The Media City Church & Community Club will be hosting a clothes swap event at 4pm on Thursday.
The event, which they hope will be the first of many, aims to show how to be more sustainable with our clothing, while also building bridges between the various communities of Salford.
As well as being hosted by the community club, it’s also receiving help from student volunteers from the Oasis Academy.
“Swap shops are a big thing at the moment, but one of our main pushes at the hub is to try and engage the community as well as the schools,” said Kate Forshaw, the organiser of the event.
“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. We just want to look at the ways other communities have been brought together and want to replicate it here in Salford.”
Over the last few years, swap shops have exploded in popularity. Kate herself was inspired by one near her home in Salford, after seeing the good it can do for the community.
Lewis Wyatt, a student at Manchester Metropolitan University, went to a swap shop after the first lockdown and has noticed the change its made to how he views fashion.
He said: “Before I wasn’t really fussed about going to Primark and buying something new, but I lost my job because of COVID so I started to think a bit more about how I spend my money.”
He heard about LIEF, a swap shop in Affleck’s Palace, and decided it was a cheaper way of getting new clothes. Through talking to the organisers, he began to think about the environmental impact of swapping clothes rather than buying them new.
“I definitely try my best to go to swap shops like LIEF or even just charity shops. It just makes more sense.”
As well as the swap shop event, the club also recently hosted a tote-bag making session from Manchester Fashion Movement, an organisation devoted to making fashion more sustainable.
Many of the students are volunteering for their Duke of Edinburgh award, and see the Community Centre as an opportunity to have an impact on their community.
The clothes swap event will allow people to bring in their clothes they no longer want and exchange them for tokens, which they can then use to get clothes that other people have donated.
Kate said: “Since it’s the first time we’re putting this on, we’re trying to be quite casual with it all. If you bring in a really nice piece of clothing, you might be able to get a couple of pieces off of someone else.”
The Media City Church & Community hosts various activities that all aim to bringing the community together. Every Friday they host a Youth Club for young people across Salford, and last week they helped create thermal blankets for the homeless people of Salford.
The event is taking place on the 25th of November, and if you want to find out more check out their Facebook page.
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