Why Clothes Swaps Are More Than Just a Good Time

By Diana Uprichard, long-term clothing activist, sewing evangelist, and champion of a slower, saner fashion future

Clothes swaps are fun. Let's start there. The joy of rifling through a rail of someone else’s once-loved treasures, the buzz of finding that new-to-you gem, the compliments flying back and forth between strangers-turned-style-soulmates. There’s a reason we keep doing them – they’re a riot. But here’s the thing: beneath the buzz and the banter, something quietly radical is happening.

Clothes swaps are a gentle, joyful rebellion against a system that’s been selling us lies for decades. The fast fashion industry wants us to believe that clothing is disposable – that style is only real if it's new, that joy can be bought for £3.99, that keeping up is more important than dressing up. Meanwhile, this system is ransacking our planet, choking our rivers with dye, and treating garment workers as if they’re invisible. All so we can keep buying things we don’t need and chucking them out before we’ve even worn them twice.

At Dolly, we believe in something better. We believe clothes should mean something. That getting dressed can be a form of self-expression, self-care, even self-respect. That style has nothing to do with trends and everything to do with joy. And nothing flips the script on fast fashion’s toxic narratives like a good old clothes swap.

When you turn up to a swap – with a tote of pre-loved pieces and an open mind – you’re not just keeping textiles out of landfill (although yes, please, more of that). You’re also practising a new way of thinking: clothing as something to be cherished, shared, celebrated. You’re joining a community of people who’ve decided that enough is enough. That we can do fashion differently. That we can be stylish without being complicit.

So yes, it’s fun. But it’s also a quiet revolution. And we’d love you to join in.

Got some gems in the back of your wardrobe? Bring them. Fancy finding a new favourite jumper with a story behind it? Come swap. Let’s reclaim clothing – and the joy it brings – on our own terms.

Our next clothes swap is in partnership with SelvedgeThursday 11th September 20252–4pmAt The Studio, Museum of the Home, London£10 – tickets via link