Swish for Global Cool; it's time to party
Posted: April 25th, 2009 | Author: Vikki Chowney | Filed under: Right Here | No Comments »Some of you may be aware of my support for Global Cool, a climate change charity that focuses on the reduction of carbon emissions by creating practical initiatives instead of fundraising alone. This means that saving the planet isn’t just for people who like to think of themselves as ‘green’, it’s about having a little bit of fun in the process.
For Global Cool, the first part of the year has been all about about ‘recycling’. As part of the mobile phone chapter of this (organised in conjunction with Vodafone), they hosted a Swishing Party during London Fashion Week, where people could exchange unwanted clothes with each other.
In fact, Swishing involves getting your friends together to swap clothes and socialise at the same time. Every person must bring at least one good quality, clean item of clothing, or an accessory, that they’d feel proud to hand on.
To give this bit of context, Global Cool spoke to 3,500 British women, and found that an average of £470 per person was spent on items in 2008 that were never worn – an estimated total of £11.1 billion in the UK alone. One in ten of the women surveyed confessed to binning these unwanted clothes, effectively contributing to the estimated 900,000 tonnes of UK clothing that is sent to landfill every year.
I attended the Global Cool party and had a blast (read my fellow blogger Gemma Seagar’s write up on Retro Chick for details), so I’ve decided to do my bit to organise a Swishing event of my own on May 27th. We’ll kick things off from 7pm, at The Club Bar & Dining on Warwick Street, who have very kindly allowed us to hold our Swish in their fantastic Lounge bar.
I think this could be a great opportunity to contribute to this initiative and have a bit of fun at the same time. Although I do think that this will predominately female focused, boys are more than welcome. I can’t promise you’ll have as many clothes to choose from, but the more the merrier in my eyes.
It’ll be based on a token-based system, so will be fair, and no money gets exchanged. Tickets are free, but I’ve only got 60 places to give away, so sign up here to secure one.
I’m looking for a few sponsors to help us out by providing first drink free and a bit of food, so if you know anyone that would like to get involved, let me know.
