The Clothes Swap

In an attempt to be ethical and do something interesting, I decided to throw a clothes swap party and invite all the women I know living in and around Tokyo.

Recently, I started reading about how unethical the fast fashion industry has become and felt that I needed to do something. In recent years, Japan has become a highly consumerist society. Here, shopping is seen as a hobby, and people seem to love cheap fast fashion trends, deeming the lifespan of clothes to be incredibly short, and quickly disposable. I'm not denying that there are a lot of vintage shops, particularly in Tokyo, but there doesn't seem to be much of an awareness of the negative consequences resulting from the modern fashion industry. Not just with how much wastage it produces, but processes used in the production of clothes have a severe environmental impact, and also workers are being exploited to make clothes under cruel and inhumane conditions.There are other aspects as well, but I'm not really looking to write a full blown essay about it.

Anyway, as I'm planning to leave Japan soon, I thought I would get some women together for a clothes swap. I created the Facebook event around a month or so beforehand. Quickly I got a lot of positive feedback from different women, stating how excited they were and how it was such "a great idea".

In my originial plan, I figured around 8 people might show up, and I could host the event in my home, serving some drinks and refreshments. But as the guest list grew from 5 to 10, and then upwards of 20, I realised I would need to find a bigger place.

I contacted a friend of mine who had mentioned to me a few months ago that his office had a good space if I ever wanted to use it for a JETAA social (yes, I now organize a monthly get-together for JET alumni in Tokyo - leave me alone). Anyway, after some back and forth, he confirmed the space and assured me it had all the necessities I wanted - essentially chairs, tables and a mirror in the bathroom.

In the days leading up to the event, I set out the clothes I wanted to trade, ironing and using a lint-remover where necessary. I had also been posting on the event chat, answering questions and establishing a general itinerary for the day.  I was excited. I also prepared some snacks, wine, cups and napkins because I'm an awesome host and wanted it to go well.

What was the mistake? Probably holding an event on a Sunday. I don't want to bother with the details of my arrival and setting up - I'll just cut to the case: nobody showed up.

The morning of the event, I woke up to an array of excuses and last-minute cancellations. With naive optimism I still went and tried to make it happen. About and hour and a half in, after it was clear that no one was coming, I sent out the 'official' cancellation message - letting everyone know that the event had been a failure. 

Ethical lifestyle my ass.

I took my bag of clothes to Hard Off, a well known recycle shop chain in Japan. I made a total of 130 yen. Not much, but better than nothing.

I went to play dodgeball which helped to get out my aggression, and then onto Tokyo's most expensive onsen spa that night, LaQua at Tokyo Dome. It was necessary.