After the massive and beautiful blizzard that hit NYC last weekend, the Swap-o-rama-rama at Galapagos Art Space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn was rescheduled for Presidents Day. The giant clothing swap-plus-DIY fashion lost no momentum—it was a fascinating whirlwind of recycling, spring wardrobe shopping, screen-printing, sewing, and composting galore.
I met a charming woman who runs a “Re-imagine Style” fashion design contest to celebrate Earth Day up in Ithaca, NY. (Check out her website to enter a recycled design — hurry, deadline’s almost here!) Also, a fellow from the Botanic Gardens taught us about composting your textiles. (So, next time you’re wondering what to do with the T-shirt scraps you have left over from the skirt you made in Chapter 5, and you’ve exhausted the smaller accessories projects, don’t throw them away! You could help fertilize a garden come spring!)
And, of course, we had a very merry (and cozy) Tee Party on the stage. About 30 of you squeezed in to refashion an old T-shirt found among the piles of sorted clothes. At the end of the day, Wendy and Swap-O-Rama-Rama donated about 5,000 pounds of clothes! Good work, everybody. And, for all of you West Coasters, check out the site for details on the upcoming event at the end of April in San Fran! In the meantime, I’ll try to post some of the photos I took at the Brooklyn event soon!
