Shop without leaving the house or spending a cent? Trade in those old Manolo Blahniks for a Chanel bag?
Are the fashion gods finally thanking us for our voracious shopping habits or are they playing a ‘too good to be true’ trick on us? The concept of ‘shwopping’ is just starting to hit the web by storm.
Similar to those clothing swap parties that have been going on with girlfriends around the world for some time, shwopping lets us strategically get rid of unwanted clothing and accessories while getting something that we would actually wear in return. This new method of shopping supports the eco-friendly and cost-conscious, while creating a bigger market for unique and hard to find garments.
Shwopping is being made popular by events like Visa Swap and by websites like bigwardrobe and swapstyle, where you can easily drop off or post unwanted items and barter for more desirable goods. The promise of being able to share closets with women everywhere, via garment recycling, seems like a smart alternative to our regular, more wasteful, shopping habits.
The only possible roadblock might be the lack of swap-worthy items if people aren’t willing to part with their higher end designer duds. But with a long list of celebrity and designer supporters/shwoppers, like Mischa Barton and Naomi Campbell, Alice Temperley, and Philip Treacy, we don’t think this will be an issue!
