Pass it on: Give your unwanted clothes and textiles a new home

Love your clothes

Bath Big Clothes Swap

Pass it on: Give your unwanted clothes and textiles a new home

Don't throw away the clothes and textiles you don't need anymore - there's somebody out there who could benefit from them, or recycle them so that they can come back as something new.

If your unwanted clothes are of good re-usable condition pass them on - or - recycle them so less goes to landfill. See details in the leaflet on this page. Find your nearest charity shop

Find out more about the Love your clothes campaign

Love Your Clothes

Image of love your clothes logo landscape version

 

Did you know? 

  • 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 the carbon, water and waste used in the clothing manufacturing process and result in savings of around £2 billion in the direct cost of waste associated with UK clothing.
  • An estimated £140 million worth (around 350,000 tonnes) of used clothing goes to landfill in the UK every year.

The Love Your Clothes campaign, aims to help you change the way you buy, use and get rid of clothes across the clothing lifecycle.

It has lots of information and practical tips to help you to: 

  • Buy smart e.g. list before you buy, choose clothes that last longer, are pre-owned, integrate easy care technologies.
  • Extend the useful life of your existing clothes e.g. repairing items, accessorising, and laundry care.
  • Ensure your unwanted clothes are re-used or clothes unsuitable for re-use are recycled.

Find out more at Love your clothes

Don't forget that we collect your clothes, shoes, accessories such as belts and bags and other clean textiles such as towels and sheets in your green box recycling collection (go to Recycling Collections to find out more). Please put them in a plastic bag to keep them dry.

What happens to the clothes you recycle?

Your clothes and textiles which we collect in your green box and at our Recycling Centres go to Wilcox clothing recyclers in the West Midlands. They are carefully examined to decide which are re-usable before being sorted into many categories. Re-usable textiles are either re-used in the UK or exported for re-use in Easten Europe,  Africa or Asia. This gives local people access to good quality, affordable used clothing and textiles where these may be inaccessible or unaffordable.

The textiles you’re putting out for the weekly collection need to be of good re-usable condition. They must also be placed in a tied plastic bag (to keep dry and clean) in green box, or the crew will leave behind.

You can put all clean wearable clothing, shoes (paired), belts, hats, scarves, gloves, bed linen, blankets and towels into your green recycling box. Please bag your textiles items to keep then as clean and dry as possible (not in black bag in case it's mistaken for rubbish and no charity bags) so we can get maximum benefit from them.

Bath Big Clothes Swap

Bath Big Clothes Swap - took place on Wednesday 14 September 2016

 

View our video to see how the event worked:

Our second clothes swap in Bath in September sold out in advance again. 

On average 30% of clothes in our wardrobes haven’t been worn in the last year. So we invited you to bring any adult clothes, shoes and accessories that you no longer wanted that were nice enough to pass on to a friend.

The event included:

Upcycling demonstrations and repair advice

Love your clothes roadshow with tips and advice on how to:

  • make your clothes last longer
  • reduce the environmental impact of laundering your clothes
  • recycle and pass on your unwanted clothes
  • make the most of your wardrobe

Upcycling and repair demonstrations

  • Kecks Clothing  joined Bath Big Clothes Swap and provided ongoing upcycling workshops for swappers to join throughout the evening. Learn how to cut T-shirt yarn from waste textiles and you will gain a take away skill you can continue at your leisure. Helen of Kecks gave live examples of proactive re-use using the yarn you create, and was on hand to provide inspiration and  information on why textile re-use is essential to a sustainable economy. At Kecks, we’re about all things upcycling. We cut, snip, stitch, weave, plait, paint, bleach, dye, use, re-use and re-use again, to keep clothes from landfill and reduce the UK’s currently phenomenal output of textile waste. We consider ourselves two fingers to throwaway fashion, aiming for sustainability and practicality, upcycling clothes to fit real human bodies and that last, that offer durability, quality and, of course, style. Wear your clothes until they’re actually worn, they aren’t waste until you’ve wasted them. www.kecksonline.wordpress.com

Image of sewing applique from The Sewing Skills Project

  • Jennifer Mills from The Sewing Skills Project in Bristol joinied us. Jennifer Mills is a designer, pattern cutter and sewing tutor with a passion for upcycling. Jennifer loves to turn textile waste into long lasting garments and accessories as well as getting a great deal of satisfaction from teaching others to do so. She invited everyon to bring their sewing questions to her stand at the event and gave some on the spot advice on colourful, creative alterations and improving the fit of your newly acquired swaps.  www.TheSewingSkillsProject.co.uk
  • Bristol Textile Recyclers Ltd - BTR helps charitable organisations fundraise with the recycling of unwanted textiles diverting 20 tonnes from landfill daily. Find out how they are recycled. www.btr-ltd.co.uk

Feeling inspired by the clothes swap?

Why not run one with your friends or community group to raise funds?  We can offer you advice and support with a guidance pack, publicity and loan you clothes stands, hangers, and mirrors.  To download our clothes swap guidance pack please click here.

The video below shows some of the clothes we sorted out to swap at our last event in April 2016.

 

Your rating: 

Your rating: None Average: 4.6 (5 votes)
To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.