How to make money from your wardrobe

The average value of a woman’s wardrobe is £7,000 according to LV= yet “I’ve got nothing to wear” is a phrase commonly uttered by women throughout the land. Apparently we wear just 20% of our wardrobe 80% of the time, according to storage business Access Self Storage.

This problem has been made worse by today’s throwaway fashion epidemic, which is encouraging us to wear something a couple of times and then throw it away for a new fashion fix.

Luckily attitudes are changing: from clothes swapping parties to bidding on eBay and even repairing old items, Moneywise looks at these alternatives, which prove there are other ways to update your wardrobe that won’t cost you a penny – and could even make you a quick buck.

Swapping

Clothes swapping parties have gained in popularity in recent years: known as swishing, the basic premise is instead of discarding unwanted garments and spending money on new clothes, clotheshorses can swap their out of favour items with fellow clothes lovers.

Use swishing.org.uk for a list of swishing parties and events happening in the UK or daisygreenevents.co.uk for parties in northern England. There is also a nationwide tour called the Big Swish, which is happening in conjunction with website bigwardrobe.com. The tour stops at 11 cities and each guest is allowed to bring a maximum of 15 items.

Clothes should be of good quality: “Anything that’s dirty or smelly isn’t accepted for swishing,” says Nicola Alexander, one of the founders of Daisy Green Events, which also helps organise the Big Swish roadshow.

Events will vary from place to place but in general guests must bring at least one item; there will be an allocated timeslot – about 30 minutes where swishers can browse what’s up for grabs, but they can’t claim anything. Then once the swish is open they are free to take what they like.

Scenes of chaos to rival the first day of the January sales spring to mind; however, because the events are billed as parties, often with wine and nibbles on offer, they have a more relaxed atmosphere.

“It’s just great,” Alexander enthuses. “When I was a kid, people would never think of buying second-hand and now you can see the joy people get from it.”

There’s nothing to stop you hosting your own party at home too. Alexander suggests inviting about 20 friends and family. “They have to be similar sized [at least with a few guests appearing] and share similar clothing tastes.” You might want to establish a few ground rules about the condition of the clothes and cap the amount of stuff guests can bring.

Selling online

Websites such as whatsmineisyours.com and swapaholix.co.uk have taken inspiration from clothes swapping parties and created online versions where users upload photos of items that they want to swish and make wish lists of the items they most want.

Both websites also let you list items for sale and along with ebay.co.uk and gumtree.com are good ways of making some money back on your second–hand clothes. Given an item of women’s clothing sells every three seconds, for an average of £9.39 on eBay why not?

Tessa Cunniffe, 28, a milliner from Fulham, didn’t have much spare money when she started hat-making so she began selling her clothes online. Tessa has also managed to create some extra pocket money by scouting second-hand shops for special finds that she  then sells herself.

“I bought some Burberry shoes in a secondhand store for £30 and sold them for £50. It’s a small profit but if you’re doing this every week it adds up.” 

To sell clothes online, take photos against a plain background, describe them clearly and put them in the relevant category so it’s easier to search online. When it comes to pricing be realistic and don’t hide any faults.

Some items are sufficiently coveted that a small tear won’t put a buyer off but being honest at the outset will ensure you still get good feedback. Buyers rate their experience with each seller and the higher rating you have the better chance you have of making a good sale. Tessa always looks at the rating before buying from someone and also suggests asking potential vendors lots of questions about the products.

Kate McGregor, a 23-year-old marketing assistant from London, follows the same principles and she hasn’t had a bad experience yet. Kate started ‘eBaying’ while at university, and she now basically has a revolving wardrobe thanks to her ‘wear then sell’ mantra.

“Last Christmas I bought a couple of coats, wore them a few times each then sold them.” She recommends buying a few things online before you start selling so that you know how the process works. What time you put an item up for sale on eBay will also affect the final bidding price, warns Kate.

“If you put it up in the middle of the night then it will close at the same time. It’s best to put up items around 5pm to 6pm in the evening when you know a lot of people will be on the computer then, bartering back and forth.”

Customise

As well as buying clothes from eBay, Kate also buys accessories that she can use to customise her clothes, such as corsages or sequins she can sew onto tops. Taking things a step further Laurel Waldron, 25, from Kent, is also a magpie when it comes to haberdashery treats.

“I had two old jackets that I didn’t wear anymore so I added satin and velvet ribbons to them, sparkly epaulettes etc. and changed them – all for £10.” Some of Laurel’s favourite haberdashers include josyrose.com, kleins.co.uk (020 7437 6162) and vvrouleaux.com (020 7730 3125), which has retail shops in John Lewis.

Embellishments aside, the make do and mend attitude is also back in fashion: sales of buttons at John Lewis are up 50% on last year, for example. But if you’ve never sewn a button on – let alone mended a hem – there are plenty of sewing courses to get you started.

A former fashion design student, Laurel now teaches basic sewing classes at the makelounge.com in Islington and encourages everyone to have a go: “For a lot of people it’s the fear factor that puts them off doing anything but in a three–hour session you’ll come out of the class with a tote bag or apron.”

The Make Lounge also offers a creative alterations class, where each person brings a few clothes items they want to update. Alternatively, use hotcourses.com to see what’s in your local area or contact nearby colleges and ask what adult learning courses they offer and watch online video tutorials on youtube or websites such as startsewing.co.uk.

If the thought of selling, mending or swishing seems like too much effort at least pass on your unwanted threads to charity shops instead of binning them. Not only are you not adding to the landfill but you’re proffered items could be enough to stop another shopper paying full price on the high street.