Cowley Community Closet began with three friends exchanging items from their wardrobe to breathe new life into their old garments. Since then, Delphi, Abby and Connie have grown the Closet into a thriving community hub, with visitors flocking to their monthly meets at the Star to trade threads. For Secondhand September, we reached out to CCC to talk about the benefits swaps like theirs can have for your wardrobe, your wallet and for the world at large.
Daily Information: How did Cowley Community Closet come about?
Cowley Community Closet: We started the swaps because we had all these beautiful clothes in our wardrobes that weren’t serving us. Maybe the fit wasn’t quite right, it wasn’t practical for our life, or it just didn’t feel like us anymore, but they were still cute clothes with a lot of life left. There are so many problems with the fashion world and waste and I think we all feel conscious of how it impacts the planet.
So it started as just me [Delphi], Abby and Connie going “omg I love that”, “you can have it!” as we pawed through each other’s wardrobes. We were going to do the swap casually as a group of friends but we thought why not make it a public event, and it took off very quickly after that.
DI: How has the event grown since it started?
CCC: It’s gotten much bigger! Our first couple of swaps we had about ten people and we camped out for the day in the Star. Now we have bags and bags of stock, 50+ people coming through on the day, and a wonderful community. We’re always growing our initiative and recently started free self-defence classes, and we have more community classes and events in the works. Earlier this year we started running the swaps and self defence classes in Cardiff too which has been amazing.
DI: Why should people find clothes secondhand?
CCC: Mostly for the planet, but you find some real gems shopping secondhand too! Lots of older and vintage items are made to a much better standard than the fast fashion available today and you can find really unique styles of clothing too. I think a part of the fun is the life a garment has had before it gets to you.
Fashion is one of the most polluting industries on earth, plastic microfibres and toxic dyes pollute the water, 95% of textiles sent to landfill could be recycled and aren’t. We believe the responsibility to fix this does not lie solely on us but on the 100 companies creating 71% of the worlds pollution. Secondhand fashion isn’t always accessible but when it is, we reduce carbon emissions, we save resources like water and energy and we waste less! If everyone bought (or swapped) one second-hand item instead of new we would save 5.7 billion pounds of CO2 emissions per year! That’s the same as taking half a million cars off the road.
DI: What can someone expect if they’re coming for the first time?
CCC: We’re in the back room of the Star Pub, so when you walk in we have clothing hung up absolutely everywhere; from the ceiling rafters to the lamp hooks, and the tables are covered with each category of clothing. When you bring in your old clothes and accessories, we give you a token for each item you give us, and you can spend each token you get on any other item in the swap. We have a quiet hour from 2 – 3 pm because the swap can get quite loud and overstimulating in the late hours, and it was important to us to have a space that’s comfortable for folk who require a lower sensory load. It’s also easier to navigate the quiet hour if you’re a wheelchair user like myself. After the quiet hour there’s normally music in the background, and people mill in and out of the swap over the day as new stuff comes in.
DI: Whats your fave piece you’ve found at CCC?
CCC: Abby’s favourite: strawberry shirt
Connie’s favourite: white leather cowboy boots
Delphi’s favourite: asymmetric pink leopard print skirt
DI: Any plans for the future?
CCC: We’re in the process of (hopefully!) formalising our company so that we can build more of a programme of events, so in the future you’ll be seeing creative workshops and other classes for community benefit. We’ve got plans for some community wardrobe days where people can grab clothes for free, and we’re trying to keep our ethos at the heart of everything we do; our events will always be free because they’re for the people that need them most.
DI: Where can people find you?
CCC: Our physical events are currently hosted by the Star Pub here in oxford, by Umbrella in Cardiff, and we can be found online at @cowleycommunitycloset and our website.
The next Cowley Community Closet will be at the Star Pub on the 22nd October, so head on down if you're looking for a truly unique Halloween look!