Clothing Exchange: Overly simplified, this is a clothing swap. Bring some clothes. Take someone else's clothes. Any items left and not taken will be brought to a future sentimentality swap.
Memory Sharing: We know that you can outgrow a piece in terms of style or sizing yet still feel the importance it played in your life. The stories held in our clothing can be just as resilient asvthe fabrics themselves, which can sometimes make a piece harder to pass on. To ease the process of finding a new owner, we are providing the tools to attach a memory (written or
recorded) to any of your items. Those looking for new clothing will be able to experience an extra layer of sentimentality woven in, and take away your history along with their new clothes.
Fortune-Telling: Sometimes clothing is just clothing, and holds no significance to you. Instead of a memory, we invite you to attach a prediction for the future of your piece, or to any unmarked item which inspires you. Make it easier (and more fun!) for someone else to picture their future
with a new piece of clothing.
Mending and Decorating: If you have a piece that you love but needs a little care, we will provide the tools to improve it. Mending kits will be available to take away, and we can help
repair small holes, attach new buttons, etc. We'll also have supplies available to quickly add a personal image or text to re-invigorate your clothes (or clothes for or from the exchange!)
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Motivation: clothing swaps exist in response to ethical concerns around fast fashion. In the US, clothing is marketed to be bought new and discarded per season. This leads to the textile industry existing as one of the leading contributors to global pollution.
In this digital age our value as a consumer is determined by reducing us to data points. Through algorithms, shopping (especially online shopping) is stripping us of our humanness, turning us into numbers and statistics. The Sentimentality Swap allows us to 1) remove money, thus incentive to dehumanize, and 2) create connection between strangers by emphasizing "the collective human experience". The Sentimentality Swap transforms consumable items into rich human artifacts, allowing us to read into the previously inaccessible ethnographies of our neighbors.
To learn more, check out our event page on Facebook by clicking here!