Gin Swishing – shop for clothes, save the planet!
Gin Swishing is the way to go! Thanks to Lucy from Sustainable Bradninch for providing the recipe for a perfect cocktail for success.
“Sustainable Bradninch had a combined Gin Bar and Clothes Swish – or Gin Swish for short. This combined some of the best things in life – shopping for clothes, gin, pampering and good company.
The ladies of Bradninch were invited to bring up to 5 items of clothing from their wardrobes that they didn’t wear, but which someone else might like. They could then swap these for any other items – no money passed over but you left with a whole new wardrobe!
These were the swishing rules for a perfect Friday night…
- Bring between two and five items of pre-loved clothing or accessories, something that you no longer want or wear, but someone else might love.
- Exchange them for tokens on the door.
- Hang them up and browse the racks.
- Get your complimentary glass of prosecco.
- Visit the beauty stalls and treat yourself with their special offers.
- Order yourself a delicious gin from our experts at the bar.
The poster was created on Canva – an excellent free tool for creating lovely modern posters and social media posts.
It was so handy to be able to borrow clothes rails and mirrors from Devon County Council. The Reuse Officer – Jennifer Cooper Jennifer.Cooper@devon.gov.uk has sets strategically placed around the county that you can use for free. This meant our only overheads were venue hire, though we did have to dispose of the spare clothes afterwards.
The Gin Bar was run separately by a group of friends who were raising money for a charity – all gin connoisseurs themselves they were excited to be able to share their favourites with the Swish customers.
Tickets were £5 and we sold about 90. We ended up with about 65 people attending and raised over £450 for charity. We invited some local pampering businesses to attend – you could have a free Indian head massage, try out aromatherapy or buy some Weleda products while you were there. We were so pleased to be able to help these local businesses by drumming up interest in their services.
The feedback was excellent, and only Covid has stopped us repeating this fantastic event – we are hoping to do another one soon. This time the Gin Bar will be run by mums with teenagers raising money to go abroad with Camps International and Scouts.”
So now you know the winning recipe, you can start planning your own gin swish, all for a good cause!
