Hundreds of people gathered at a community centre in Stockholm on Sunday for an annual clothing swap, exchanging their own garments for pre-owned items. The event, organised by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, is part of a growing movement to reduce the environmental impact of fast fashion.
Alva Palosaari Sundman, a 24-year-old art student, spent hours searching for the perfect pair of secondhand jeans. She said she enjoyed seeing others pick out the clothes she had brought. 'It's like, 'Oh, OK, it gets a new life with this person,' she said. 'It just feels a bit more humane.'
The UN Environment Programme cites fast fashion as a major contributor to environmental damage, producing up to 10% of global carbon emissions. Discarded clothes fill landfills in developing countries, and plastic fibres from cheap fabrics pollute oceans. Producing a single pair of jeans requires roughly 2,000 gallons (7,571 litres) of water, according to UNEP.
Sweden's clothing swap initiative began in 2010 and has grown significantly. Last year, around 140,000 people participated in 140 swap events, taking home more than 44,000 pre-owned items. However, Sweden's environmental record is nuanced: clothing consumption accounts for about 3% of a Swede's total emissions, according to Mistra Future Fashion, a research institute.
In a bid to boost recycling, Swedes were banned from throwing clothes in regular trash last year under an EU directive. But the measure backfired as municipal collection sites were overwhelmed, leading to stockpiles of unused textiles. The government partially reversed the rule in October. Beatrice Rindevall, chair of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, noted that each Swede discards around 9-10 kilograms (20-22 pounds) of clothes annually. Swedes buy about 25 new items of clothing per year, and 90% of wardrobe items are never used, the society says.
At the swap events, tailors helped shoppers repair clothes to extend their lifespan. 'A lot of people don't have sewing machines anymore, or they don't quite know how they should fix that buttonhole that broke,' said volunteer Meg Goldmann. For high school student Alice Dundeberg, 19, secondhand clothes offer a unique style. 'You don't find multiple types of the same shoes, pants or sweater,' she said. 'No one has the same clothes as the others.'
