Action on Climate Emergency (ACE) is organising its first Settle Clothing Swap at The Victoria Hall, Settle from 6pm on Thursday 10 April. There, you’ll be able to swap clean and undamaged items of clothing and accessories for something different. As a bonus, Patrick Grant will open the event and will be there to chat with swappers.
Grant (pictured) is an award-winning designer and a judge on the BBC’s Great British Sewing Bee. He is also the force behind Community Clothing, the clothing brand that makes fantastic clothes while creating and sustaining lots of skilled textile jobs in the UK, many of them in the north of England. And, who knows, he may even bring some clothes to swap!
The lifecycle of a typical T-shirt
On average, a new T-shirt bought in the UK, will be worn only seven times before it’s relegated to the back of the drawer and another one replaces it. If it’s lucky, the T-shirt may find another use as a painting overall and may then be cut up for use as a cleaning cloth.
It’s more likely the T-shirt will be discarded – either to a charity clothing bank or directly into the waste bin from where it will be sent to landfill or will be incinerated.
We want to believe that any items of clothing we donate to a charity shop or deposit in a clothes bank will find another use. Unfortunately, our relatively new, but now unwanted T-shirt is more likely to end up as landfill in Ghana or Chile where vast heaps of unwanted clothing are left to decompose, harming the air, water and anyone or anything living nearby.
What can we do about it?
When you’re about to discard your unwanted T-shirt, think about all the time and effort that went into growing the cotton, or into refining the oil and manufacturing the synthetic fibres. Think of the labour involved in spinning the fibres, dying them, weaving them into fabric, cutting and sewing the fabric, finishing the T-shirt and packing it. Add to this the distance that the fabric and the finished garment will have travelled before it ends up in your drawer or closet.
The next time you’re about to buy a new T-shirt or other item of clothing, think about these things before you reach for your bank card. Ask yourself if you’re really likely to wear it more than 30 times. If the answer’s no, perhaps it would be better to leave it on the rail.
We can buy fewer items of clothing but make sure they’re good quality and that we can keep on wearing them.
When an item of clothing is damaged, or we change shape or size, we can make sure it’s repaired or altered, rather than just discarding it and buying new.
Come to a clothing swap
We can also swap unwanted items for something different. We can do this informally with friends, or we could participate in a clothing swap.
Clothing swaps are organised events where you take along items of good quality, clean and undamaged clothing and accessories and swap them for something different. Successful clothing swaps have taken place in many communities across the country and now is your chance to participate in ACE’s first event in Settle. More information can be found on the ACE website.
