Did you know that 26% of the items in our wardrobes go unworn? We're holding clothes swap shops across the year so that pre-loved clothing doesn't go to waste, and you can find something new you love. Join us to swap your clothes for free!
We all love fashion, but it can have a huge impact on the environment and the people who make our clothes. Sustainable UCL will be running Clothes Swaps in collaboration with the University of London throughout the year!
Clothes Swaps will be held on the first Friday of October, November, December, February, March, and May this year. 4 of them will be held in the foyer of the UCL Student Centre, with an additional 2 being hosted by the University of London at Senate House. Please check our event page before attending to ensure you go to the correct venue!
All of these events are open to staff and students from any University of London institution, in addition to UCL.
Did you know?
- The UK bins 235 million items of clothing each spring.
- The production of clothes involves a series of energy-intensive processes, including raw material extraction, spinning, weaving, dyeing, printing, and transportation. Swapping clothes is therefore an excellent way to be more sustainable – as production of clothing has an enormous carbon footprint. Buying clothes second-hand reduces its impact by an average of 70%.*
- Textile manufacturing uses huge amounts of water, much of which gets flushed into waterways laden with contaminants such as bleaches, acids, inks and dyes. Farmers in parts of China and India are reportedly predicting fashion’s next biggest hues by the colour of rivers tainted by textile industry runoff.
- Workers in developing nations are often paid a pittance to work in unsafe conditions.
Save money and the environment by swapping your clothes at our swap shops!
*Source: read here
How it works
- Bring along your preloved clothing that you want to swap.
- Browse the clothes available in the Swap Shop.
- Swap your preloved clothing for these clothes.
- If you don't see anything you like, collect a tag and come along to a future Clothes Swap to find something there that you'd like to swap: the clothes available are always changing.
- No resellers please. We're here to rehome clothes so they can be loved again and to limit the impact feeling great in a new look has on the planet. We're not here for us or others to make money from generously swapped clothes. Suspected resellers will be politely asked to leave.
Our Clothes Swaps are open to staff and students of UCL and any other University of London instutition. Please ensure you have a valid UCL or University of London institution ID card with you.
2024/25 dates
All Clothes Swaps run from 10am to 4pm on:
- Friday October 4th – UCL, Student Centre foyer
- Friday November 1st – UCL, Student Centre foyer
- Friday December 6th – University of London, Senate House
- Friday February 7th - UCL, Student Centre foyer
- Friday March 7th – UCL, Student Centre foyer
- Friday May 2nd – University of London, Senate House