Stop & Swap

As part of the ‘Stop and Swap’ series of Instagram Live events hosted with Love Not Landfill, fashionistas and sustainable fashion advocates explored ways that we can all reduce the impact of our clothes on the planet. There are £30 billion worth of unworn clothes in the UK’s wardrobes and research shows that extending the life of clothes by 9 months reduces their impact on the environment by 25%. Clothes swaps have become popular with young fashion lovers - in fact, 75% of 16-24s recently polled said they have swapped or would swap clothes.

Check out the fantastic influencers and hosts who took part in the Instagram Live events below.

Sabrina Grant

London based, Sabrina Grant is the fresh faced and charismatic presenter best known for presenting Channel 4’s award-winning documentary series Supershoppers. Sabrina recently joined the family of new BBC One daily series Morning Live, where she will be out and about meeting people and discussing all the latest to topics. Sabrina has always had a passion for sustainable fashion and is keen to share her tricks and tips on upcycling and styling pre-loved clothes to help create an individual style on a budget, and protect the planet. She also fronted her own series on VT’s on Lorraine on the subject, giving lots of tips and techniques. @thesabrinagrant

Ben Pechey (they/them)

Freelance writer, fashion critic and LGBTQ+ activist Ben has been blogging about life, fashion and mental health since 2016 and is fast building a following of those who love their positive and vibrant vibe. For our first Instagram Live, Ben will be examining gender-free fashion and if a fashion industry without womenswear or menswear could be a reality. @benpechey

Annie Wade Smith (she/her)

Annie is a model and mental health & child sexual exploitation youth worker with a passion for art, travel, fashion and performance. She is also an active campaigner for body confidence and diversity and changing ‘beauty standards’. Annie is a charity shop queen, pulling together amazing second-hand outfits for her Instagram grid. @anniewadesmith

Lauren Bravo (she/her)

Lauren is a writer and author covering fashion, food, pop culture, travel, feminism and life for titles including Refinery29 UK, Cosmopolitan, Stylist, Time Out and The Guardian. Her book, How To Break Up With Fast Fashion, was published in January 2020 and she has also appeared on podcasts, radio and TV. Lauren has built a following in the sustainable fashion community and continues to examine our relationship with clothes and how we can work with our wardrobes, so they don’t contribute to climate change. @laurenbravo

Yosola Akinwumi

Yosola from The Yoso Exclusive is a YouTuber with an amazing talent for upcycling. She advocates ‘flipping’ clothes by turning unwanted items into something else. Crop tops, corsets, two pieces outfits are all within her remit and part of her bid to promote creative styling on a budget. Her belief that all clothing can be good for another use fits perfectly into swapping, so she’ll be talking about her journey and how she came to be such a creative and talented seamstress. @theyosoexclusive

Harriet Rose (she/her)

Harriet Rose has an amazing CV as a DJ, TV and radio presenter, most recently joining the KISS breakfast team in September this year. She is also a fashion lover with a style that mixes up fast fashion with vintage and second-hand. Harriet will be in conversation with Yosola marvelling at her dressmaking talents and talking about second-hand, swapping and how to make the most of the clothes you have. @iamharrietrose

Rosette Ale

Rosette from @thriftqueenlola is a second-hand clothing enthusiast, upcycler and blogger who has been dedicated to sustainable fashion since her final year at university where she started to develop her reworked denim brand @revivalldn. She puts together the most stylish and stunning thrifted outfits showing her followers that second-clothes don’t mean a compromise on style. @thriftqueenlola

Aisling Byrne

Aisling is the co-founder of Nuw, a social network to share and swap clothes with like-minded people and extend the life cycle of our wardrobes. Aisling visited India in 2013 and witnessed the harm that the fashion industry was causing both socially and environmentally and felt guilty and frustrated about her role in this as a consumer. Aisling realised that just by changing the way she and her friends interacted with the clothes they already had they could make a huge impact. By sharing and swapping they could keep their much-loved but under-used clothes in use for longer and buy less new items. Nuw now has 5,000 members across the UK and Ireland and continues to grow. @wearenuw

Meg Zeenat Wamithi

Meg Zeenat Wamithi is a multi-award-winning mental health campaigner and consultant and recognised as one of the most inspiring black students in the UK. She is currently studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics at King’s College London. Inspired by her own experiences with mental illness, Meg founded My Mind Matters Too, an innovation hub that connects young people with resources, services and content to improve their mental health and MindMapper UK the ultimate mental health gym for young adults. Meg has worked as a consultant for companies such as KPMG, One Young World, Clifford Chance and is a recipient of the Diana Award.

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Schedule for Instagram Live events

Date and time	Host	Influencer	Instagram Live
11 November 2020 at 6pm	Sabrina Grant	Ben Pechey	Watch again
18 November 2020 at 6pm	Meg Zeenat Wamithi	Annie Wade Smith	Watch again
25 November 2020 at 6pm	Lauren Bravo	Rosette Ale	Watch again
2 December 2020 at 6pm	Harriet Rose	Yosola Akinwumi	Watch again
9 December 2020 at 6pm	Meg Zeenat Wamithi	Aisling Byrne	Watch again

Published date

4 November 2020