Want the buzz of a shopping spree, but can’t afford it? Just clear out your unwanted old clothes and head for a swishing event, the latest craze for credit-crunchers. Julia Breen reports.

IT’S eco-friendly, cheap, cheerful and a good girls’ night out.

“Swishing” is the new shopping for money-savvy women – and there are events springing up all over the North-East.

Fashion-loving women of all ages, shapes and sizes can get together and swap their clothes. It’s recycling at its most fun – and it’s easier, cheaper, and less risky than bidding for clothes in blurry pictures on eBay. And if you’re depressed because you’ve had to rein in your spending on that shopping habit then don’t worry, swishing might just restore the buzz.

The idea of clothes swapping has really taken off since Twiggy and Lauren Laverne hosted similar events on the BBC TV show Twiggy’s Frock Exchange. Nicola Alexander, the founder of Gateshead-based online eco site Daisy Green Magazine, which organises swishing events, says: “The rules of swishing are simple: you go home and clear out your wardrobe of any good-quality, clean clothing, something you might take to a charity shop.

“When you get to the swishing event, we give you a token, and once you have that you can swap your clothes for things off the rails.

“If you come in with a bag of ten things, you get a different coloured token than if you come in with one bag, for example.

“We give everybody a look through the rails, and they can try the clothes on but not take them. Then we cut the ribbon and it’s a mad dash for the clothes you have your eye on.

“It’s a proper scramble – it’s brilliant.”

Textile recycling charity Traid estimates that 900,000 tonnes of shoes and clothing are binned each year in the UK, and that clothes swapping parties can help alleviate some of the waste.

Nicola, who set up Daisy Green in October last year, organised a swishing event as part of the online magazine’s launch party.

The event was so popular she’s holding another one on January 29 in Jesmond, Newcastle.

She says: “We just want people who have been hanging on to stuff for the past ten years to bring it along. And the older it is, the better because then it gets the vintage tag.

“In these times of hardship, getting rid of unwanted clothes but getting free ones in exchange is just brilliant.”

Nicola is a former schoolteacher who quit her job to start her own business last year after finding a gap in the market for an “ethical” magazine for women. She set up Daisy Green magazine online to offer informative articles on how to shop and live more ethically.

“We are just a group of normal women who want to buy fairtrade and wanted to know a bit more about it. Taking little steps, like the swishing events, can make a big difference,”

she says.

“There’s obviously a demand to know more about buying ethically because in the last three months we’ve had more than 10,000 people on the website – and we haven’t had a big marketing campaign either.

There’s evidence that more and more women are reading online material now and they are actually going to eclipse men.”

■ Daisy Green Magazine is on daisygreenmagazine.co.uk. It is also organising an Affordable Vintage Fashion Fair at Durham University Students’ Union on March 1, from 11-5pm. The swishing event takes place on January 29, from 7pm, at As You Like It, Jesmond, Newcastle.

Other swishing events coming up in the region include one organised by Cleveland College of Art and Design, also on January 29, from 7.30pm, at the Masonic Hall, Roman Road in Middlesbrough.

The roller derby team Middlesbrough Milk Rollers has organised a Frock Exchange at Uncle Albert’s, in Exchange Square, Middlesbrough on Saturday, March 7, from 3pm, for both men and women. For more information visit the website on middlesbroughmilkrollers.co.uk

Luxury living

PEOPLE who are looking for an alternative investment should head down to Harrogate at the end of January for the Luxury Living Show. The show is a chance to buy antiques, fine art and contemporary classics for the home and is taking place at the Pavilions of Harrogate at the Great Yorkshire Showground from Friday, January 30 to Sunday, February 1.

For more information ring Robert Bailey Fairs Limited on 01277- 214677/699 or log on to baileyfairs.co.uk