Kate Luckins is the founder of The Clothing Exchange, a company that allows people to swap clothes online on its website or during the series of swapping events they host across Australia. In this interview Kate brings us all back to the day The Clothing Exchange began and where she sees the company going next.
What motivated you to start The Clothing Exchange?
On a personal note, I was trying to bridge a gap between my love of fine fashion and my environmental conscience but on a broader level I was trying to address the problem of wasteful fashion consumption which in 2005 amounted to $1.7 Billion according to The Australia Institute.
Based on the notion that we were only wearing 20% of our wardrobe and many garments were sentenced to the darkest corner of the closet, The Clothing Exchange was created to enable the exchange of preloved garments for desirable “new” wardrobes so people could save their pennies, look great and be kinder to the planet too.
As my personal interest is in sustainable living (the subject of my doctorate completed in 2011), I hoped that if people would start swapping on one area of their consumption, they would start addressing other wasteful behaviours within their broader lifestyles (ie. live a bit better with less all round).
Has the fashion industry practices changed much since you launched The Clothing Exchange back in 2004?
There’s definitely more industry interest in sustainable practices – back in 2004 sustainable fashion was considered an oxymoron as my supervisor Sue Thomas would say!
From recollection it was around 2008 when there was a widespread interest in sustainable fashion practices as the antidote to the global financial crisis. Tailors, cobblers, secondhand retailers and businesses like ours were suddenly on the map and the journalists were calling. The “reccessionista” was borne and savvy swapping were part of her philosophy.
Alongside the growth and expansion of the clothing exchange (from a fringe Melbourne concept to a national network of swapping), the retail industry made some changes. Gorman seemed to lead endeavouring to become climate neutral, utilise organic textile and encourage their customers to ride bikes and take public transport with discounts as incentives. Over the years some more mainstream labels have taken some inspiration and dabbled in organic textiles and the like but customers are increasingly wary of greenwash.
I think if you want to see radical stuff from the design side you need to look to the universities and people like Georgia McCorkill and designers such as Material by Product who try to challenge the nature of the cycle of fashion consumerism.
There has been some interest from fashion retailers in doing in store clothing exchanges but they usually get cold feet. We see our swap service as a compliment to regular consumption rather than posing a threat to the fashion economy at this current scale but you never know. Looking ahead, if retailers were responsible for product stewardship (ie. taking responsibility for their products from the beginning and after the end) then swapping would continue this cycle by making the garments useful again in the hands of a new owner.
With the arrival of H&M and other mega global brands, it will be interesting to see what standards they bring with them. Apparently H&M has an eco range but I don’t think that’s launched here just yet.
Did the relationship with MFW back in 2006 help demonstrate to the wider community that ‘swapping’ was a major trend that’s here to stay?
I think being affiliated with the Melbourne Fashion Festival (formerly L’Oreal now Virgin) from 2006-2014 has helped solidify the place of swapping within the fashion industry. It certainly helped raise our profile in the early days. Interestingly, we were credited with starting a swapping trend back then and there were many more copy cat operations. Swapping is tricky business so many of those were fly by night but I think after nearly a decade we’ve proven that swapping is here to stay. We think it’s part of the more significant collaborative consumption movement which is evolving.
How are the big names in fashion responding to clothes swapping and the sharing economy?
I honestly couldn’t say! I know that a UK swap site opened up with many leading fashion models etc singing it’s praises. Twiggy (Uk model from the 60’s) has her own show based on the premise of swapping I’ve heard.
Recently we had people like Paula Joye (a well known Aussie stylist) and Sarah Wilson (a lifestyle guru/ sugar warrior) singing our praises. I think swapping has started at the grassroots level and is likely to make it’s way to the top and I’m not sure it has captures the attention of the superstar designers and celebrities just yet.
The Clothing Exchange has a quiet undertone of being anti-status and operates aside the mainstream. We prioritise personal style over fashions dictated because we attract an eclectic mix of garments for the swapping. The swap shop is a neutral environment where brands are less relevant, there are no pushy judgemental sales assistants and patrons can swap for what fits and flatters and suits their style.
What’s your intention for the new online swapping service you’ve recently introduced?
We have developed an online swapping service so that everyone in Australia has access to it. We want to expand the reach and value of what we are doing and engage more people in our swapping community. The online service draws upon what we have learnt from our decade of live swapping. There are a few extra bonuses like you can set the button value based on the quality of your garments and we think people will enjoy the convenience of swapping from their armchair.
How do you partner with local governments in Australia to host swapping events?
Local councils became interested in our swapping services because they engaged women of all ages and bridged the gap between fashion and sustainability. In response, we developed a customised hosting service that seems to have been music to the ears of time-poor council workers with tight budgets. We often host an event for a council to offer within their chosen festival or event (eg National Recycling Week) and it becomes an exciting and colourful event to headline these festivities. We’ve also done a similar thing with universities (including RMIT Fashion) and corporations including Telstra and BP.
What do you have planned for this year’s National Swap Day on 9th October?
We’re just cooking up our plans as I pen this but we will have simultaneous swaps across the four states in which we currently operate. I’d love to find a fifth team to operate out of Perth by then too. And we will be encouraging people to swap online with an array of giveaway incentives. October is a great time to celebrate swapping because it’s Buy Nothing New Month and people have being more resourceful on the brain.
