SUSTAINABLE STYLE: Swap-O-Rama-Rama
by Jill Danyelle
Swap-O-Rama-Rama is a clothing swap and series of do-it-yourself workshops in which a community explores creative reuse through the recycling of used clothing. It grew out of a small swap party that was held by Wendy Tremane in her apartment to events that have now taken place from Vancouver to Israel. So if one of your New Year’s Resolutions was to clean out your closet, why not participate in a swap?
At a Swap-O-Rama-Rama participants usually bring a bag of clothes, which are then sorted into various categories. DIY stations and workshops for such things as sewing, crocheting, painting and silk screening help swappers refashion items and leave with an original piece built from textiles that might have otherwise ended up as waste. In the U.S. alone, there is 8.75 billion pounds of textile waste annually. Fifty percent of the textiles consumed and discarded are made from synthetic fibers that are produced from oil, which can have a negative effect on the Earth. Swap-O-Rama-Rama provides self-celebratory labels which allow swappers to re-brand their clothing and invites us to see each other through shared creativity rather than through socio-economic status. Visit Swap-O-Rama-Rama for more information on upcoming swaps or if you are interested in starting your own.
top photo: participants at the latest swap held this fall in NYC.
Summer of BTC Elements participates in last month’s L.A. swap with a friend (R). A NYC swapper tries on a dress to prepare for refashioning.
Children at Israel’s swap fashion hats and puppets above, while their adult swapping counterparts model their refashioned shirts below.
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We’ve been having “Naked Ladies” parties in my small town for many years–women bring clothing to exchange, we have a potluck dinner and then have a massive trying-on, on-you’d look good in that, how’s this color on me, bash for the rest of the evening. Anything left over goes to the thrift store. I like the re-designing/re-purposing thing–have to add it.