Swap Shop

Greystones’ first Halloween costume swap shop took place last week and was a huge success. Organised by Cllr Lourda Scott, Clodagh O’Neill and Barbara Connolly of 'Green Thread', hundreds of costumes were swapped and given a new lease of life. In Ireland we throw away 110,000 tonnes of clothes each year * and the aim of the event was to encourage people to reuse and cut back on the consumption of textiles .

Speaking after the event Scott said: “There was a great buzz at this event with so many kids delighted to browse through all the different costumes and masks to find their new dress up outfit for Halloween.  Often an outfit is only worn once or twice before they grow out of it so we received lots of donations, which were as good as new. It’s fantastic that the community supported this so well. Not only is it good for the environment, but also good for people’s pockets and fun!”

Barbara, who had brought some of her students from the Green Thread  after school sewing classes to alter and mend costumes on the day, said “ I am particularly passionate about reusing ,upcycling and the circular economy.   Myself and my team offer workshops to secondary schools on the environmental and social impact of the textile industry. This swap shop was another lovely way of preventing clothes ending up in landfill and incineration.”

Clodagh, a keen maker and proponent of slow fashion said "Last year, we went to the Rediscovery Centre in Ballymun to source Halloween costumes from their swap rails. I thought it was a brilliant way of saving these perfectly good costumes from landfill. I was very excited to organise this event with Lourda and Barbara. We were thrilled with the response from local community here in Greystones and we are buzzing with ideas for the coming year. "

Leftover costumes were distributed to people from Ukraine and local charity shops . The next swap shop event will be Christmas themed, taking place on Nov 18th 12 – 2pm in Greystones library.