range. It’s why we all tend to buy investment pieces, and swap clothes between ourselves – and now we want to do that with you too!
Making sustainable fashion fun
The Haulternative Closet was developed as a seasonal pop-up clothes swap, making the most of the best unworn pieces in your wardrobe. With so many of us shifting to buying less, and buying better, there’s still a few questions over how we can have fun with our clothes:
- What do you do with clothes that don’t fit you anymore?
- What do you do with a high-end item that you just don’t like anymore?
- What do you do with an item you bought for an event, and only wore once?
- How can you have fun with fashion without feeling guilty?
Well, that’s what we’re here to answer! Instead of feeling guilty, or simply leaving beautiful pieces hanging in your wardrobe after one wear (or the UK average of just eight wears), swapping your best unworn items with other womxn will refresh your wardrobe, enable you to try out different styles, and go back to loving what your clothes say about you!
What to expect…
We’re hosting our event in London, where, according to TRAID, 23% of Londoners’ wardrobes are never worn. (If you can’t make our event, perhaps you could set up a clothes swap of your own?)
Haulternative Closet is a seasonal swap, so we’ve already gathered together items that are perfect for AW19, meaning you can leave with new items that you can wear straight away. Think coats, scarves, woollen skirts and cosy jumpers. And if you’ve bought something during LFW that you really regret… you know where to bring it!
Tickets for the event are £5.50, or free to students or concessions who may not be able to afford the entry fee. You can book your ticket on Eventbrite.
During the event, we’ll also be hosting an embroidery workshop with Beanbroidery, a talk on herbal medicine with Herb Clinic London, and have a few extra special surprises up our sleeves too!
And when it comes to bringing items – we’ll have rails ranging from high quality high street, through to designer, and luxury pieces. Please bring along 3-5 clean, good quality items that you no longer wear, as well as a bag to take your fresh new garms home in!
Can’t wait to see you all there – and if you have any questions, feel free to get in touch!
