I’m ashamed to admit that as a fashion graduate I have never actually been Swishing (swap shopping, for those of us not in the know.). Last Saturday I thought; who better to take my swishing virginity than Mrs Bear, aka Jo, who runs a successful swap shop in London.
She descended upon Old Spitalfields Market with her bounty of clothes and accessories and set up a large stall complete with changing rooms and plenty of room for swapping.
I took along some tops, a scarf and one of the boy’s designer jumpers. (I promise I didn’t steal it. It was willingly donated.)
So here’s the lowdown: at Mrs Bear’s Swap Shop you hand in your clothes, pay £7.50 and you receive colored stamps for each item: red for high street, blue for designer, so it all fair swapping.
There’s no taking in some Primark gloves and walking out with a Chanel dress… that sort of transaction remains safely in my dreams. Your clothes are inspected and marked and submitted to the rack so you can search for new items to take home and pay for with your stamps.
My Items hit the selves, and within 5 minutes people were trying them on. In fact by the time I left the shop, all of my Items had new homes, Yippee! Who knew I was so stylish?
The atmosphere was amazing – everyone was excited and hunting for their perfect swap, and everyone was so lovely chatting about fashion and things they had picked up from their last swap shop.
I didn’t actually end up swapping anything but I saw some people get some great items. I will be keeping my stamps for the next swap shop to try and find some little gems.
(this post was submitted to Spitalfields Market blog)
