Hundreds of residents in Stockholm spent Sunday browsing preowned clothes as part of Sweden’s annual clothing swap tradition, exchanging their own items for others in what organizers describe as a way to keep more garments in use. Alva Palosaari Sundman, a 24-year-old art student, said she searched the racks for the right pair of preowned jeans and enjoyed seeing other people choose clothes she had brought.
She said the moment carries a sense of continuation rather than disposal. “It’s like, ‘Oh, OK, it gets a new life with this person,’” Palosaari Sundman said. “It just feels a bit more humane.”
The environmental case for the swaps is frequently tied to the impacts of fast fashion, with the U.N. Environment Programme describing the sector as a major contributor to climate and pollution. The program has cited fast fashion as producing up to 10% of the world’s carbon emissions, and it has also warned that discarded clothes can end up in landfills and that plastic fibers from cheap fabrics can pollute oceans.
UNEP has also said that producing a pair of jeans requires roughly 2,000 gallons (7,571 liters) of water, a figure that highlights how extending the life of clothing can reduce the need for new production. Against that backdrop, Sweden’s swap initiative began in 2010 and has grown, with organizers citing last year’s participation of about 140,000 people across 140 swap events that resulted in more than 44,000 preowned items being taken home.
Sweden is often described as environmentally advanced, but organizers said the country still faces waste from everyday consumption. The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation says swedes buy about 25 new clothing items per year on average, and that 90% of items in wardrobes are never used. “We have to be more careful and we have to think about our consumption,” said Cecilia de Lacerda, a volunteer with the society.
Beatrice Rindevall, the society’s chair, also tied participation in swaps to a broader waste problem, saying each Swede throws away about 9-10 kilograms (20-22 pounds) of clothes. She said the swaps are one response to the amount of clothing that ends up discarded, even in a country where residents are generally supportive of environmental goals.
The events also include repair work aimed at keeping garments wearable. At the swap gatherings, tailors helped shoppers repair clothes to extend their life span, according to volunteers on hand. “A lot of people don’t have sewing machines anymore, or they don’t quite know how they should fix that buttonhole that broke,” said Meg Goldmann, another volunteer.
For some attendees, the swaps are also about variety and personal style. High school student Alice Dundeberg, 19, said secondhand clothes help her find a unique look, noting that “You don’t find multiple types of the same shoes, pants or sweater,” and that “No one has the same clothes as the others.”