Fountain Street ‘clothes swap’ a success

FOUNTAIN Street Community Centre became the place to go for a bargain recently as it played host to the first ever ‘clothes swap’.

The swap, which saw locals give up their unwanted clothes and pick up a few fresh threads for themselves, was the brainchild of Grian Ni Dhaimhin, who brought the idea to life due to the cost-of-living crisis.

As she explained, “The current cost-of-living crisis has meant that money is tight, with most of it going on energy and food. These rising costs have meant that people are unable to treat themselves to new clothes or even a wee second-hand bargain in the charity shops. I came up with the idea of the clothes swap so that people can get a few nice new things for the wardrobe without having to spend a single penny.”

Asked how it all worked, Grian added, “We invited people to bring in their old clothes on the Monday before the swap, and each item of clothing was swapped with a token.

“Then when they came back on the Saturday, the tokens were swapped over for any item they wanted; no money changed hands.

“On top of that, anyone who came in got the chance to have a
nice cuppa and a natter with
fellow shoppers, bringing in an important community aspect to proceedings.”

Anything which wasn’t snapped up was generously donated to local charity shops.