A clothes swap project aimed at reducing waste is hoping to make Dundee more fashion conscious – while keeping people in touch with environmental issues.
The Clothes Swap and Repair Cafe, which is held every month at Gate Church on Perth Road, started up in April and is part of the church’s Carbon Saving Project.
Statistics show that about 40% of clothes are rarely or never worn.
It is also believed that 95% of discarded clothes can be recycled or upcycled.
© DC Thomson
James Anthony, project manager at Gate Church, hopes the venture is successful in changing people’s perception of clothes waste.
He said: “The average garment is only worn a very low number of times and can be recycled or reused.
“Our main aim is to help people live low carbon lifestyles and help people in need at the same time.”
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James has also encouraged people to come along to see what the swap has on offer – and insists they do not need to bring their own donations to pick items up.
He explained: “The idea is that we provide people with the opportunity to come and browse through our clothes and help themselves to clothes they like.
“They can also donate clothes, but there is no necessity for them to do that.
“They don’t have to donate to get clothes in return.”
Project co-ordinator Lynsey Penny admitted the church’s previous projects made her realise just how many fashion items go to waste.
And she hopes the project can encourage people to consider the consequences of fashion production
She added: “The clothes swap idea was born out of our gift box project where we had so many clothes donated.
“We realised we needed to change behaviours and get people to stop buying so much in the first place. We have posters up around the place showing them the impact of the carbon footprint of clothes production.
“People can take the clothes from here but also hopefully it will make them think about what they are buying in the future.”
Project assistant Joyce Reid, 56, praised the variety of items that had been donated to the scheme.
She said: “We’ve had everything from Christmas jumpers to Halloween costumes.
“We are currently collecting school uniforms for the children going back to school.”
The project also hopes to change people’s perception of getting previously owned clothes.
There are also plenty of opportunities for people to pass their unwanted items on to the clothes swap scheme.
Lynsey said: “We want to show people that there is a lot of really nice second hand stuff out there.
“Some of the items we get donated even still have the tags on them.
“We have about 30 give boxes around the city at places like supermarkets and libraries.
“We wanted to make it easy for people to pass things on to us.”
The scheme is always on the look out for people to lend a hand. Lynsey added: “We could always use help on the Friday afternoon to help set up, as well on the Saturday.
“It can be quite a lot of work to get everything set up and looking nice.”
The Clothes Swap and Repair Cafe is held on the last Saturday of every month and runs from 9am-6.30pm.
